Badger and Rocky

Patti in 1968

My Aunt Patti was a horse person.  You'd never know it by looking at my life now, but I still consider myself a horse person, too.  Growing up, my time was as consumed with riding horses as it's recently become with racing triathlons.  Patti's horse was Badger.  He was her opportunity for strength, responsibility, freedom, and companionship.

Badger and friends in Hamilton, MA

My horse was Rocky. I guess he brought me a lot of those same things.

AT and Rocky, 1998

Rocky in action

I don't know what it feels like to get a diagnosis like Friedreich's ataxia and hear that you have no treatment options.  Or what it feels like to slowly lose the ability to do the things that you enjoy.  I know how frustrated I've been over relatively minor injuries that prevented me from doing everything I wanted to do, exactly when I wanted to.  But I also know just what it's like to be a horse-crazy preteen girl!  And I love that this is something Patti and I shared.

Badger's shoe came to live with me when Patti died.