Cinch Magazine- Your Online Equestrian Source

Paying It Forward

Cinch Magazine, Horse Tales

Cinch Magazine- Horses as Healers

In April of 1998, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was at the very beginning of show season and I wasn't going to let my cancer treatments stop me from doing what I love.  I had four rounds of chemo first; usually right before I had to leave for a show (I show on the AQHA circuit).  I'd often get sick during the show, but I felt if I stopped showing, the cancer would win and I would die.  In July I had surgery to remove the lump and was at my next show the beginning of August.  In the fall I had 3 months of radiation, 5 days a week. 

A couple years later I went through a couple of reconstruction surgeries and also met the horse of my dreams.  A barn-mate owned a gelding named A Bit Impulsive (aka Sidney) and I adored him for years.  She paid a LOT of money for him; half the mortgage on my house!  She made the decision to sell him to get another horse and I wanted to sell my mare.  She made me an offer I could not refuse, to sell me her gelding.  She knew what I had been through and wanted me to have him for a fraction of what she paid for him. I had a major reconstruction the year I bought Sidney and took one week off to heal, then on to a QH show.  He was SO GOOD to me, took care of me, almost like he knew I was in pain. 

Then that same year in July, we were 4 points away from qualifying for the AQHA World Show in Senior Western Pleasure.  At the last qualifying show, Sidney coliced.  We rushed him to Tufts Veterinary Clinic and the only option for us was surgery, or he would die.  There was NO hesitation in mind, and I told the vets to do whatever they had to do to save his life.  I felt he saved my life, so I "paid in forward" to Sidney to save his.  The surgery was a success and Sidney was in the hospital for 10 days.  I practically lived in his hospital stall with him.  He would get depressed when I had to leave.  He coliced again 2 years later, to the very week of his first colic.  I had him right on the trailer within 3 hours, and he did not have surgery this time.  We caught it in time and he only spent 3 days in the hospital.

It will be 11 years cancer-free for me this year, and 8 years since I've owned Sidney and his first bout with colic.  We are soul mates and he will be with me until his time comes; and he will be waiting for me at Rainbow Bridge.

A special thanks to Jennifer Derby-Miller of MA for submitting this true story to Cinch.  If you have your own, real life story that you would like featured on our site, please email us.

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