PEOPLE OF INTEREST
The RIDING SURVIVOR
KERRY FIRTH
Laurie Blakelock-Rodriguez of Vero Beach and her horse, Danny, enjoy some private time at the stable. Neither of them competes any longer, but the two
often go for walRs through the fields
Destiny altered paths for a woman diagnosed with
87
cancer and an injured horse. They both needed
each other.
BY KERRY FIRTH
“Our bond was instantaneous,” says Laurie Blakelock-
Rodriguez. “I’m honestly not sure who rescued who.”
When faced with a dreaded diagnosis, some people turn
to unconventional ways to cope, and that was the case for
Blakelock-Rodriguez. After a routine mammogram showed
irregularities and a biopsy was suspicious, she opted for a
double mastectomy after discussing the options with her
surgeon. The surgery uncovered a small cancerous tumor
in her right breast with positive lymph nodes that were
also removed.
It was during her path to recovery that she decided she
needed a distraction and a new reason to get up and fight.
“When you are faced with cancer, your life suddenly
becomes measured in the time before and after the disease,”
says the Vero Beach realtor. “I had gone through the surgery
and chemotherapy when my husband took me on a cruise.
We watched the movie about the famous racehorse Secretariat
and a light bulb went oͿ. , Nnew then and there , would
rescue a horse and focus my energy on his caring and training.
Somehow in my heart, I knew that the right horse would
help me through the upcoming radiation and give me a new
purpose in life.”
As a former hunter rider at shows, she knew that thoroughbred
horses made good jumpers. She was looking for a horse
that had the heart and stamina to jump but was also calm
enough to respect her reentry into casual riding after decades
of absence.
She heard about Pure Thoughts Horse Rescue in Loxahatchee
that took in retired racehorses. Filled with anticipation,
she and her husband drove down to scout out prospects.
“We opened the gates and this little brown gelding nickered
at us,” she remembers. “He was very friendly. It was
almost like he chose me. I wasn’t convinced that he was big
enough, but the owner pointed out that he was standing in
a ditch. So sure enough, when he followed us up to higher
ground, he was the perfect height.”
His name was New Fandan, known to those in the barn
as Danny, and he had quite an illustrious career on the track
before injuring his ankle and retiring. He was bred in Brazil >>