It’s been a long and sometimes painful journey for Lisa Rosner, of Canterbury, Connecticut. But the tenacious American Quarter Horse Association Amateur Select All-Around competitor insists there is nothing that is going to keep her down.

Life first took a downward turn for Rosner in 2006 when doctors proclaimed she had just a 30 percent chance to live when complications with reconstructive surgery from a bilateral mastectomy left her without a rectus abdominis or “core abdomen muscles.”

“I had to learn how to ride again,” Rosner said. “I worked incredibly hard at getting back in the saddle.”

 Her partner at the time was Stylishly Detailed (Katie), a 2000 Quarter Horse bay mare by Last Detail and out of She’s Tuff, a Thoroughbred mare. Katie was Rosner’s first serious show horse and she had purchased the bay filly as a yearling in 2001. Under the direction of AQHA Professional Horsewoman Dolly Chayer, Rosner and Katie earned several Top Five honors at the Quarter Horse Congress in Hunter Under Saddle classes.

“I did continue to show Katie after I was able to get back in the saddle but eventually decided my physical limitations were too great for a horse, like Katie, who is not easy to show,”she said.

In 2014 Rosner and her current trainer, Torey Roderick decided it was time to find a new partner.

“We bought All Rumor (Joey) just before the 2014 Congress,” she explained. “He had a really nice lope and the sweetest disposition. We thought he would be a suitable all-around horse.”

But there was concern from the beginning about the 16.2 hand gelding’s weak topline.

“Over the next few months, Joey’s topline continued to drop, despite a good diet and exercise program,” she said. “One day he came out of his stall sideways and had a big, hard mass on his abdomen.”

Joey had fractured his pelvis and was also diagnosed with EPM, which had been suspected for some time. EPM had caused Joey to have serious deficiencies in his system including fragile bones. To complicate matters, a bone fragment walled off causing a large MERSA infection that abscessed on his side leaving a hole that had to be flushed daily. With the fractured pelvis, Joey was not allowed to lie down for over 100 days.

Roderick recalls the nightmare.

“It was definitely an ordeal,” Roderick said. “The seriousness sank in the day they told us he needed to stay tied up for 100 days or risk bleeding to death. I was concerned about founder and other complications.”

Even with the injections he needed daily and his obvious pain, Joey’s great attitude remained.

“He always had his ears up when we went in his stall,” Roderick said. “At first we always had a bag of carrots at his stall and deliberately gave him treats every time we went in. I’m not a big treat person and I have a rule about no hand feeding. Once I knew that I would be entering his stall multiple times a day to give him shots or flush the hole in his side, I knew I wanted to make an effort to sometimes just go in and pet him and give him a carrot.”

Roderick’s efforts to keep Joey from hating the situation worked, although his personality certainly played a part.

“He’s like Lisa,” Roderick said. “One thing piled on top of another and he just took it in stride and plowed ahead. If you talk to Lisa or look at comments on Facebook, she’s known for her smile. She deals with adversity and takes each day as a gift. Her horse is so much the same.”

Slowly but surely, Joey began showing improvement. He started to perk up, get a better hair coat and was soon able to begin being hand walked.

“I knew Joey was a fighter, like me, and I just had to give this horse every chance I could,” Rosner said. “Between Dr. Currid at Ocean State Equine and Torey, they really brought this horse back from the dead.”

But around that same time Rosner suddenly started experiencing her own medical issues.

“I couldn’t feel my hands and started having a lot of trouble walking and balancing,” she said.

Rosner was diagnosed with severe spinal stenosis at five levels, which was crushing the spinal cord and causing myelopathy. She had to undergo major surgery on her neck.

“The two of us were kind of in recovery together,” she recalled. “As Torey slowly brought Joey back, I was focusing on getting healthy, losing over 50 pounds in six months.”

Doctors initially said Rosner would not be allowed to ride for six months following her surgery, but she worked hard through physical therapy and was back on Joey by last winter.

“I got back to riding and was able to compete at our first show of the season in April at the Madness in Wilmington, Ohio, where we did amazingly well!”

Since then Rosner and Joey have competed at shows in Oneco, Connecticut, West Springfield, Massachusetts and Centre Hall, Pennsylvania.

“I just love the atmosphere of the horse shows,” she said. “I have a great group of friends and of course travel with my beloved Jack Russells, Sophie and Sammy.”

When she is not at a show Rosner enjoys spending time with her husband, Steve, on their farm.

“I have been horse crazy since I was a little kid and not for any reason in particular because my parents were both from New York City with no horse background,” she said. “But for me, horses have been my peace, my escape.”

Rosner still has Katie and the mare’s 2011 foal, You Dig My Style, by Hot Diggity Joe, plus black mini named Maximus.

“I still have challenges to overcome like being able to sit up straight in Equitation without my core muscles, it is very hard,” she said. “Hearing my name called at the Quarter Horse Congress when we had Katie there was one of the highs of my life and it would be a dream come true for me for that to happen again, but I have no hard or fast goals.”