Inside Track: Riding for the Cure

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Photo: Courtesy Nancy Austin

Nancy Austin and Evita's Fantasy

By Terese Karmel

A descendant of Man o’ War has been doing her part to save women’s lives.

The 12-year-old gray Thoroughbred mare is among dozens of horses each year that participate in Ride for the Cure, a national event to raise money to fight breast cancer. The ride originated in Connecticut nine years ago, and its success has led groups in Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia to hold similar events. Other states have expressed interest as well.

In Connecticut alone, the rides have raised nearly $85,000 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, among the country’s most aggressive fundraising organizations.

All breeds of horses take part in the ride, an eight-mile excursion through the colorful autumn woods of Pomfret, Conn., a small horsy community near the Massachusetts border. This year the rain ended before dawn, and a warm, foggy day provided perfect weather for the event. The riders wore pink tops, and their horses had pink saddlecloths, pink ribbons attached to their bridles or woven through their manes; one horse’s tail was dyed pink for the occasion. Nancy Austin, a family medicine physician in northeastern Connecticut, where the Ride for the Cure attracted more than 100 participants in early October, has owned Man o’ War’s descendant, Evita’s Fantasy, for three years. She was abandoned on a nearby farm, where Austin discovered her during a visit to ride another horse.

“I said ‘What about that gray one,’ ” Austin said to the owner, and soon they were a team.

But that happens rarely as the two of them are usually out on a trail or winning ribbons at hunter pace competitions. Austin said she rides for the many patients she has had who have suffered from breast cancer.

Malin Eubanks was on her 10-year-old Thoroughbred, Admire Me, (“Addie” for short), a daughter of Birdonthewire, whom her owner describes as “very calm, level-headed, and smart.” And massive. The bay stands 17.3 hands and like Evita, never made it to the track. Eubanks was given the horse a few years ago by a friend who was dying of breast cancer.

“One day we were sitting talking in her barn, and the woman, who knew she didn’t have long to live, said ‘I want you to have Addie. Promise you’ll take care of her.’ ” Her deathbed wish has been well respected.

Another Thoroughbred, Freddie Copelan, a son of Copelan, made it to a few New England tracks before his owner, Judith Hunter, bought him 11 years ago.

Excited to be back after a year off, the 14-year-old bay was acting up as Hunter headed for the trail. Over the years Hunter has participated in many of the rides.

“I’m riding for nine people,” said Hunter as Freddie Copelan pulled impatiently to get going. “They’re all surviving at this point, but one is not doing very well.”

As is the case with all other Komen fundraisers, 25% of the money raised by Ride for the Cure this year will go for national research while the remaining 75% will be returned to the state for breast cancer education, screening, and treatment. The efforts are clearly paying off. Statistics indicate that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, but since the foundation was established in 1982, the five-year survival rate of those whose cases have been detected early has jumped from 74 to 98%. But there’s still work to be done. Statistics indicate one woman dies of breast cancer every 13 minutes in this country.

The Connecticut ride was also a tribute to horses that are survivors. Nicole Ricci rode her 27-year-old dark Morgan, Alvin, whom she rescued from a barn near  Andover, Mass., where he was malnourished, depressed, and close to death. “His skin was grey from scars,” Ricci said. “When I saw him standing in the corner, I knew I had to have him.”

Two and a half years later, with a steady diet of nourishing food, medical care, and attention, Alvin is a happy, healthy horse. And so Ricci brought him to the Ride for the Cure. Her thinking: What could be better than riding with my big buddy to give others a second chance too?

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