The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph – Thomas Paine
When Rose Clearmont of Madison, Wisconsin, was faced with deciding whether to compete with her miniature Pinto, Mr Whiskers, at the 2016 Pinto World Championships, it wasn’t exactly an everyday dilemma. You see, Rose was expecting to have a kidney transplant the week she was supposed to show.
“After the big argument with my mom was smoothed over, it wasn’t hard to decide. My doctor and medical team were very supportive because they knew they could not guarantee I’ll be mobile on my left side eventually,” Rose smiled through her tears.
Rose not only has progressing nerve damage on her left side from a freak accident when two overweight adults fell on her in 1996, but she is plagued with diabetes and kidney disease. Her first kidney transplant in 1995 failed due to contracting Norovirus that year.
Rose delayed the transplant surgery this June and left for Tulsa, armed with the promise that she would be back on top of the transplant lists when she returned. She brought her ever-present “can-do” attitude to Tulsa.
“Don’t give up – even when they say you can’t, if you want to do it, do it!” says the amateur who has ridden horses since she was a girl in high school, beginning with her first pony she purchased for only five dollars.
Her early days showing a solid Appaloosa colt in the 80’s led to riding her Paint gelding, and then after her husband passed away in 2014, she approached trainer Margie Hardwick of Madison Horse Connection about getting back into riding.
Margie’s input was pivotal. “She suggested I start with the minis, so I began working with Mr Whiskers. Margie talked me into coming down here, so I decided to go and take my chances.”
The result was Rose winning her first ribbons in over 20 years. She earned a fifth in the Amateur Mini Color Class, and in the Amateur Ideal Pinto Miniature Driving, they were eighth. “My experience here is hard to explain but it has been awesome. It’s my first time in this kind of venue. There’s always something to see and something to do, and no matter how exhausted you are, you want to keep going!”
In addition, the experience has been quite emotional for Rose for other reasons. She and her husband had lost two sons early in their marriage, and now she was here showing without him as well. “I realized when I looked at my ribbon Wednesday that it was 20 months ago to the day that I lost my husband,” she says. “He’s here with me – I know it.”
When asked what she would tell others who have been through trials in life, she says if you want something badly enough, you just work for it. Losing two young sons, her husband, and facing illness never broke her stride or her spirit. “I still bowl; I do counter cross stitch; I have a bachelor’s degree and half a master’s done; I drive horses and I drive cars,” she exclaims.
Before she left Tulsa on Thursday, June 18th, to drive back to Wisconsin all by herself, she had this to say: “Next year when I come back, I want a buckle – just one, since I can only wear one at a time.”
Writer’s note: The first time I saw Rose dressed in her driving garb at the Pinto World Show this past week, she was clearly stopping to catch her breath after a climb up a ramp into her barn. Little did I know she would be a person who had overcome so much to come live her dream and show her lovable Mr Whiskers at the show, and that I would have the opportunity to hear a story so inspiring.
Photos © Delores Kuhlwein and Margie Hartwick
