I’ve known my entire life that my career would be in the horse industry. I couldn’t get enough of being around horses and so I learned to do barn chores which gave me extra ride time sometimes! The term for that is barn rat and I continue to be one to this day. The December before my diagnosis, I started noticing the typical symptoms of type 1 diabetes (T1D). I knew something was truly wrong when started I needing to take brakes during lessons. After I was diagnosed in February 2014, a nurse suggested that I should give up riding. Did I listen? Nope!

With a specialty in three-day eventing and retraining thoroughbreds who came off the track, getting my confidence back was a must. Once I was established on my pump my confidence came back and I was back to my regular riding shenanigans. I actually once fell off of a horse who spooked and landed directly onto my pump and it was just fine! After an intense struggle with mental health issues, I finally found my calling in equine behavior. Studying how horses behave has given me an incredible amount of insights into the best ways to train and modify their behavior.

Without my diabetes technology everything I do would be much more dangerous and difficult. I use the Omnipod 5 system which has the ability to alert me to blood sugar changes with my CGM. The activity mode helps keep me from bottoming out while I’m working. T1D still has its challenges but with the evolving technology I can continue doing what I love!

-Ilana “Izzie” Blumenthal