The Adventure of a Horse Tattoo

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by Keith Kibler

January 22, 2015 by Keith Kibler

So, I was thinking about getting a Horse Tattoo.

When many people think of horses and tattoos, they think of the replacement for a “brand”. In other words, the tattoo is a way of marking the horse to show ownership. That is not what I am thinking of when I talk about horses and tattoos.

To the surprise of some, I have a tattoo. To make a long story short, I had a trailer hitch fall on me and and crush my left foot. In an instant, I was transformed from the runner of the year in my area, to someone that was told would end up in a wheel chair and that I would never run again. I was told that amputation was what would be the normal outcome. I told my Doctor that that was not for me and that I believed through faith and hard work, I would do Ironman. He said I did not know my own limitations and that I would never make it. I told him he was right on the first thing, but wrong on the second. I did it in 13 hours 35 minutes. Then I did it again 4 minutes faster. I got the finishers tattoo. Google the Ironman symbol and you will see it. It is on my left calf behind the foot that was crushed.

It reminds me to never give up. It also seems to encourage people as they pass me in human endurance events who then invariably say as they pass, “Hey are you REALLY an Iron Man?”

After having achieved what a non insane middle aged person could reasonably expect to do in Ironman that had a life outside the sport, I turned to long distance equine endurance racing. I fell in love with it. I used the training protocols and tools that I learned and developed to train for Ironman and Marathons on horses. I used those tools on gaited horses. It worked. In fact, it worked past my wildest dreams.

I have this one Tennessee Walking Horse named Kate. I love this mare...

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