Description:
Lis Hartel became paralyzed after contracting polio in 1944. Her dreams of riding horses and competing in the sport of dressage were shattered. After months in the hospital, doctors told her she'd never ride again. Lis tried anyway. How do you stay on ahorse without using your legs? How do you give the subtle cues needed in dressage with limited mobility? With hard work--and an unlikely horse named Jubilee. After years of training together and creating a new way of communicating, Lis and Jubilee dancedinto the competition ring, and eventually all the way to the Olympics. Lis Hartel was the first woman with a disability ever to win an Olympic medal, and the first woman to stand equally beside men on the Olympic winners' podium in any sport.
Brief description: KT Johnston writes historical narrative nonfiction. She found history a boring subject in school--but now it's the passion of her writing. She earned a degree in biology and conducted animal-behavior studies before switching to a corporate career. After raising two children and several litters of curly-coated retrievers, she began writing, spotlighting special animals who affected the lives of everyday people. She and her husband live in Minneapolis.