On The Rail with Sydney Weaver and “Pinky”

My best friend and I are more than just best friends; we are more like sisters. Like any two best friends we are two peas in a pod. We laugh together, we are inseparable, she protects and looks after me, and I do the same for her. We spend late nights with each other, laughing and taking silly pictures.

 She is my biggest source of inspiration, when I look at her I see my better half. She dries my tears when I cry, and she always finds a way to make me smile. She makes my bad day’s better and good days great! I do not know what I would without her. Her name is Sydney Seelster, but I call her “Pinky”.

When I got Pinky for Christmas in 2012, I never expected my life to change in all the ways that it did. Not only did I get a horse that Christmas, I got my best friend. Since that day the two of us have been on some crazy adventures. It has been the journey of a lifetime and I could not imagine what my life would be like today if I did not have her. I have been blessed to meet so many wonderful people and do some amazing things because of her.

In the barn Pinky takes care of me as much as I take care of her. When she is in the crossties and I am brushing her she never spooks, never steps to one side or the other, she just stands there. She is patient and she understands that I take longer to do it than my dad does.

One day I asked my dad if I could help give Pinky a bath. In theory it was a good idea, but there was more water on me than I originally anticipated. The reason for me being so wet was Pinky spitting water back at me and shaking after she was done. I may have been a little wet but my heart was warm and I had a huge smile on my face. I could not stop laughing! She was just being goofy. It was as though Pinky was giving me a bath.

Sitting in front of Pinky’s stall is a time where I too can relax. It feels as though time slows down. I could sit there for hours without a care. Although Pinky cannot answer in words when I talk to her, her positive energy and actions speak louder than words ever could and like any two best friends the facial expression says it all.

 When my mom or dad puts Pinky’s stall guard up, Pinky will sometimes share her hay and water with me. She will push some hay towards my feet and Pinky will offer me some water. She will take a mouth full of water from her bucket and holding over my lap. I tell her to swallow, but I know what is coming… Splash! Pinky spits her mouth full of water on my lap.  I guess she just wants to make sure I am hydrated and not hungry.

Jogging Pinky is something I will never be able to do enough. When I jog Pinky, she is always perfect, she never miss behaves and Pinky knows when I am jogging her or when someone else is.   Together we have had the opportunity to jog on the track alongside some of harness racing’s best trainers and drivers.  She makes me look good but still gives me many opportunities to learn from the pros!

The people that Pinky and I have been able to meet have all been very kind to us both horse people and fans! Our friends on Facebook named us ‘Team Pink’, which I think is special and fantastic!

Along the way people have been so kind and generous to give Pinky and I everything we need to go race! We were given a pretty pink jogger and pink accessories. Pinky and have I matching apparel made by a friend of ours and Pinky has a Team Pinky blanket and I have a matching sweater!

The people in the paddock have been nothing but helpful and kind hearted. I remember there was a night when we had to scratch Pinky after she warmed up. I was a little scared. She was acting strange and I was not sure what was happening or what to do.

When it was announced Pinky was scratched many people came running to see what was the matter and trying to help us figure out what the problem was.  Their kindness helped me to feel more at ease too.

Racing Pinky is always fun! To us, it is like two best friends going for a night out. I bring a camera so we can take silly selfies, snacks for when we get hungry and we position ourselves to see as much action as possible. Our friends stop by and chat with us throughout the night too!

When Pinky heads behind the gate and the gate lets her go I cheer her on with all my strength and with all the air in my lungs.

I have stood in snow banks, in biting winds to watch Pinky race but it is always worth it.  Every time she races she tries with her whole heart and every ounce of strength she has.

 Standing in snow banks for Pinky has never bothered me because she is my best friend and I would anything for her. No matter how Pinky finishes I could never be more proud of her than I already am.

When we win, us girls celebrate by eating apples and carrots. When we do not win, we still celebrate how well we did and how my girl came home safe and sound with apples and carrots.

Sydney Seelster and I share clothes like any two best friends, but not exactly, because Pinky and I are two very different sizes but that does not stop us! Pinky lets me try on her accessories and I let her borrow my clothes to make the perfect Halloween costume!

I have this baseball cap that I used to wear, and when I got Pinky I always wore it to the barn. Pinky decided to make it her own. Pinky would pull on the bill or sometimes she would it knock it off. Once it’s off I put would put it on again and Pinky would the same do the same thing again and again. To her it’s a game and I would laugh! Pinky would also grab the very of it top and pull it off. I never got tired of putting my hat back on. We both have fun and joking around.

Before Pinky made it her own hat it was just a pink baseball cap and now it is a misshapen baseball cap covered in carrot juice, that smells like apples and stained of dirt and horse slobber. To me that baseball cap is covered in a million memories. That hat will forever hold a special place in my heart and I never want it to be clean again.

Pinky is extremely protective over me whether we are in the barn or at the races. She is the best bodyguard I could ask for! When we are in the paddock Pinky will literally stand guard over me. Pinky will stand so is close to me and if someone walks towards us, she will take a step so that I am under her neck, and she will put her neck over me. She just wants to make sure that I am safe.

 Hugging can also be quite the challenge, and if Pinky had it her way I would never get any hugs from anyone. When someone comes up to me to give me a hug, Pinky will put her head in between me and the other person, so that they have a harder time reaching me to give a hug. To me, it is almost like Pinky is saying ‘if you want to hug her, you’ll have to go through me first!’

Not only do Pinky and I share food and clothes and accessories but we also the same name and almost the same birthday! Sydney Seelster was born on May 22, 2008 and I was born May 21, 2000. It’s like we were meant to be! 

With our birthdays being only a day apart, knowing what I wanted for my birthday became very easy!  All I wanted and still want is stuff for Pinky or things that Pinky and I both could use.

Celebrating our birthdays became easy too! I always wanted and want to go to the track for my birthday, and the last couple years Pinky has either raced her birthday or mine.

Being away from Pinky is hard, although I may not see every day; she is always in my heart. The hardest part is when I go to overnight camp for 10 days. Ten days without my best friend is hard, but visiting her is always the last thing I do. Before the drive to camp with my parents, I stop at the barn to say goodbye to Pinky.

But before I get out, I sit in the front sit of our car, staring at the front of the barn with a box Kleenex on my lap and I cry. I know Pinky will be here when I get back but that never makes it easier.

I think of all the sunny days in the barn with her gentle breathing in my ear that will not happen, all the silly pictures that won’t be taken, the time that I won’t be sitting trackside to watch my dad jog her, and those are 10 days that I might have gone out to the barn to see her and I might have been able to jog her one of those 10 days.

It breaks my heart to think of all these special little moments I am going to miss while I am at camp.  I think of all the fun and exciting things I will be doing at camp and she will not be there to experience it with me. I finally conjure up enough strength to go into the barn and say goodbye and give her a few carrots.

I fight back tears while I explain to Pinky where I am going, and some of the exciting things I will be doing, and I promise to tell her all about it when I return. For the rest of the time I sit quietly in front of her getting those precious moments of her breathing in my ear, and before I know it I am on the road heading to camp! 

For those 10 days, whenever I do something I have Pinky on my mind! And every night before I lay my head down to sleep, I think of her, and I tell myself, with another day done, it is one more day of adventure that I have to tell Pinky when I get home.

After spending 10 days at camp, the first thing I want to do more than anything else is to see my girl Pinky, and that is exactly what I do! On the way home my parents and I stop at the barn so I can see Pinky!  I am overjoyed.

I tell her how much I have missed her and about my adventures. I guess she missed me just as much as I missed her.  She is all sweet with me for the first 10 minutes. After that I reach up to stroke her neck and she makes sure I cannot touch her neck by stretching her neck out high above me. I think she is mad because I went away without her.

The next time I see Pinky she is back to giving me her hay and cuddling with me, and I know we are back to being best friends.

When Pinky and I are in the barn and a song I know comes on the radio, and I break out into dance, Pinky just looks at me like ‘what the heck are you doing? Stop! There are people here, and you are embarrassing me and yourself! Stop! I break up into laughter and I cannot stop.

Together Pinky and I have filmed two video features, one for Woodbine Entertainment Group and it was shown during the 2013 North America Cup broadcast on the Score. The video went on to win an O’Brien and a Dan Patch Award.

The other video was for Accessibility in Action, a television program that showcases people with disabilities overcoming them and loving life. In both Pinky and I were co-stars and I could not have asked for a better a better friend to share the spotlight with.

The love and support Pinky and I have received is nothing short of a blessing and for all of it I am truly grateful.  From the beginning our friends have helped and supported us and it has made of journey and our story even more special.

When I am having a bad day, I think of her and all of our adventures and then I feel better. She can always make me smile! She is a part of me and is a big part of who I am. She is my best friend and I will always love her.

She is everything to me and there is not a day goes by that I do not think about her. She is the best friend I could ever ask for and I know she will never tell any of my secrets.   

Sydney Weaver is 14 years old and resides in Acton, Ontario, Canada. She has been involved with harness racing for years, grooms horses, jogs them on the track, owns a racehorse and has already won major youth writing awards. Sydney also has Cerebral Palsy, but has never let her disability hold her back from achieving her goals.