Patti grew up the granddaughter of two WWII veterans. One a Marine who was captured on Wake Island and spent years as a POW in Japan. The other a Navy machinist who served on the USS Hancock. Without a firsthand understand of the struggles her grandfathers both endured during wartime service, Patti grew up knowing there were emotional scars from their time in service. As an adult she learned about PTSD and started to draw the lines to connect her experiences, those in her family and her grandfathers back to their experiences during WWII.
In January of 2015, Patti approached Veterans R&R about creating a veteran program with horses. Patti is most well know for her success in the Dressage arena with her Mustang Stallion Padre’. He is the first and only wild horse to qualify, compete & win at Dressage at Devon, the most prestigious Dressage show in the United States. Since 2010, their success has been chronicled online throughout the world, in magazines including Dressage Today and Practical Horseman, in two books and on a Breyer model horse made in Padre’s likeness. She is an accomplished horsewoman of 35 years and is committed to improving the lives of our veterans & military families through their connection, growth and learning experiences with horses.