Sue-Ellen Lovett is a motivational speaker, two-time Paralympian and Grand Prix-level dressage rider. She's also blind, but she hasn't let that slow her down. Born with a degenerative eye disease that left her legally blind from birth and without sight for the last decade, Sue-Ellen has a slew of awards, and has competed against able-bodied riders at the highest level of international competition. In 1996, Sue-Ellen competed in the Atlanta Paralympic Games, following it up by competing in the Sydney Paralympic Games four years later, and a four-year stint on the Sydney Paralympic Board of Directors. In between Atlanta and Sydney Paralympic Games, she represented Australia at the World Equestrian Games in Denmark, where she was ranked 4th in the world and in the Bronze Medal team. More than just dressage, Sue-Ellen is also a long-distance rider and has ridden over 16,000 kilometres, raising $3.2 million for numerous charities, including an epic trip 2400-kilometre trip from Cairns to the Gold Coast in 1988; a total of 55 days in the saddle! Johno and the Blind Chick is her first book. She's already hard at work on the follow-up (Johno and the Blind Chick, Part 2) as well as an autobiography from her own point of view. Sue-Ellen lives in rural New South Wales with her husband Matthew, a cat called Thunder Paws and Johno.
