Megan McLoughlin on working and competing in agriculture while legally blind

The inspiring equestrian from South Australia's Barossa Valley is legally blind and has had numerous health issues including cancer and a kidney and pancreas transplant - but that hasn't kept her out of the saddle or off-farm.

She was born with only one kidney and also has diabetes.

Despite all this, she is the founder and director of a rural and regional health charity, Herd of Hope, and has raised thousands of dollars and national awareness about organ transplants and donations.

The seventh-generation horsewoman didn't really have a choice when it came to riding.

Her grandfather Tom Willoughby is in the Stockman's Hall of Fame and holds Australian titles in rodeo riding, while also being an accomplished equestrian - he won a buckjump ride at a NSW event and then the next week was in the line-up for champion rider at Sydney Royal.

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Her parents Jim and Tracey are also passionate horse people and her brother Tom is one of SA's best trainers.

Jim has worked on movie and television sets, including the much-loved Australian drama McLeod's Daughters for eight years.

For Megan, barrel racing has always been her passion.

"Growing up I did all sorts of things, we put our finger in the pie with most sports - campdrafting and local shows - but I was very fortunate that my grandfather, my mum's dad, said 'she has shown some potential and you need to get her a good horse'," Megan recalled.

After school, Megan received a scholarship to join a rodeo team at a college in the United States of America.

At the age of 26 her life was transformed.

"I presented at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for laser treatment. There was a mishap in that surgery, and as a result in three days I was legally blind," she said.

"In a three-month period I had 27 operations. The macula was scarred in my right eye and both retinas were detached. I found myself in a very different position. I moved back to my parents farm in the Barossa."

Today, Megan has 7 per cent vision.

She said the best way to explain her sight is to imagine looking through a glass that someone has drunk milk out of.

While coming to terms with her vision impairment, more health troubles presented.

"About eight months after losing my sight, doctors discovered I was born with a horseshoe kidney - everyone thinks that is a little bit funny seeing as I love horses," she said.

"I went on dialysis and needed a kidney transplant. Being a diabetic, I needed a kidney/pancreas transplant."

Megan had to go on a waiting list.

She needed a deceased anonymous donor - unfortunately she couldn't receive a transplant from a loved one.

In November 2010 her heart was stopping on dialysis so she was cut back to three hours instead of four every second day.

"I was told to get my affairs in order as I wasn't going to make Christmas. But I hold on to hope - hope is stronger than anything. I look back at it and I can't believe my arrogance at the time now, but whatever gets you through," Megan said.

Three weeks later she received a double transplant at Westmead Hospital in Sydney and spent nine days in hospital.

She said the transplant and the journey to a new life inspired her to create Herd of Hope, the only Australian charity that provides support for transplant recipients and donor families in rural and regional areas.

In the lead-up to a charity event Megan organised, she needed to find a suitable horse.

"I had been toying with the idea of buying a horse and getting back into the sport," she said.

She found five-year-old bay 15.2 hand gelding Biscuit.

"I needed to be well aware of safety. I needed a horse for the cattle drive and with the potential of getting back in the arena. I began riding him and he is just a gentleman," she said.

"I compare him to an AFL football player - he knows he's good-looking and what he does and there's no fluff. He's a striking-looking horse."

Megan learnt to ride Biscuit blind, a whole new experience, but the trusty gelding took everything in his sure-footed stride.

"The biggest thing in this relationship is the horse. He is not hot-headed. I spent 10 months riding him before I even looked at a barrel because I wanted to feel how he moved and how his stride was," she said.

"One time I thought I was going down a path, but I went straight down a creek bed. He kept his feet. He is so sure-footed. I can feel his movement change and that's how we get around the drums."

A week after the charity event, the duo went to a jackpot barrel race.

"To have a blind jockey and still be competitive is a massive thing. Horses are incredibly responsive to heartbeat and I have had to learn to control my heart racing. I entered and placed second and then my dad rode Biscuit in the men's event and he won," she said.

"I started going to barrel racing jackpots and last year I competed in a professional rodeo race for the first time in 20 years at Kapunda. My approach to competitions is obviously very different these days.

"I go while set up is happening to see the size and walk the arena - like showjumpers - then I have to look outside the arena for quite a prominent object so I can try and line up a drum with a tree or a light post I might be able to spot, otherwise I can't find anything."

As well as learning how to ride horses, Megan also had to make changes to the way she farmed.

Some of the changes she made was the decision to have Poll Hereford cattle, rather than Angus or another darker or single coloured breed, to make them more visible for her.

These Poll Hereford cattle have formed the basis of the Herd of Hope, which is sold off to raise money for their camps for rurally-based transplant patients.

Other changes she has made, or is in the process of making, is removing barbed wire fences to avoid accidents.

Megan said there are still the odd mistakes and standing in the way of moving cattle.

"But you dust yourself off and go again," she said.

"Just because you think you can't do it, it doesn't mean you can't."

She said the support has been there from others in the industry.

"This is a really great industry to work in, really accepting," she said.

"If you put the effort in, it's the most rewarding one to work in."

Over the coming week, ACM Agriculture will be sharing stories of people succeeding in agriculture with disabilities, as we lead up to International Day of People with Disability on December 3.