One look at Patricia Probert Gott’s website will leave you feeling like she’s the human embodiment of a Swiss Army knife: versatile and filled with all sorts of cool tricks.

Throughout six decades of life, she has written 18 books, managed a roller skating rink, trained horses and visited dozens of countries, and that’s barely scratching the surface.

Name: Patricia Probert Gott

Age: Over 60

Job: Retired, part-time author

Hometown: Strong

When did you realize that writing was something you wanted to do?Expressing myself on paper has always been easier for me than verbally. I took several writing courses at Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts, as well as a few night classes later in life. I recall taking business letter writing, journalism, creative writing and copyright editing. I never had the opportunity to fully explore this interest until I retired.

Is there a specific style that you prefer to write in? Fiction is not my forte. Realism, memoirs, history by way of historical fiction or tales based on true stories are my genres of choice. A few of my books are novels, but most of those are based on my life experiences and knowledge. I write my horse books from the horse’s point of view, which adds a different perspective to the story. This is my favorite style of writing.

What’s something you haven’t written about yet that you want to write about in the future? This winter, I’m researching Zenyatta, the queen of horse racing. She is Secretariat’s female counterpart in the thoroughbred racing world. Born in 2004, injuries prohibited her from racing until she was 3, but once she began, she won 19 consecutive races. She was voted runner-up to skier Lindsey Vonn for the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award. After retiring, in 2011, she was voted Horse of the Year. I can’t wait to write her story – from her perspective.

On your website (www.prgottbooks.net), you describe yourself as a “retired businesswoman.” What did you do before retiring? For 11 years, I worked as office manager for CN Brown Co. in South Paris and four years as comptroller for Burlington Homes in Oxford. After that, I bought an old dance hall in Oxford, had it remodeled into a roller skating rink and added an outdoor inline skating park. I owned and managed the rink for 24 years before retiring, or semi-retiring.

You indicate on your website that you’ve visited a large number of countries. What was it that prompted you to travel so much? Work, or just an interest in experiencing new things? My love for traveling is in my DNA, inherited from my mom, who traveled with a group of teachers throughout most of Europe and China. Plus, I love adventure, so my travels have taken me to off-the-beaten-path countries, away from the usual European and Caribbean vacation spots. My favorite adventure was a 10-day safari on horseback in South Africa. Imagine riding a horse, never knowing what you are going to meet or see around the next corner, or over the brow of a hill – it could be curious zebras, fleet red hartebeests, regal giraffes or a bad-tempered rhino.

Soon after I retired, I volunteered in Tanzania, Africa, for a month with the nonprofit organization Cross Cultural Solutions. I found volunteering enlightening, spiritually rewarding, humbling and exciting. We lived in the small village of Mau, outside the city of Moshi. We were required to learn basic Swahili greetings and day-to-day words to help immerse us in their culture.

You’ve written about horses in many of your books. How did horses come to play such an important role in your life? I’ve owned and ridden horses since I was 8, and have trained several of my own, as well as other people’s, so I know and understand how they think, act and react. I used to show horses as a kid and young adult, but prefer relaxing and riding trails these days.

In the ’90s, I spent four summers working as a horse wrangler at Rimrock Ranch, a guest ranch outside of Cody, Wyoming. Six of us wranglers took care of over 100 horses and guided weekly guests on daily trail rides into the Shoshone National Forest. I wrote a memoir on my experiences in a two-part book series.

You own a rescued donkey and an Arabian horse. How did you come to own them? My present Arabian horse, Hisani Ruuh (meaning “horse spirit” in Arabic, nicknamed “Sani”), is 13 years old now, and I’ve owned and trained him since he was four months old. Another Arabian horse of mine died suddenly in 2015, and Sani needed a pasture mate, but I did not need another horse to ride. I went looking for a donkey to keep him company. Daisy is a young spotted black-and-white donkey that I adopted from the Animal Rescue Unit in Bridgton this past spring. They rescued her and five others from a kill pen in Texas. When I walked into the pasture, which contained mules, llamas, mini-horses and donkeys, she came over to me and picked me to be her owner. I mistakenly thought she would think, act and react like a horse, but I was wrong.

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