![]() Lying in the snow on the side of the road, Amberley could see the crushed wreckage of her pickup nearby. She had forgotten to fasten her seat belt. After stopping for petrol in Rawlins, she glanced down to check a map, drifted across the highway and rolled her truck at 75 miles an hour. In 2010, she was driving through Wyoming en route to the National Western Stock Show in Denver. At seven, she was rodeoing, and by her senior year of high school she had made it to the National High School Finals Rodeo and was the 2009 Little Britches Rodeo Association All-Around Champion. It wasn’t always this way.įrom the age of three, Amberley Snyder knew what she wanted to do: ride horses. Amberley is paralyzed from the waist down. Beyond the alley, next to her horse trailer, is her wheelchair. Look closer and you’ll see the homemade seat belt that keeps Amberley Snyder in the saddle, and that her thighs are strapped to the stirrup fenders with thick bands of Velcro. ![]() ![]() Her long blonde hair is flying behind her as they trip the timer: 15.5 seconds-a full tenth of a second faster than her best run before she was paralyzed. The rider grabs the saddle horn and leans forward as the dark quarter horse gathers his hind legs underneath himself and explodes into the rundown. The dirt is flying as a pretty young cowgirl gallops her 17 hand horse into the pocket of the last barrel in the Spanish Fork Rodeo arena. Now twenty-five, she just bought a younger, faster barrel horse, and has a new career as a motivational speaker. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she got back in the saddle and returned to the rodeo arena. When Amberley Snyder was flung from her rolling pickup truck and through a wooden fence post, she lost the use of her legs- but she never lost hope. Amberley Snyder barrel racing on her 17 hand, ex-racehorse, ATP Power.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |