Triumph over Tragedy

If you haven't heard the name Amberley Snyder, it's someone you need to know. She's a former Utah FFA state president and National Little Britches Rodeo world champion who is confined to a wheelchair after wrecking her truck and breaking her back.

SNYDER: When I get on my horses I get to leave my wheelchair and my trailer and I get to get on and I forget about that. I strap myself in. I have a seatbelt on my saddle. I have velcro straps that go around my legs to hold them still and I just worry about what I can control. I worry about my balance and my hands in order to really still communicate with my horse while I'm competing.

She spoke at the National FFA Convention last fall and will be a speaker at the Ag Expo's Farm Forum in February and she still competes in barrel racing and breakaway roping.

SNYDER: I mean there are definitely some challenges when you can't kick and you can't cue your horses with your legs but I mean for the most part I feel like it is working out pretty well. My horses have been really good about it though. I don't have anybody else get on them to retrain them, I didn't have anybody else try to teach them anything, I just - I got on.

She shares the how the conversation with the doctors went when they told her she needed to come to terms with the broken back and find another hobby.

SNYDER: Competing in rodeo, that's going to be impossible. And I just said, no I don't think you guys understand this is what I do. This is a part of who I am, this rodeo side of me so I'll figure out what I'm going to do to do it. Definitely not a hobby. It's definitely a part of my lifestyle.

If you would like to learn more about Snyder you can go to her website at amberleysnyder.org