Injured rodeo contender makes amazing return to competition
Amberley Snyder, a junior majoring in agriculture education, has been riding horses for almost her entire life, but after the strongest year of her rodeo career, her life changed dramatically in 2009.
After an automobile accident left her paralyzed from the hips down, doctors told her she would never ride a horse again.
“The doctor walked in and started talking about my legs. He said I might be paralyzed,” Snyder said of days following her accident. “I asked him what the chances were of feeling my legs again, and he said, ‘Slim to none – but more to the none.'”
Nearly five years later, Snyder is on the USU rodeo team and competes at the same rate she did before the accident.
The diagnosis came as a shock to the then-18-year-old rodeo enthusiast, who had been riding horses since she was three.
“2009 was a huge year for me,” she said. “This was the year before my accident. I made high school nationals, went to Colorado and came home with the world and final all-around title, and left placing in the top six in three of my four events.”
Snyder was serving as the president of Utah’s chapter of Future Farmers of America at the time of the accident. During a month-long break, she was offered a job in Denver that would last for a few weeks. She accepted and started her drive to Denver on Jan. 10, 2010.
“I left Logan to make my way to Denver at 4 o’clock in the morning so I could get there at a decent hour,” Snyder said. “I had stopped in Rawlins, and when I got back in my truck I just hadn’t put my seat belt back on because I was doing other things. I wear my seatbelt all the time, but I was just focusing on other things and it slipped my mind.”
Snyder looked down in her lap to check her map, looked up and saw she was drifting into another lane, heading toward a mile marker.
“I grabbed my wheel to correct my truck, and because I was going so fast, it sent me sliding across the road,” Snyder said. “So in the end I ended up rolling, but I was ejected from the truck because my seat belt wasn’t on.”
Snyder said she was conscious for the entire accident and remembers the sensation of hearing her truck rolling without being in there.
“I didn’t even think I was going to be alive after this,” Snyder said.
After being ejected from her car, Snyder opened her eyes and found herself on the side of the road in a snow bank.
“I was ejected going 70 mph out of my window and hit a fence post on the side of the road and folded around it. That is when I broke my back,” Snyder said. “My first thought was, ‘I’m alive.’ I looked down and moved my fingers, then looked down to move my toes and I couldn’t.”
Snyder was flown by medical helicopter to Casper, Wyo., where surgery was performed.
Jeffrey Ha
ll, the USU rodeo coach, is pleased with the way Snyder handled the situation and appreciates the contribution she brings to the USU team.
“Amberley is currently ranked 7th in the Rocky Mountain Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association,” Hall said. “To put that into perspective, there have been 73 barrel racers from 10 different colleges and universities that have competed at the four fall rodeos. Thus, I am pleased.”
Snyder’s goal is to make it into the national finals in Casper. She said the thought of making it to nationals and asking the doctors who performed her back surgery to come and watch her ride on a horse gives her chills.
“Last month I told the commissioner of the NIRA that she has the potential to qualify for the College National Finals,” Hall said.
Hannah Egbert, a freshman majoring in equine science, is also on the USU rodeo team. Egbert was in a car accident before the last rodeo and fractured her ankle.
“I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to run and everyone told me not to – the doctor, my family and my coach,” Egbert said. “Amberley believed in me. She said she would actually stay and watch that night. She doesn’t let anything discourage her, so I couldn’t either.”
Snyder had more of an impact on Egbert’s decision to compete in the Logan Rodeo than she thought.
“Just last weekend, one of the other girls on the team broke a bone in her ankle in a car accident, but competed anyway,” Hall said. “This girl won the second round and the average title. When I questioned her as to why she competed, she pointed to Amberley as her motivation to compete through the pain.”
Snyder has a Facebook page where she posts updates, thoughts, listens to others stories and schedules motivational speeches with people who inquire about her experiences.
“There was never a doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t be riding my horse again,” Snyder said.