Rodeo captain back in the saddle

“I broke my back, I’m going into surgery, pray for my legs.”

On Jan. 10, 2010, Amberley Snyder left Logan, Utah on her way to a stock show in Denver, unaware that she would soon face an obstacle that would put her dreams on hold. Snyder, a competitive horseback rider and senior captain for Utah State University’s rodeo team, left in the early hours of the morning, stopping briefly at a gas station in Rawlins, Wyo. Shortly after her stop, having forgotten to re-fasten her seat belt, Snyder glanced at her passenger seat to check her map. By the time she looked back to the road, her truck had drifted over a lane. Snyder tried to correct her truck, but ended up catching the dirt on the side of the road.

“My truck started rolling,” Snyder said, “it rolled seven times, and during that I was ejected and hit a fence post across my stomach.”

Remaining conscious throughout the whole accident, Snyder sat in a snow bank looking at her truck and her scattered belongings on the side of the road.

“I realized I was thinking ok,” Snyder said. “I looked down and my fingers and moved my fingers on both of my hands and they were fine. I looked down at my toes and tried to move them, and nothing happened.”

Snyder immediately realized that something was wrong. Ten minutes later, a stranger stopped to help her and called an ambulance. While waiting for the paramedics, she sent a text out to her friends and family telling them what had happened, and that she was going into surgery.

“I broke my back, I’m going into surgery, pray for my legs.”

She then called her father, Cory Snyder, to tell him what had happened. Cory was in Hawaii coaching a baseball team at the time and described the call as “the worst call ever for a dad.” Amberley was then airlifted to a hospital in Casper, Wyo., where she had surgery on her back.

After surgery, the doctors told Amberley that the chances of her feeling or moving her legs again were “Slim to none— but more to the none”. Amberley said that even after hearing that news, quitting the sport that she loved was never an option.

Amberley showed an interest in horses from the time she was little, and started riding when she was just three years old.

“My mom realized that I liked horses,” Amberley said. “She really captured it and was super supportive and found a place for me to ride.”

Amberley started competing in rodeo at age seven, when her family moved to Utah from California. She has won seven saddles and over 70 buckles while competing in barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying and breakaway roping. In 2009, Snyder was named the Finals and World All-Around Cowgirl for the National Little Britches Rodeo Association. While still in the hospital, Snyder was trying to figure out how she was going to ride again.

Amberley’s father was not surprised at his daughter’s willingness to get back on her horse.

“Not being able to ride would be worse than her not being able to walk,” Cory said.

Though doctors told her that she would not be able to ride again, Amberley was back on a horse four months after surgery.

“Figuring out how to stay balanced and centered, that was the trickiest part,” Amberley said. “My legs moved around so much, my horse couldn’t figure out what I was asking.”

Amberley has a seatbelt that keeps her on the saddle, a second strap that holds her legs still, and a third strap that holds her completely centered. With the help of these straps, Snyder was able to return to rodeo, competing in breakaway roping, team roping, and taking first place in barrel racing as a senior captain for Utah State University’s rodeo team.

After surgery, Snyder was listed as a ‘complete injury’, meaning that there was no chance of her ever walking or having feeling in her legs. Two days after surgery, Snyder felt a spot on her leg, and she was moved to ‘incomplete injury’. Snyder has since regained sensation a little below her knees and can move a few muscles. She hasn’t put a timetable on when she will walk again, saying that it’s “in God’s time.”

Amberley never doubted that she would learn how to walk again

“It’s not ‘if’ I’m going to walk, it’s just when,” Amberley said. “Only you can decide what you’re capable of. There were people the whole way putting limits on me. If I want to do it, I’m going to figure it out. Persevering through challenges is something that everybody has to do, that’s no different in my situation.”