Running On Passion

Amberley Snyder was 3 years old when she found her passion for horseback riding. Following her father’s retirement from professional baseball, her family moved to Utah. She claimed that she would only go if she got a barrel racing horse upon arrival. At 17, Snyder began her rodeo career with her new horse, as promised. Her family encouraged her to be competitive in barrel racing, pole bending, breakaway roping, and goat tying. Snyder did not disappoint. In 2009, she qualified for the National High School Rodeo Finals in pole bending and was awarded the National Little Britches Rodeo Association All-Around Cowgirl World title at 18. She was also highly involved in Future Farmers of America and was elected as Utah’s FFA state president. She had big goals to compete in college rodeo and eventually compete professionally.

On January 10, 2010, she jumped into her truck at 4:30 a.m. and started driving from Logan, Utah to Denver, Colorado. After a few hours of driving she stopped at McDonald’s in Evanston, Wyoming and then again in Rawlins, Wyoming for gas. Her stomach aching, Snyder went to buckle her seatbelt again and hesitated, so she kept it off with the intention of putting it back on later. Just a few miles down the road in Sinclair, Wyoming, she grabbed her map and looked down at it for a few seconds. Looking up, she had faded over into the other lane and was now heading towards a mile marker on the other side of the road. She grabbed the wheel to correct the truck and slid across the highway. With two hands on the wheel, she briefly guided her truck straight. Then her truck fishtailed and flipped, and at 75 mph she started to roll. She closed her eyes and accepted what seemed like imminent death as her truck lifted off the ground. She slammed through the driver’s side window and felt herself hit something. She did not know it at the time, but when she was ejected she hit a post. She opened her eyes, and was sitting on the side of the road in a snowbank, staring at her truck.

When Snyder later woke up in the hospital she was told that she broke her back, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors gave her a slim chance to walk again, and riding was completely out of the picture. She went back to her room and cried. She would not be able to haul her horses if she could not drive a truck. The next morning Snyder told her physical and occupational therapists that she wanted all of their efforts put towards helping her drive her truck. Every session was spent gaining strength and practicing pulling herself in and out of her truck. The goal of Snyder’s recovery was always to be able to compete on her horses and she decided that no matter what it took, she would ride again. Getting back in her truck was the first step in gaining her independence and allowing her to haul her horses.

Countless physical therapy appointments and creative adaptations to her routine were key, and just four short months later she got back in the saddle. After that first ride, she realized that riding would never be the same. Everything was different, especially her balance. Her goal was still to ride competitively, so they got creative. The process to find the best and safest way to ride post accident was trial and error. Snyder now relies on a seat belt and leg straps attached to the saddle, along with a cushioned seat to keep balanced and reduce pressure sores, and rubber bands to keep her feet in the stirrups. Her legs used to be a key aid while riding but now she can only rely on her hands and her voice. The work was worth it for Snyder for her to get back to some sort of normalcy in her riding career.

About 18 months after her accident, Snyder entered her first rodeo. She did the time only, a sector of the race designed to see how well you do against the clock. People stuck around as she cruised through the first run. Onlookers were clapping and cheering and crying, but she told them to wait. She turned her horse Power around and went again, but this time they were running at full speed. They ended up with a time just one second off of what they had been running before the accident.

Despite the obstacles, Snyder didn’t just want to race again, she wanted to compete at the highest level. Before her accident, she had won over 70 buckles. It took her six years, but she eventually earned her first buckle in barrel racing without the use of her legs. She was the 1D Champion at the Legacy barrel race, proving Snyder had the potential to race at the level she had strived to be at her whole career.

Barrel racing is a team sport between horse and rider. Snyder attributes her pro rodeo accomplishments largely to her horse Legacy, aka “Legs.” He was the first horse she trained after her accident, and is still one of her main competition horses. At first, Legacy only knew how to stop and spin. She had to teach him everything he needed to know in order to be successful on the barrel pattern. He was naturally more athletic, smart and willing, than any horse she had ever owned.

It was important that he was a good teammate for Snyder. She explains, “some horses recognize that my legs don’t work and are fine with it and they still want to do their best job, versus other horses [they] recognize that my legs don’t work and they take advantage of it.”

Legacy never took advantage of Snyder’s disability, and their connection and skill grew as they competed on the road. Rodeo after rodeo, they improved.

Snyder says, “it was fun that we could still do what I wanted to do. You know, I didn’t know what to expect. If I was going to be able to train another one or even ride another one. And I would say we were just on the climb.”

In 2017, they took a fall at a rodeo that left Snyder with a broken leg, an accident that would have lasting mental effects on her and Legacy. She rode differently, even though she didn’t think she would, and to this day, Legacy is way more careful. If he isn’t sure that the ground is safe he slows way down. He doesn’t fully understand that he is participating in a speed sport, he just knows he needs to protect her, and he never takes that responsibility lightly.

“On occasion it’s frustrating,” says Snyder. “That shifted us a lot but it also put a lot of trust between me and him that when he does that I know he does it for a reason and that he’s gonna go out there and take care of me is the bottom line.” points in the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association. These rodeos are mentally and physically exhausting for anyone, but for Snyder she has to battle her body’s inability to keep up with everything she wants to do. She has to be conscious that she doesn’t stay in the saddle for too long or she will develop pressure sores and she has to plan for downtime and breaks because getting sick or injured can keep her out of the game a lot longer than her competitors.

Before a rodeo, Snyder has to prepare her horses for a race differently than other competitors. For her, all the prep work is done before they get to the event. If her horse were to turn too tight, or slow down on the way home, things that could be fixed with leg pressure, her run could be jeopardized. Tuning up and training her horses at home is essential for success. Along with that, Snyder’s horses have to be just as mentally ready to run as they are physically. Barrel racing is a speed sport so if her horses are not mentally prepared to run fast, then there is nothing she can do about it.

“My horses are probably a little more amped up in the alleyway than others,” says Snyder. “But I do that because I need them to run hard”.

Snyder doesn’t have the convenience of independence. While it is true that she can do most everything to get herself and her horses ready to run at a rodeo, it is unrealistic for her to do it alone. She travels to the rodeo road with her good friend Emmy Peterson, who helps her as they compete for money and

An intense passion for horses has always coursed through Snyder’s veins, but her passion for public speaking sparked after her injury. Exactly three months after her accident, Snyder gave a motivational speech that she had written before the accident. She has now spoken in 42 states, with the goal of making her way to all 50. Inspiring people with her story has become an opportunity that she is grateful for. She also has a YouTube channel and social media presence that blew up through her series Wheelchair Wednesdays, where she shares things that have become more challenging after her accident, and how she navigates them.

With over 430,000 Instagram followers and 35,200 subscribers on YouTube, she has fans wherever she goes, her successes and failures always on display. Now at every rodeo, no matter the size, the stands are filled with inspired young cowgirls with their cameras out. The pressure that pro rodeos put on athletes is already immense with the list of rules and penalty fees, as well as the hope of making the travel and preparation for the race worth it. That is only amplified for the riders with a large following. Whether or not she is running at a finals rodeo, or a local jackpot, she feels the pressure to be present for her fans.

“I go out there and I can make the worst run I’ve ever made and there’s still people that want to take pictures and want to meet me and want to spend time on any of that,” says Snyder. “And I think that learning how to be present for those people is a skill that I’ve had to learn.”

In addition to her fans, she has an amazing family that has supported her throughout, standing by her every step of the way after the accident. She considers Peterson and her rodeo coach, Stacy Glause, a part of that support system. Her parents instilled hard work and perseverance early in her riding career which has been vital to her recovery. Her brothers have especially been her rock and have carried her metaphorically and physically throughout her life. With the help of what she calls her army, she has continued doing what she loves.

In 2015, after her success in the American Rodeo, a production company approached her about making a movie about her experience. She initially declined the offer because she did not want to make her family relive such a traumatic experience. They had been through hospital stays, physical therapy appointments, and most of all, the fear of losing Snyder. Her parents insisted she do it. In March of 2019, Walk. Ride. Rodeo. was released on Netflix. Spencer Lock was chosen to play Snyder, and under her conditions, Snyder played her post accident stunt double. Before filming started, Lock went out to Snyder’s property to learn the basics of riding horses and being in a wheelchair. For the riding scenes of the movie, pre accident, Snyder’s sister played Lock’s stunt double. Snyder was on set for every scene until the wreck scene.

She originally thought that she would be able to handle reliving that traumatic moment, but then the director sat her down, explaining that they would recreate her truck rolling, pulling off a serious stunt, and that after the shot people would be cheering. She decided not to attend, hesitant to relive that experience again. Aside from that, she watched her entire experience unfold on set.

Snyder lived through a horrific, life-altering wreck. Instead of throwing in the towel, she faced her trauma head on, getting back in the truck and on the horse. Snyder may not have her legs to carry her, but her drive and passion has taken her farther than she ever thought possible.