January 27, 2017
CapitalPress.com
A different rodeo rider to
share her story with FFA
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
FFA students at this year’s
Spokane Ag Expo and Pacif-
ic Northwest Farm Forum
will hear from an inspiring
keynote speaker who will tell
them about her journey back
from a devastating truck ac-
cident to become a competi-
tive rodeo rider and state FFA
president.
Her name is Amberley
Snyder. She is a barrel racer,
breakaway roper and motiva-
tional speaker from Utah.
In 2010 she was involved
in an accident while on her
way to the Denver Stock Show
and Rodeo. Driving from her
home in Utah through Sin-
clair, Wyo., she looked down
at a map. A few seconds lat-
er, she looked up and realized
her truck had drifted and was
heading toward a metal beam.
In an effort to get back to
her lane, Snyder overcorrect-
ed. Her truck slid off the road
and rolled, ejecting her. She
slammed into a fence post that
broke her back. She imme-
diately lost all feeling in her
legs.
Snyder’s doctor told her
she would never regain use
of her legs, according to Sny-
der’s website.
“The top priority for Am-
berley was not even to walk,
but to ride her horses again,”
her website states.
Eighteen months later, she
was riding again.
Snyder figured out how to
barrel race using a seatbelt
and straps to hold her in place.
She competes in both barrel
racing and breakaway roping.
She says her favorite part
of barrel racing is the combi-
nation of competition, speed
and horses.
“How can you not love
it?” she said in an email to the
Capital Press.
She doesn’t find it hard to
talk about the accident.
“I feel that I have a pur-
pose to serve,” she said. She
hopes to tell FFA members
“that they can overcome the
obstacles in their lives.”
Snyder was Utah FFA’s
state president in 2009-2010.
“I am a speaker because of
FFA,” she said.
Pacific Northwest Farm
Forum board member Mike
Poulson recommended Sny-
der for the event.
“I thought she was a very
good inspirational speaker for
those kids,” he said. “She’s
a young person who’s gone
through some tremendous ad-
versity and still has a positive
attitude.”
Snyder graduated with a
bachelor’s degree in agricul-
ture education in 2015. She
is pursuing a master’s degree
in counseling and competes
on the Utah State University
rodeo team.
Courtesy photo
Amberley Snyder will tell her in-
spirational story to Washington
FFA students at the Spokane
Ag Expo at 9 a.m. Thursday,
Feb. 9, in the convention cen-
ter’s lower level ballroom.
SAE17-4/#14
SPAE17-1/#14
9