September 14th and 15th marked the kickoff of SDSU and BHSU college rodeo seasons! The teams made a trip to River Falls, Wisconsin where they competed in the first of four Great Plains Region rodeos scheduled for the fall season. The Great Plains Region consists of 14 college teams from Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Those teams will compete against each other again in a series of rodeos in the spring. Points are earned at each of these regional rodeos, both individually and for the team, to qualify for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyoming, June 11-15, where qualifiers from all regions compete for a "Championship Title".
Both South Dakota schools represented the state well to start the season off. SDSU's men's and women's teams finished first and second, and BHSU's men's and women's teams finished fourth and third, respectively. The teams have a couple weeks off, but will have a full weekend of more rodeo action soon. They compete in Fort Dodge, Iowa, October 4th and 5th and then in Aimes, Iowa, October 6th and 7th.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Amberley Snyder - A Miracle Story
I was recently flipping through a Rodeo News Magazine about ready to throw it away when some of the photos in the feature story caught my eye. I flipped to the beginning and started reading a story I found amazing.
Amberley Snyder, now 21 and daughter of former Los Angeles Dodger, Cory Snyder, started riding when she was three in California. She begged her mom to let her ride until she finally found a place to take Amberley. When the family moved to Utah, Amberley said she'd only move if she could have a palomino horse. Needless to say she got that horse and from there, her rodeo journey began. She won the National Little Britches Finals All Around Title in 2009 and qualified for the National High School Finals in pole bending that same year. Since she was accepted to Oklahoma Panhandle State with a full ride academic scholarship, she decided to make a call to the rodeo coach to rodeo. She had so much going for her!
On January 10, 2010, things changed. Amberley was on her way to Denver, CO for the National Western Stock Show when she rolled her pickup. She hadn't put her seat belt on yet after just making a stop in Rawlins, WY, and was ejected, hitting a fencepost and breaking her back. She was flown to Casper, WY where she was told she broke her T12 vertebrae in her spine and would never move anything from the waist down again. However. it is possible for her to regain movement in some muscles because her spinal cord was never severed. For now, though, Amberley is confined to a wheelchair.
Aside from walking, riding horses was an aspect of Amberley's life she wasn't willing to give up. When the doctors told her she'd have to find something else to do, she replied by saying "Riding horses is not what I do, it's who I am." It was a long process getting in the saddle again, the first time being just 4 months after her accident. At one point she even told her mom just to sell the horses and went off to college. She gave it another chance, though, and decided that although riding won't be the same, it was okay. She says she's "riding on hope" and is planning to start making Pro rodeos next year.
Amberley has gone to Florida to do some therapy with the hope of regaining some muscle use in the future and is now driving with hand controls. She even has recently convinced her mom to put them in her F250 so she can pull a trailer. I think anyone, whether you are interested in or participate in rodeo or not, can be inspired by Amberley. She says the biggest thing she has learned from her accident is to "take advantage of every run- you never know if it might be our last. Feel blessed that you are there. You get to go- if anything in life goes wrong, don't let it keep you down. It's frustrating for me to see people whose lives are wasted because they are down about something. I have learned to never let someone else tell me what I am capable of... what I want to accomplish is up to me in life." I just love this story! I can definitely take something from it and apply what she learned about her accident to my own life.
Amberley Snyder, now 21 and daughter of former Los Angeles Dodger, Cory Snyder, started riding when she was three in California. She begged her mom to let her ride until she finally found a place to take Amberley. When the family moved to Utah, Amberley said she'd only move if she could have a palomino horse. Needless to say she got that horse and from there, her rodeo journey began. She won the National Little Britches Finals All Around Title in 2009 and qualified for the National High School Finals in pole bending that same year. Since she was accepted to Oklahoma Panhandle State with a full ride academic scholarship, she decided to make a call to the rodeo coach to rodeo. She had so much going for her!
On January 10, 2010, things changed. Amberley was on her way to Denver, CO for the National Western Stock Show when she rolled her pickup. She hadn't put her seat belt on yet after just making a stop in Rawlins, WY, and was ejected, hitting a fencepost and breaking her back. She was flown to Casper, WY where she was told she broke her T12 vertebrae in her spine and would never move anything from the waist down again. However. it is possible for her to regain movement in some muscles because her spinal cord was never severed. For now, though, Amberley is confined to a wheelchair.
Aside from walking, riding horses was an aspect of Amberley's life she wasn't willing to give up. When the doctors told her she'd have to find something else to do, she replied by saying "Riding horses is not what I do, it's who I am." It was a long process getting in the saddle again, the first time being just 4 months after her accident. At one point she even told her mom just to sell the horses and went off to college. She gave it another chance, though, and decided that although riding won't be the same, it was okay. She says she's "riding on hope" and is planning to start making Pro rodeos next year.
Amberley has gone to Florida to do some therapy with the hope of regaining some muscle use in the future and is now driving with hand controls. She even has recently convinced her mom to put them in her F250 so she can pull a trailer. I think anyone, whether you are interested in or participate in rodeo or not, can be inspired by Amberley. She says the biggest thing she has learned from her accident is to "take advantage of every run- you never know if it might be our last. Feel blessed that you are there. You get to go- if anything in life goes wrong, don't let it keep you down. It's frustrating for me to see people whose lives are wasted because they are down about something. I have learned to never let someone else tell me what I am capable of... what I want to accomplish is up to me in life." I just love this story! I can definitely take something from it and apply what she learned about her accident to my own life.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Etbauer Brothers - 2012 ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inductees
The ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs inducted seven new members at their annual Induction Ceremony in July. Among those seven were Ree Heights, SD natives and professional rodeo legends, Robert and Billy Etbauer. You may wonder, "Why is this such a big deal?" These brothers have truly amazing accomplishments and the honor of induction into the Hall of Fame is well deserved. Through the 1990's, the three Etbauer brothers- Robert, Billy, and Dan, dominated the saddle bronc event. Robert and Billy won seven world titles over an eleven year span. Pooling their resources and traveling together, they thought of themselves as a team, along with what they called their "fourth brother", Craig Latham. They are the only set of three brothers to qualify in the same roughstock event in the same year. They did so not once, but EIGHT times. Dan is the only of three that has not yet been inducted to the Hall of Fame.
It is the individual accomplishments of the Etbauer brothers that is truly outstanding. Now residing in Oklahoma, South Dakota can still claim the brothers as their own. Of the three Etbauer brothers, Robert was the first of the Etbauer brothers to start his endeavor on the rodeo trail. He established himself a champion on the road starting with winning the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding Rookie of the Year in 1985. He would make a trip to the National Finals Rodeo twelve times (1988-92, 1994-2000), winning back-to-back world championships in 1990-91. In addition to those gold buckles, he was also reserve world champion in 1992 to his brother, Billy.
Billy is the better-known of the brothers and is a rodeo icon of his generation. His first appearance at the NFR in 1989 kicked off his 21 consecutive year field record of doing so, winning an NFR-record 51 rounds and earning over $1 million years at one season-ending championship alone. Billy followed Trevor Brazille as the second cowboy to ever win more than $3 million career earnings. However, what sets him apart was the fact he won that in one single event. The oldest roughstock world champion in history, Etbauer won five buckles; just one short of the event record set by two other rodeo legends, Casey Tibbs, also a South Dakota cowboy, and Dan Mortenson.
It is the individual accomplishments of the Etbauer brothers that is truly outstanding. Now residing in Oklahoma, South Dakota can still claim the brothers as their own. Of the three Etbauer brothers, Robert was the first of the Etbauer brothers to start his endeavor on the rodeo trail. He established himself a champion on the road starting with winning the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding Rookie of the Year in 1985. He would make a trip to the National Finals Rodeo twelve times (1988-92, 1994-2000), winning back-to-back world championships in 1990-91. In addition to those gold buckles, he was also reserve world champion in 1992 to his brother, Billy.
Billy is the better-known of the brothers and is a rodeo icon of his generation. His first appearance at the NFR in 1989 kicked off his 21 consecutive year field record of doing so, winning an NFR-record 51 rounds and earning over $1 million years at one season-ending championship alone. Billy followed Trevor Brazille as the second cowboy to ever win more than $3 million career earnings. However, what sets him apart was the fact he won that in one single event. The oldest roughstock world champion in history, Etbauer won five buckles; just one short of the event record set by two other rodeo legends, Casey Tibbs, also a South Dakota cowboy, and Dan Mortenson.
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