A Women’s Professional Rodeo Association barrel racer who overcame losing the use of her legs as a teen shared her inspirational story with Scotts Bluff County residents this week.
Amberley Snyder was left paralyzed from the waist down just shy of her 18th birthday, but thanks to fierce personal determination, her horse “Power,” and a modified saddle with seatbelts, she competed in the American Rodeo in 2015, made the Wilderness Circuit Finals in 2021 and 2022, and continues to turn barrels to this day.
Snyder told KNEB News part of her motivational message is that people need to believe in themselves, and can’t dwell on what might have been. “I can think about that for a minute, but realistically, what good does that do? You know, I feel like this is the situation that I’m in, this is the position that I’m at, and I need to make the best of exactly where I am versus of trying to be like, well, if I could have done, well, that doesn’t matter, it’s not an option,” said Snyder. “So, I feel like really just focusing on what I’m doing now, and the opportunities I have now. Just makes life a lot better that way, and so that’s really where I like to be.”
As a member of FFA leadership her senior year in high school, speaking publicly came naturally to Snyder, who took up motivational speaking as a vocation 10 years ago, and she tells us she strives to inspire others with her story.
“I met a gentleman once who had written a suicide letter, and then he heard me speak and decided that life was still worth living. So, I mean, if you can get anything that’s that intense to just change their perspective or change their day, or just going to help them with a family member. I mean, it’s it’s every story, right? You know, I’m, I’m glad that just by sharing mine, I could have that impact,” Snyder said.
She told us she’s experienced those dark moments, and hopes her story can motivate others to believe in themselves and ‘get back on the horse’.
“It’s all just comes down to our focus and how we want to see something. I mean, you can be presented with any situation, good or bad, and you get to choose how you want to take it,” said Snyder. “It’s a whole glass half full concept, and I just figure I can’t change this, this is where I’m at, so I’m going to make it something better.”
Snyder’s story of triumph over tragedy is one that’s lead to an expansion of her presentation from in-person presentations to an impact on video screens. She made a short cameo appearance on the popular TV series ‘Yellowstone’ as an inspiration for one of the main characters. Snyder told us she’s friends with Jake Ream, one of the ranch hands in the series, and when producer Taylor Sheridan had need of providing that needed inspiration, Ream told him he knew just the person for the job.
You can follow her “Wheelchair Wednesdays” posts through social media, and her story can be seen in the Netflix biographical movie “Walk. Ride. Rodeo.” While she doesn’t play herself in the movie, Amberley is the horse riding stunt-double for the character after becoming paralyzed, and her younger sister does the same for riding scenes before the crash.
Amberley’s appearances in Gering and Mitchell were sponsored by Humanities Nebraska, Westco, 21st Century Equipment, Beck’s Seeds, Platte Valley Companies, CW Yount Foundation, Kelley Bean Company, Silver Spur Feeders, and the Gering Public Library Foundation.
