From the Herald Tribune
February 11, 2009
Her horses, Jay and Tonto, are about all she has left.
“I lost my job and my house. I’m not losin’ these guys,” she said. Without them, she would be on foot.
Hoping to reach Ocala in two weeks, Byrne made her way through Hillsborough County Tuesday, riding Tonto and leading Jay, who was loaded down with about 100 pounds of everything she owns, her clothes, a tent and some blankets. She planned to reach Dade City by Wednesday.
With her dusty white cowboy hat pulled low, shading blue eyes and a weathered face, she and the horses stood on the side of U.S. 301 in Riverview Tuesday morning. Six lanes of traffic whooshed by, drivers honking, waving and yelling out.
By evening, she was north of Interstate 4. Getting her horses over I-4 on the 301 overpass was touch and go, she said. Tonto spooked and stepped off the shoulder, forcing a truck to swerve out of the way. Otherwise, the horses have kept their heads.
Byrne, 44, was headed to a horse auction in Ocala, where she hoped to get a few days’ work. Then she will move on to Texas, maybe Amarillo. She has never been there, but she knows they have ranches. And that is the kind of work she is looking for.
She is not sure she will make it, but she is getting help. Tonto threw a shoe Monday, and when Tonya Halvorsrod read about it in a story about Byrne on TBO.com, she called her husband, a farrier.
“My wife called,” said Clint Halvorsrod. “She was like, ‘Honey, you have to help her.'” So he cruised 301 until he spotted Byrne and pulled over with his mobile horseshoing rig. Byrne was shocked, but relieved to see him. He ended up putting new shoes on both horses.
“She has a long way to go,” he said. “It’s really hard right now; everyone needs help.”
Byrne started working with horses when she was a teenager, at stables around Tampa.
“I can ride and rope cattle,” she said. “I’m a cowgirl. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
Back in the ’90s she worked on a ranch in Montana for a while. She also drove a truck, until she got too many speeding tickets and got caught driving with a suspended license.
She tended cattle in Arcadia until the operation shut down a few months ago, she says. Then she went to work in a plant that made butterflies out of silk. That was not for her.
“They said I wasn’t making them right,” she said.
So when she lost that job and lost her home because she could not pay the rent, she decided to take off, to find a real ranch. One day, she said, she would like to have land of her own, in Montana with mountains in the background and a free-flowing stream, a private place where she could live her own life and not have to deal with nosy, critical people.
She does not have any family except a brother she does not speak to. But she has friends, she said, who tried to talk her out of making the trip.
Now for my rant.
If I were faced with helping this woman, I’m not sure, really what I’d do.
Part of me would want to scream at her- how dare you make bad choices, and be irresponsible. Don’t we all know what can happen if you get too many tickets? Of course you’re going to lose your driver’s license!
And another part of me would want to scream at her because you know what? We’ve all had tough times. I’ve had to sell my beloved horses to get out of tough spots. Look, I love my horses more than most, but regardless, HORSES ARE A LUXURY ITEM! THEY ARE SOMETHING MOST WOULD CONSIDER AS DISCRETIONARY. But not this woman. No. She can afford to feed two horses a month, and pay board on them, but she can’t afford to keep her house? She can’t hold down a job-unless it’s on a ranch? She lost her driver’s license because of irresponsible driving. She apparently wasn’t doing the butterflies-out-of-silk job correctly. Was that by choice, because she didn’t like it? What happened to priorities? What happened to rolling up your sleeves and doing what needs to be done to make ends meet. What has happened to personal responsibility? Could she have gotten a room-mate to share expenses? From the other news stories I’ve read the woman has no job lined up in Texas. She’s just headed West. Though I’m sure that now with all the press she’s getting someone will provide her with a job. That’s all well and good I suppose, but will she ever learn from her mistakes if she’s continually enabled to make bad decisions?
The more I think about it the more I guess I could see that this (trip) might possibly be the repercussion of her bad decisions. But that still doesn’t make me admire her. I would have admired her more had she sold her horses, or not had too many speeding tickets.
I’m not altogether sure why this story rubs me the wrong way, but it certainly does.
Look, I want everyone to be successful and do what they love. But sometimes, life throws us curve balls and we have to figure out how deal with those. And sometimes that involves doing things we don’t like; things we don’t want to do. Sometimes it involves working 3 jobs at once (like I’ve done). Sometimes it involves working for less than we believe we are worth. Sometimes it involves having a room-mate. Sometimes it involves selling your equines or cows or clothes, or what have you. Sometimes, maybe, I’m just a cold-hearted bitch?
I’d love to hear you weigh in on this- especially those of you that own horses.
I am in complete agreement with you! To me she comes off very irresponsible and a tad selfish. I am definitely one for going after your dreams and living a passion filled life. But at what cost and in my opinion she is looking for a handout. We all make hard choices, we all go through tough times. But its the selfish people who refuse to look at the reality of things and make smart decisions that really irk me. We have lived in a horse trailer, worked more than one job, and had a few years we didn’t own a horse but only had paying horses in the barn. Why, because we had responsibilities and didn’t live life on a whim. I just think she is a bad example of a cowgirl in all honesty.
That is the other thing that irks me- is that I do believe she is a bad example of a cowgirl. Look at the hardworking women of yesteryear that truly were cowgirls- lots of them are in the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, and they busted their asses. I think in a simpler time it was harder for people to be irresponsible. I could be wrong.
k so this post totally has me fired up now (as if my server issues were not enough HA!) but your right. Where is the REAL work ethic? I know there is barns around Florida, she couldn’t get a job there? Also if she really wanted to live in Texas, she couldn’t set up a job before hand? Also what if one of her horses gets sick or hurt? She is a very irresponsible horse owner and person in general. The sad thing is her attitude is not that rare, I know plenty of lopers at cutting barns living with the same entitled attitude. Now I have to go do some chores, I actually HAVE to be responsible.
I agree with your thoughts on this article.
All it is another example of people who do not live in the real world unless they need something.
Another ridiculous media waste of space
I guess our minus 40 temps serve a purpose after all as this couldn’t happen up here
I know I had to buy a $266 car so we’d have something for Don to get back and forth to work…I agree that is totally uncalled for. We all go through tough times…most of us do what is necessary to get over it especially if we want to keep our beloved luxuries.
Okay, I’m trying to look at the other side of this, because if you read my latest post, I’m trying to be more positive.
I look at this as an adventure. How freaking cool would it be to travel across the country on horseback? BUT, I would only do it if I had places in mind to keep my horses for the night, feed them properly and stay in a room. I mean, come on, how dangerous is it for her AND the horses? Yea, she made mistakes, but she is being proative. I don’t think she is doing it for the attention, like “Hey everyone! I screwd up my life but look what I’m doing!”. To her, it was the only option, at least she isn’t on welfare, or asking for handouts, but I can’t help but keep thing, “What an adventure!”.
She is not a cowgirl or a horsewomen. She just wants her 15 mins of fame
as you all know, many of the Europeans think that the Americans are stupid… and they are not far from the truth. instead of supporting a human in need, you just go and blame her for trying to do something with her life (you actually think she does this for fame, you are wrong, very wrong)… you tell me which options can have an unemployed 44 years old woman?
please excuse my English.
Look, Anonymous, I don’t really care what the Europeans think of us, quite frankly. And I’m tired of hearing about what they think.
Furthermore- there are programs to help a woman such as this. Government programs such as unemployment and I know for a fact that there have been people helping her along the way.
I just vehemently disagree with helping people who are irresponsible. If we always help them when they’re irresponsible they’ll never learn different. But that is the difference in world view.
I want each individual to be responsible for themselves; I do not wish the government be our nanny, mom or dad and *take care of us*. I don’t need the government to take care of me. Nor do I want it.