story by Lily Weinacht
Sydney Blevins tied for the 2015 NLBRA Senior Girl Trail Course World Champion with Kendall McHugh, and for the 16 year old from Elbert, Colo., her first world title comes after a second chance at life.
Just weeks after competing in the 2014 NLBFR, Sydney’s life turned wild as a bucking bronc. An afternoon trail ride ended almost before it began when a pony Sydney was training spooked in the parking area and ended up rolling over the NLBRA member of ten years, leaving Sydney with a fractured skull, two brain bleeds, a broken jaw, and a burst eardrum. “I was going out with my mom and some friends for a trail ride, and I was planning to ride a project pony, who was doing really good,” Sydney remembers. “She felt a little goofy, but I kept hold of her face, and just after I got on, I remember feeling her move and seeing the ground.” Sydney’s memory fades after this, but her mom, Julie Gritz, recalls that the pony lost its footing after it bucked, and fell down, rolling over Sydney in a matter of seconds and stepping on her head as it scrambled back up. “I woke up a few seconds later, and my memory comes back when I heard the ambulances coming,” says Sydney. She spent a week in the ICU, and once she was stable, visited two plastic surgeons and an oral maxillofacial surgeon. “My recovery time was three to six months before I could get back on a horse. I had to eat soft foods, and my balance was off, so I had to be in a wheelchair or walk with someone.”
Yet for as difficult of an injury as Sydney was recovering from, there was an equally unshakable NLBRA family at Sydney and Julie’s side. “The Little Britches family played a lot into my recovery. I had so many people praying for me and calling, or even coming by and bringing groceries,” says Sydney. She returned to school gradually, and ended up finishing her freshman year of high school through homeschooling, which she continues to do today as a sophomore.
What drove Sydney the most through the healing process, however, was the very thing that had set her back – horses. “I never thought about not getting back on,” she says emphatically. “That wasn’t an option for me. I got back on three months after my accident, and I was a little scared. Chance, the horse I won the World on, wasn’t the first horse I got back on, but he was the one I rode the most – he was home base.” As the support from her family, friends, and horses, healed Sydney, she says that her accident was a big learning experience. “It taught me to be happy with myself. I only have a tiny scar under my chin, and I’ve learned to be a lot more appreciative. There were days after the accident that I would have paid to look like I did on my rough days before the accident happened!”
On the rodeo trail once more, Sydney continues to compete in her NLBRA events of breakaway roping, barrel racing, and trail course, and she is more frequent in buckling on one of her favorite helmets. She gives much of the credit to her horse for winning the world title. “We had a few bobbles, but that horse was determined to win,” Sydney says with a laugh. “He’s my number one horse, and I also rope off him. He’s a mutton withered bay that we bought as a skinny horse with rain rot from Virginia, but Mom liked his eye. Trail is my second favorite event, but I am a barrel racer by heart,” says Sydney. “None of the events are easy, but I love the speed and the adrenaline and the pressure. I also like to show my horses’ ability. The rewards of rodeo are amazing, and so are the relationships you build with people and horses along the way.”
Sydney alternates horses for barrel racing, sometimes riding her mom’s horse – a Firewater bred mare – or jockeying one of the horses the mother and daughter are training through their business, JS Barrel Racing. Sydney and Julie are tighter knit every day. Julie bought her first horse when she was 21 and introduced Sydney to the equine world as a baby. “My mom is a real hand – she trains all of our horses and I jockey them,” explains Sydney, who also enters local races in addition to Little Britches. “A career goal of mine is to make our business bigger now that we have a clientele started. We want to train and sell horses so that other people can be great with them.”
When she has the time to work on her own horses, Sydney takes dressage lessons from Katrina Francis, and she’s even had the opportunity to rope with the Adam State College rodeo team. “I also want to give credit to Mary Carson with Training Tree Ranch. Before I went to the NLBFR, she tuned me and my horse up, and she was the person who introduced me to trail course.”
Although Sydney would love to pursue another interest of hers, martial arts, she says the horses come first, and plans to high school rodeo this spring. “I’d also like to compete in the CPRA again. Before my accident, I was sitting good in the standings and I would’ve competed in the finals. After high school, I’m really excited to turn 18 and fill my permit. I really want to rodeo for a career, but because the money won’t happen right away, I’d like to be an equine dentist and pick up clientele on the road,” she finishes. “For this year, I think I’ll have a good team of horses for Little Britches, and I really hope I can make it out to Oklahoma. I once heard that buckles are won in the practice pen, you just pick them up at the rodeos. What you do outside of the rodeo is what matters.”
