In 2005, they found a suitable horse, Coppertone Cache (CC). She was eleven, the same age as Shelby who learned to ride her, first learning to lope around the barrels and then running barrels at saddle club shows. And then she was winning. In her second barrel racing year, Shelby joined the National Barrel Horse Association (NBHA). In 2007, she qualified for the Youth World Teen Division and did it again the next year on two horses.
Shelby then decided to step it up. Kim had a friend who knew the right horse for Shelby. Tey bought him sight unseen and when Bo arrived, Kim rode him first and found that he was fast. Shelby adjusted to his speed, and started winning on him too. In 2008, she qualified with both horses again for NBHA's Youth World and Open World. In 2009, Shelby was a finalist in the All American Youth barrel race. She again qualified for Youth World and Open World in 2010. Te next year, the Winsteads purchased another horse. Shelby's success continued on with Bo and the new horse, Truck. She qualified again in 2011 for Open and Youth World.
A couple of years ago, Kim took Shelby to a Martha Josey Clinic in Texas to further their education in barrel racing. "Te trainer took me aside and told me what a great job she was doing. He told me stop worrying and just leave her alone,” Kim said.
Because of horses, Shelby was able to be a socially active, typical teen. Te barrel horse crowd encouraged her. "We quit the doctors and therapies completely. We had to make a choice, and that was the better choice for her. Te horses were taking care of her needs.”
Kim knows horses are unpredictable, and has rejected a few prospects but she believes that parents should take chances in whatever path is right for their children. "My husband pushed me; he didn't let me hold her back. And truly, we have been especially blessed to have had the special horses we've had. "
Kim considers their decision to give Shelby the gift of horses as serendipity. She did not know anything about hippotherapy which incorporates physical, speech and occupational therapies with riding horses. But now she says, "Hippotherapy is an amazing thing. A lot of kids with developmental issues have a problem with crossing their midline. Occupational therapists are constantly using exercises to cross the midline and use the limbs independently. Shelby does that all the time with her reins or grabbing the saddle horn. Her riding accomplishes the same thing that the therapists tried to do for her.”
Shelby attended a private special needs school in Memphis, TN. Kim has high praises for the school,
TPI Turf News November/December 2018
which focuses on nurturing each student's abilities and working with their strengths. Kim is sure that most students there would benefit from hippotherapy if only it were available. "Te physical and cognitive benefits are notable," she says. "I can tell a difference in Shelby's speech when she hasn't ridden in a while. She's just neurologically not as sharp, and her motor skills and muscle tone are different.”
Shelby is now enrolled in Tiger Life, a special needs college curriculum at the University of Memphis. She is 20 and competes as an adult at NBHA shows and local shows. She also works at Te Stockyard Feed, the store Kim started as a business outlet for her daughter's interests and her future.
Shelby wants to share her success and knowledge of horses and help others. She recently had a special needs friend try riding and see if it would be a "fit." Within half an hour, Shelby had the girl on horseback and trotting around the arena, and this was on Bo, the "fast" horse. Sure, she was trotting slowly, and was holding on to the saddle horn. But, her friend's dad was so excited he cried.
Editors’ note: Read more about the Winstead family in the article, “Bobby Winstead—An Entrepreneur Always Looking to the Future,” beginning on page 82 of this issue. Shelby, now 25, has completed the TigerLIFE curriculum and is working with Kim in the family’s new venture, S.Y. Wilson & Company. And, as Bobby Winstead says, “She’s competing in barrel racing at the adult level about every other weekend, loving it—and excelling in it.”
In that 2013 issue of Turf News, Bobby wrote of the family’s experience in his “President’s Turf ” column, ending with this message, “Te strengths and weaknesses that many of us have are not labeled in a neat package. Each person has a dynamic set of variables making them who they are. If faced with a challenge, lean into it. Whether it is personal or business, do not let it define who you are. Take the time to assess the situation and come up with a plan. As you read Shelby’s story, I hope it will inspire you to never take ‘no’ for an answer. Believe in what you are doing and commit to do the best you can at everything you set out to accomplish. Shelby doesn’t know not to give everything 110 percent and neither should we. We are so proud of her accomplishments. Tank you for letting me share our story. I hope that you will see from our experience that the best path is not always the one of least resistance. We share Shelby’s story in hopes that it will help a child or parent of a child just beginning this journey. Please share our story with anyone you know facing the day-to-day challenges of raising a child with special needs. If our story helps just one parent or child, we have accomplished our goal. Tank you.”
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