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CIRCUIT FEATURE: GREAT LAKES


Unstoppable Legally-blind barrel racer  Finals


By Johnna Espinoza


magine if you were a vision-impaired barrel racer. Imagine trying to guide a horse – going full speed – around the barrels, but you have difficulty seeing them. Imagine that you have to have someone drive you to all the rodeos, the grocery store and the feed store – everywhere – because you can’t see well enough to drive. It would be pretty tough to compete, right? That is Conny Winkers’ life, but she is not discouraged. In fact, she is excited, motivated and ready for the next challenge. She also happens to love horses and barrel racing and doesn’t think ANYTHING should get in the way of her or anyone else winning rodeos.


I


“I grew up in a house of go-getters who did not take no for an answer,” Winkers said. “My parents never treated me any different. It was never ‘oh, help poor Conny.’ They pushed me. But not in a bad way, in a good way. It was always with a positive attitude.” Winkers grew up riding horses and dancing ballet in South


Jersey. She learned how to find the edge of the stage and not fall off it, despite having vision issues.


“It became second nature to me to figure out how to make things work,” Winkers said.


It is that can-do attitude that has propelled the Woodman, Wis., cowgirl into the top 10 of the 2018 Great Lake Circuit Standings and qualified her into the Great Lakes Circuit Finals, set for Nov. 8-10 in Louisville, Ky. The Great Lakes Circuit includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio, along with Wisconsin. It will be Winkers first appearance in the Great Lake Circuit Finals. She has competed in the First Frontier Circuit Finals three


Conny Winkers, who is legally blind, qualified for the Great Lakes Circuit Finals for the first time in her career. Photo by Marty Welter


times. The Gold Card member has been with the WPRA since 1991.


“I feel very privileged to be going,” she said. “I’m just kind of living every day in the moment. My husband (Scott Winkers) keeps telling me: ‘You’re going to the circuit finals!’ It just puts a smile on my face.” Winkers, who also trains young horses, feels especially fortunate for her success considering what she has overcome. Winkers inherited Stargardt disease, a disorder of the retina – the tissue at the back of the eye that senses light. The disease typically causes vision loss during childhood or adolescence. Stargardt disease causes progressive damage—or degeneration—of the macula, which is a small area in the center of the retina that is responsible for sharp, straight-ahead vision. There is no treatment for Stargardt disease. “It started to affect my eye-sight when I was 13,” Winkers said. “It is not devastating to my physical being, just my eyes.” With the love and support of her parents, the late Robert Doble


Sr., and Cindy Doble, Winkers was able to figure out how to remain active.


Conny Winkers and Oh Boy found their groove this summer winning the Franklin County Fair Rodeo in Hampton, Iowa, tied for third at the Iowa Championship Rodeo in Sidney and was fourth at the Mid-Western Rodeo in Manawa, Wis., shown here. Photo by Marty Welter


42 WPRA NEWS NOVEMBER 2018


“I use all my peripheral vision,” she said. “In the center of my vision, there is probably a 50-50 amount of light that hampers the vision in the center. It compares to someone taking a picture of you with a (photo) flash.”


But instead of a white bright light obstructing the center of her vision, it is a mixture of colors Winkers sees.


Columbia River Circuit


Montana Circuit


Badlands Circuit


Wilderness Circuit


Mountain States Circuit


California Circuit


Turquoise Circuit


Southeastern Circuit


Texas Circuit


Prairie Circuit


Great Lakes Circuit


Frontier Circuit


First


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