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Jobless Cowgirl Rides Across Mississippi

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

Donna Byrne rides Jay and leads Tonto, who carried a saddlebag filled with her clothes, a tent and other supplies.

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By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2009

Two states down, two to go.

Cowgirl Donna Byrne crossed from Alabama into Mississippi this week on her horseback trek from Florida to Texas.

She spent Monday night in Waynesboro, Miss., on the lot of a trucking company, and expected to stay there on Tuesday as bad weather moved through the area.

She and her two horses Tonto and Jay are in good shape. "Just tired," she said. They traveled 20 miles on Monday.

She's still attracting attention everywhere she goes, riding Jay and leading Tonto, who carried a saddlebag filled with her clothes, a tent and other supplies.

Byrne, 44, started out in Arcadia about nine weeks ago. She'd lost her job working on a small ranch. Then she lost her home when she couldn't pay rent. Determined to hang onto her two horses, she loaded them up and headed out.

She'd never been to Texas, but it seemed like the place to go to find a steady ranch job, she said. She'd started riding and working with horses when she was in her early teens and it was the only kind of work she'd ever seemed good at, she said.

As Byrne approached the Tampa area on U.S. 301, an informal group of horse owners who read about her on TBO.com formed on the Internet to keep an eye out for her. They began rounding up places for her and her horses to stay as they moved through Florida.

The support held up as she crossed Alabama.

The Dixie Horse and Mule Co. gave her a place to stay in Wicksburg, Ala., on March 19.

"Many thanks to Don Smith, owner of DH&M as well as his daughter Lori and "G". Thank you all so much for giving Donna a safe place to rest!" wrote a contributor to one of the blogs that popped up to keep track of her.

Later that day, the bloggers worked to locate a farrier to give her horses a new set of shoes.

"WE GOT A FARRIER!!!! He will be here at 8 in the morning," someone blogged from Level Plains, Ala., the next morning.

Following U.S. 84, she passed through Opp, Andalucia, Evergreen, Grove Hill and Coffeeville, crossing the Alabama, Mississippi border on Monday.

The website www.cowgirlsjourney.webs.com has posted maps of her planned route and asks people along the way to give her a hand.

It also has a guest book, with this entry, posted about 1:30 Tuesday afternoon:

"You've probably already passed through my hometown (Laurel, Miss.) by now. I hope you met some wonderful people while you were here. I know you have to be scared of the uncertainty of your journey and full of anticipation at the same time. So many prayers surround you and your horses. I believe the end of your journey will provide you an awesome new start. My prayers are with you as well."

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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