TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Jobless Cowgirl Rounds Up Support

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

Donna Byrne rides her horse Jay and has Tonto carry her belongings on her trip to Texas.

ADVERTISEMENT

By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2009

Donna Byrne started her journey alone, on a frigid day in Arcadia last week. Jobless, without a car, she rode her horse, Tonto, and pulled another, Jay, aiming for Ocala, where she figured she could get a couple days' work.

From there, she's headed to Texas, for a fresh start.

But by today, as Byrne made her way through Pasco County, her story had circulated in e-mails and Internet posts across the country, and horse owners in Central Florida were forming a network to help her on her way with money, horse feed and places to stay.

"My hat's off to her," said Craig Lentz, who picked her up in a Sweetbay grocery store parking lot in Dade City to take her and the horses to his and his wife's property.

"She's not looking for a handout," he said. "She's willing to work to do what she's trying to do. She appreciates what people are doing, but she's not asking for it."

Byrne, 44, lost her job working at a small cattle operation that closed recently, she said. She tried her hand at a factory making silk butterflies but lost that job, too. Her only choice as she saw it was to take off. But she wasn't going to leave her horses behind.

"They're my buddies," she said.

A former bull rider and truck driver, she's bowled over by the support she's receiving. "When I started out, I thought people would just attack me for what I was doing and call me cruel," she said as she unfastened the ropes and buckles of her horses' saddles. One of the horses, Jay, carried about 100 pounds of her belongings, clothes, blankets and a tent.

Since last week she's come more than 90 miles, sleeping on the ground as she passed through Manatee County and safely navigating U.S. Highway 301 through Riverview and over State Road 60 and Interstate 4.

Her horses are in good shape, said Bonnie Calhoun, who gave Byrne and her horses a place to stay in Thonotosassa on Tuesday night. But Byrne isn't doing so well. She has a nasty cough and dislocated one of her shoulders while loading up her horses this morning.

Deborah Lentz, whom Byrne is staying with tonight, said she's been gathering information from the people who want to help and will go over it with her. People have offered money, jobs and rides to Ocala, even Texas. With her injured shoulder, Byrne may stay with the Lentz's for a couple of days.
Some people have questioned Deborah about why she would go to so much trouble for a rootless stranger, she said.

"I just say, 'If you can't give someone a little help when they need it, my goodness, what can you do?' Here's a woman who needs some help, and if I can give her a place to stay, that's what I'm going to do."

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT