TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Readers Ride To Aid Of Woman

ADVERTISEMENT

By LINDSAY PETERSON

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

Published: February 12, 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 some work before heading to Texas.

But by Wednesday, as Byrne and her horses plodded along U.S. 301 in Pasco County, her story had circulated in e-mails across the country, and local horse owners were forming a network to help her on her way.

"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 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 start fresh somewhere, and Texas sounded promising.

"I need another ranch job," she said.

But she wasn't leaving her horses behind.

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," 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.

As of Wednesday, she'd come more than 90 miles. Her horses were in good shape, said Bonnie Calhoun, who gave Byrne a place to stay in Thonotosassa on Tuesday night. But Byrne wasn't doing so well. She had a nasty cough and had dislocated one of her shoulders while loading up Wednesday morning.

Deborah Lentz, whom Byrne stayed with on Wednesday night, has been coordinating offers of help and planned to help her plot her next moves.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT