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Cowgirl's trek continues after loss of horse

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By LINDSAY PETERSON

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

Published: July 1, 2009

Cowgirl Donna Byrne packed up her two horses, Tonto and Jay, in Arcadia five months ago and took to the road, hoping to make it to Amarillo, Texas, and a new ranch job.

She's less than 80 miles from her destination, but she'll arrive exhausted, beaten down by the trip and heartsick.

Jay, the horse she was riding, died last week.

Byrne thinks it was the result of eating a poisonous plant in a town she was passing through, Childress.

"I saw her chewing on something, and I jerked her away," she said. Soon after that, Jay began to bleed from the nose; then the horse's tongue swelled. Byrne called a veterinarian. He came out to check on Jay and treated the animal, but the medication didn't work.

No one performed a necropsy to figure out what killed Jay, but it could have been a poison plant, said Terri Gammage, president and founder of a horse rescue operation in Amarillo called Safe Hayven.

"She could have died from eating toxic weeds. We have them here. They're everywhere."

After getting calls from people who have been following Byrne's story, Gammage tracked her down Monday. She wanted to check on Tonto and the horse Byrne bought to replace Jay.

Gammage found both of them in good shape, she said. "As a cruelty investigator, I would never dream of trying to make a case against her," Gammage said. The horses seemed comfortable. They weren't blowing "or dancing around like they were hurting."

Byrne, 44, set out from Arcadia in February, riding Jay and using Tonto to carry a tent, clothes and almost everything else she owned.

She had lost her job on a small ranch and decided to head to Texas, hoping to find steady work in Amarillo.

Some bloggers on a Web site set up to follow Byrne's progress have been condemning her for subjecting her horses to such a long trip. After seeing Byrne's horses and meeting her, Gammage defends her.

"What she is doing is not any way worse than what a lot of people on competitive trail riding and endurance riding do. They do it every day. She's not doing it nearly as hard as competitive riders do," she said.

"Donna has a choice in what she's doing. The horses don't. But as far as I can see right now, the horses are not in danger."

Byrne is spent. "I'm worn down," she said. "But I know cowgirls don't cry. Ride, baby, ride. But with Jay's death, it really took a toll on me. I'm just tired."

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

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