By Ruth Nicolaus
Amy Whistler has faced adversity and overcome it.
The Idaho Cowboys Association member had a baby at a young age, spent ten years in the U.S. Army, suffered ruptured discs, almost died last year, and faces life with determination and a contagious laugh.
A barrel racer, she grew up on the family ranch near Wendell, Idaho. On a working cattle ranch, horses had to have more than one skill, so her barrel horse was also her rope horse and ranch horse. “A working cattle ranch didn’t have a whole lot of room for a one-job horse,” she laughed.
After her son Brayton was born in 2004, she enrolled in the U.S. Army, so she could provide for him and get a college education. She was active duty for ten years and served one combat tour to Iraq in 2007.
After her honorable discharge in 2013, she moved to Boise and earned a bachelor’s degree, and over the course of the next decade had two daughters, Andreah and Arianna. Her first husband died in 2012; the girls’ dad died in a car accident.
Then she met Gabe McKay, who has filled a hole in her family’s hearts. “When we started dating, he didn’t over-step, but he stepped in. He’s been a good support system.” Gabe is a saddle bronc rider in the ICA and the PRCA.
They weren’t planning on marrying for a few years, but then along came baby Trason, who is nearly a year old. “He was the surprise we all needed,” Amy said.
When she returned from the Army, she began running barrels again and joined the ICA in 2013. She was off last year due to being pregnant with Trason, but this year is shaping up well. She’s aboard ERU Famous Mr Blue, “Mack,” a grandson of Dash Ta Fame, who she purchased as a five-year-old futurity colt from Shelby Freed. After seeing him at a rodeo, her girlfriend urged her to buy him, saying, “if you don’t buy this horse, I’m going to.” So Amy did. “I’d never written this kind of check in my life,” she laughed. “Even though the money was in my account, I was afraid it wouldn’t clear.”
Now thirteen years old, Mack is “high maintenance,” she laughed. “He’s a very independent animal. My fiancé has had to take him to brandings to get his manners back. Sometimes he needs those tune-ups.”
Amy and Trason nearly died last year when she was giving birth, due to a hemorrhage. Then, five weeks after he was born, she had a postpartum hemorrhage at home. She was unable to call 911; Siri the virtual assistant called for an ambulance, and she was taken to the emergency room. She lost three liters of blood, but has made a full comeback.
After military service, she worked for TSA. Now she is a supervisor for Spirit Airlines and United Airlines, sometimes working as a customer service agent at the gate. She loves her job.
She also loves the ICA and the feeling of family it provides. The judges and leadership are approachable and the association has a sense of focus on contestants, not just making money. Her cousins are also ICA members, so rodeos are like mini family reunions.
Amy has advice for people who face challenges. She’s seen plenty of them throughout her life.
Obstacles and life situations “will slow you down, but you can make it,” she said. “I wasn’t statistically supposed to be here. I had a kid at 18, I had my GED, I buried two husbands, and now I have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. I made it.
“I was never supposed to go back into the arena,” she said. She’s nearly a 100 percent disabled veteran with ruptured disks, injured knees from jumping out of airplanes as a parachutist, and a traumatic brain injury. But she isn’t quitting.
“I have my own home and healthy children. You can do it. It’s hard, and it’s going to suck, but you can accomplish your dreams.
“Yes, some days you want to quit. But I want to show my children and other people that you can do it. You can go back to your dreams and you can achieve them.”