story by Lily Weinacht
Toni Forrer of Dalton, Ohio, is well versed in the give and take of rodeo, a lifestyle she hitched her wagon to as a child. Her family history with the MSRA begins with her dad, Don Coffell, who won the tie-down roping in 1974, while Toni won three breakaway roping titles with the association in the ‘90s. This fall, she was named 2016 MSRA Women’s All-Around Champion, a title which, until now, hadn’t been awarded since 2008. Primarily a breakaway roper, Toni has also run barrels, and she attributes much of her success in the all-around to her barrel horse, Paychex. “I’ve run barrels over the years, but I’ve just never focused on it until now,” Toni explains. “This mare is one of the best I’ve had, and having a good horse was a motivator. I’ve had a lot of fun on her!”
Toni’s first memories of running barrels start when she was eight, competing on her dad’s rope horse, Alligator. Both her parents rodeoed, and when her mom was pregnant, ten-year-old Toni ran her mom’s barrel horse for a season in the MSRA. The family moved from Michigan to Florida in the 1970s, and Toni was given her first horse several years later. As she grew, she focused on breakaway roping, and since her dad and brothers were all tie-down ropers, she never lacked for horses or roping cattle.
She went on to buy her MSRA card after meeting her husband, Tom, also a tie-down roper, and now a judge for the association. They moved to Ohio, and today, the 56-year-old wife, mother, and grandmother is just as avid a competitor, equally passionate about giving back to the community that’s supported her and her family. “We’ve made so many friends over the years, and we feel that owning horses and being able to rodeo at our age is a gift, and we want to pay it forward,” she explains. Toni and Tom have opened their barn doors to a number of people over the years, from teaching them how to rope, to stabling their horses. “We’re not a boarding facility, but we’ve boarded several horses here free of charge for people who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to own a horse. We’ve had the most amazing experiences with them, and one of the horses we have now belongs to Michaela Gannett, who’s become like another daughter to us.”
Toni and Tom have three children, and their daughters, Randi and Dani, high school rodeoed and compete in the MSRA, while their son, Lincoln, preferred any sport that required a ball. All three went into the health field, and Randi and her husband, Seth, supply roping calves to a number of rodeos. They have two children, Larami, and Lane, who went to Heaven in the fall of 2015. Dani and her husband, Shawn, are expecting a daughter in January.
The families live within three hours of each other, and Toni often hauls several horses with her when she visits her mom in Florida. “We stick pretty close to home except for rodeoing,” she says. “I’ve driven a school bus for the Dalton local district for twenty-five years, and Tom is a heavy equipment mechanic for an excavation company and farms twenty-five acres on the side. I ride during the day between school, and when Tom comes home, he turns out cattle for me. He shoes my horses and keeps me going!”
In addition to Paychex, Toni rides Randi’s horse, Chip, in the breakaway roping. “My main rope horse was Jed, but he’s getting up there in years, so I mainly practice on him now. At this point, rodeo is just enjoyable for me. I’ve been doing it all my life, and you’d think at some point I’d get tired of it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case!” she says with a laugh. “My goal now is simply to continue enjoying a sport that I love.”
