SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN) — The horses twitching, the roar of the crowd, and getting up on the saddle are all sensations that Angel Garcia Nuñez is now used to, but they’re still sensations he craves every time he rides in a rodeo.
“I love the challenge of it. It’s just you against really yourself,” Garcia Nuñez said.
While they’re all sensations he can hear and feel, they’re not something he can see. Being legally blind presents him with a challenge competing in rodeos like the Sonoita Labor Day Rodeo this weekend, but they’re challenges that don’t stop them. If anything, being blind motivates him even more to get better each day.
“It’s gonna be tough regardless,” he said about riding. “It shows everyone that you ain’t gotta see to ride a horse. It’s all feel.”
While he wears his signature square, colored glasses, you might not realize he’s blind. However, he became blind after shooting himself in the head a few years ago after hearing his best friend Tone passed away from suicide.
However, he survived suicide and has been legally blind ever since. Now he’s used riding as a form of therapy.
“In the beginning it was tough, like I was saying, but I knew I had it in me,” Garcia Nuñez said.
To compete in a rodeo like the one in Sonoita, he said it takes a lot of work.
“All they see is you climbing over and riding for eight seconds, but they don’t see the hours that you’ve got to get on the spur board, the working out,” Garcia Nuñez noted.
While he’s liked the sport since he was a kid, he’s been competitively riding for about two years. Right now Garcia Nuñez is competing in amateur rodeos.
Soon he said he’s going to apply for a professional rodeo permit through the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Once he gets that he has to get a thousand dollars in earning at competitive rodeos to get his pro card, which enables him to compete anywhere.
“I feel like I’ve made the progression to take that next step,” he said.
His friend Justin Mendez also competed in the rodeo this weekend. He’s also been working hard and already has his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association permit.
“It’s like riding life. It’s ups and downs, turn arounds, hard stuff, good stuff,” Mendez passionately said about riding.
At the rodeo, Mendez stretched before riding, getting himself not just physically ready but also mentally prepared.
Mendez grew up in rodeo culture because of his dad, starting to compete in saddle bronc riding a year ago after riding bulls.
“All my heroes were cowboys. The way they put themselves together, the way they walk around with their confidence, and a rough love,” he said.
It’s a sport he said takes work everyday. One day his dream is to win the Tucson Rodeo and the one in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“You wake up, you’re thinking bronc riding, you go to sleep thinking bronc riding,” Mendez said about his experience.
However, for Mendez, his experience at the rodeo wasn’t just about winning prize money.
“The end goal is just to have fun with it, inspire people to chase their dreams,” he said.
Meanwhile, Garcia Nuñez is hoping to inspire people of all abilities, no matter how old they are.
“Stay strong, don’t give up, and keep on keeping on,” he advised.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
