Seven years ago, Kim Schulze was at a hospital in Stephenville, Texas, where doctors were trying to convince her to take a medical helicopter to Fort Worth.
The Colorado cowgirl had just been kicked in the stomach by a horse in a freak accident that sent her flying backward as she was trying to coax it off a trailer. Her liver was lacerated in half. She had a collapsed lung and damaged bile ducts. The potential for internal bleeding was high.
But the hard-headed, blue-collar Schulze passed on the helicopter ride and its corresponding $45,000 bill, electing to have her husband drive her the hour-plus to Fort Worth instead. Only later did she realize the severity of her life-threatening injuries.
“Had we known it was that serious, we probably would’ve flown,” Schulze recalled. “But you know, rodeo people … we are a different breed.”
Schulze, a professional barrel racer for over two decades, is a different breed indeed.
Born in Rifle and raised in Meeker, where she graduated high school in 1982, the 59-year-old Larkspur resident is a two-time Mountain States Circuit champion in barrel riding and renowned horse trainer. She’s known as much for her tenacity outside of the rodeo as she is for her accomplishments in it.
“They kept telling me when I got to the hospital (in Fort Worth) that night that I could die,” Schulze said. “I was just like, ‘Pfft, I’m not going to die.’ … But it’s that attitude I have, because I’m pretty stubborn, and I have a never-quit attitude. My mindset is always to keep going, and that’s what got me through it. I was bound and determined to come back even stronger, and I did.”
Schulze returned to the rodeo circuit just three months after leaving the hospital, where she spent 10 days in the ICU and 18 days total. She even made it back to the Mountain States Circuit finals later that year.
Her quick comeback was one of several tribulations that she had to go through over a three-year period, with her 2017 scare bookended by the death of her mother in 2016 and the death of her favorite horse, Speedy, in 2018.
The suicide of her mother, whom Schulze called her “biggest supporter,” was a year to the day before she got kicked by the horse. And by the time she had to euthanize Speedy on a stranger’s farm in 2018 — Schulze was en route to the horse hospital at CSU when it became apparent Speedy wasn’t going to make it — her toughness had been pushed to the limit.
“Three years in a row, it was like ‘Bam, bam, bam,’” Schulze said. “It was hard. Devastating. Just a really, really tough time.
“But (the rodeo life) is about building character in yourself — going through the hardships and being able to keep your head above water and come out with a good attitude. It’s all about how to persevere, and not give up. And in the end, today, I’m blessed to still be able to do something I truly love and enjoy.”
Schulze’s grit is equaled only by her optimism, which she projects on others in pro rodeo despite her no-nonsense persona. Fellow barrel rider Lisa Lockhart, the all-time career earnings leader in WPRA history and a close friend of Schulze, recalled one particular instance of Schulze’s “heart of gold” back when the two were only acquaintances.
“One time I needed help hauling a horse, because I was going to go two different directions, and she gladly took my horse for me from Calgary to Cheyenne,” Lockhart said. “That’s the type of cowgirl she is. She understands the important aspects of rodeo (besides competing). That, and she’s a great horsewoman, and that’s probably her greatest asset.”
Schulze has won about $600,000 in prize money during her career, but she also makes her living by training young horses for barrel racing, and then selling them. With no sponsors, it’s a vital income stream that helps her keep rodeoing.
Some of those horses she keeps to ride herself, such as Speedy and her two current horses, French Me Or Else (nicknamed Elsie) and The Goodbye Bars (nicknamed JJ).
“One of the most impressive things that she’s done that a lot of people, even a lot of (National Finals Rodeo) qualifiers can’t do, is make and win on multiple horses,” explained barrel racer Sophie Nolen, 24, who bought her first horse from Schulze at 13 and has been mentored by the veteran.
“She doesn’t come from money. She makes it all herself, and same with the horses: She makes these horses from nothing, and trains them to a professional, competitive level. I don’t think she gets enough credit for her horsemanship.”
The one big box left to check in Schulze’s career is an NFR appearance.
She’s finished in the top 20 in the world several times, including a career-best 16th in 2013, when she ended up one spot out of qualifying for the NFR.
Over the past couple of years, French Me Or Else and The Goodbye Bars haven’t performed to the level that Speedy did. It’s been a frustrating period in her career, with Schulze and The Goodbye Bars often “fighting against each other” when it came time to race.
Schulze even considered selling The Goodbye Bars at one point because of that lack of performance. But just like when she was in the hospital after getting kicked, her stubbornness won out, and she kept the gelding.
That persistence finally paid off. Even though she failed to advance to the semifinals of the National Western Stock Show this week, Schulze won her event in the Colorado vs. the World rodeo on the festival’s first day to earn $9,575. Schulze, whose other notable win in Colorado came at the Pikes Peak Rodeo in 2016 shortly after her mother’s death, called the victory “amazing.”
“Deep down I knew he’s got what it takes,” Schulze said. “I just had to keep trying and get him working again. … So I was so excited and proud of him, just because it’s been a struggle for the last year-and-a-half.”
While Schulze used to travel to about 80 rodeos a year at her peak, she’s cut back, and last year competed in about 40. But despite fewer appearances, she hasn’t given up on her dream of appearing in the NFR. She is quick to point out that in 2016, barrel racer Mary Burger became the oldest person to win an NFR world title at the age of 68.
Nolen, who has traveled with Schulze for the past several years to rodeos across the country, believes the “no-B.S. kind of woman” is not fooling herself.
Schulze is currently ranked 148th in the world, but if she can get The Goodbye Bars to consistently cooperate, Nolen says a late-career surge could be in the cards as a rewarding topper to Schulze’s rodeo life.
“She’s coming (for the NFR),” Nolen predicted. “As everything she’s been through has shown, she has no quit in her. She knows how to win. I would love to see her go to the Finals. I know it’s definitely on her radar. She hasn’t had quite the horse that she’s needed since Speedy died. But once she gets on a horse that’s on fire, it’s going to be hard to slow her down.”
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