Skylar Furia - Someone You Should Know

Skylar Furia is someone you should know. She high school rodeos, works for her mom Shelly Gallagher, at the Wild Horse Café on the weekends, and is an average high school student. Does she know how to split an atom, probably not. Does she know how to solve a calculus equation, who knows. But the girl has guts. 

Skylar was not born into a rodeo family. She did not have the fancy trailer or the fancy pickup. Her mom, Shelly, is very open about her struggle with substance abuse and is and always will be a recovering addict. When they first moved to Fallon, her parents had nothing, no money, no jobs, and two kids. 

When Skylar was a little girl, her great-aunt bought a barrel horse for her, Tuff. That way, when she got old enough, she could high school rodeo on him. In her sophomore year, Skylar decided it was time to start rodeoing. She had the horse and the desire. Her biggest hurdle was her grades; at the time, she had an F in one of her classes. She had already committed to the rodeo team and started right from the get-go with a three-week suspension from the rodeo team, which put her out for the rest of her sophomore year. Skylar buckled down, got her grades up to a B average at the beginning of her junior year of high school, and stayed eligible for rodeo all through school.

She had her barrel horse and wanted to add a pole-bending horse to the trailer. She and her mom found Foxy. After a few rodeos, it became apparent that she and Tuff were not a good match. Now, it was just Skylar and her $800 horse, Foxy. They would run both barrels and poles together. 

After her junior, Meg Brehm offered to help Skylar and Foxy for a couple of weeks. Meg helped train Foxy and then taught Skylar to ride her horse for better times. They did well together, 22 seconds down to her best time of 18 in the barrels and 27 seconds down to 24, her best time in the poles. Skylar is so thankful to Meg for her help and encouragement.

As a 2024 graduating senior, Skylar is very grateful for the opportunity her parents gave her to rodeo. Following her rodeo dream brought her grades up and gave her an immense amount of courage. She paid her entry fees from her work as a waitress. She gained the courage to know it does not take the best equipment to make a dream come true. It takes guts and determination to make a dream come true.