Back in the Saddle: Amy Williams Heads to the AQHA East Level 1 Championships
Amy Williams measures her life in horses.
She grew up showing alongside the person she would later marry. Together, they raised two daughters on a farm and built a family shaped by shared work and shared passion. Horses were never just a hobby. They were the steady rhythm underneath everything else.
Amy lives in Croton, Ohio, where that rhythm still guides her days. Even now, with a calendar full of medical appointments and scans, horses remain her place of reprieve. Her service dog, Sassy, and her horse, Peanut, are constant companions — quick to lift her spirits, quick to remind her who she is on days that feel heavier than most.
Amy was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. In 2020, during the height of pandemic, the cancer returned as metastatic breast cancer, spreading to her bones, lymph nodes, and organs. She is now five years into living with stage 4 disease, receiving chemotherapy every three weeks and undergoing regular scans that carefully track what her body is carrying.
Through it all, she has stayed in motion.
Her doctors continue to allow her to ride, watching her scans closely and trusting her deep awareness of her own limits. Amy is honest about the reality that one day she may be told her body can no longer take it. Until then, she rides. She shows. She sets goals. She lives fully in the time she has.
This spring, that forward motion takes her to Wilmington, Ohio, where Amy will compete in the AQHA East Level 1 Championships. It is not a small undertaking. Between entry fees, hauling, lodging, and travel expenses, showing at this level requires both physical stamina and financial commitment.
Amy is using her Love Bomb to make it possible.
The grant will cover her show entries and the expenses that come with competing — allowing her to step into the arena without the added stress of wondering how to afford something that brings her so much life. It gives her the chance to focus on what she loves most: preparing, riding, and showing her horse with intention and joy.
For Amy, this competition is not about ribbons alone. It is about continuing to do the thing that has always anchored her. It is about standing in the arena as herself — not defined by diagnosis, not limited by fear, but fully present in the body and life she has today.
The Rural Gone Urban Foundation’s Love Bomb is helping Amy claim this moment. It is supporting movement instead of pause, purpose instead of retreat, and joy instead of limitation.
In April, when Amy enters the AQHA East Level 1 Championships, she will do so backed by a community that believes what she has always known to be true: as long as she can ride, she will keep showing up.
And for Amy Williams, that has always been enough.
