Shawn Rickel

Kate and Shawn Rickel are the proud owners of Big View Ranch Equine Therapy, in Golden, Colorado and professional inspirational speakers. Their journey to open an equine therapy center began in 2002 when Shawn and Kate, then dating, decided to go into business together.

On August 4, 2002 they were returning home after scouting for property for their center and were involved in a hit and run accident. Kate suffered a skull fracture so severe the parts of her brain controlling her speech and mobility detached and had to be surgically removed. Doctors told Shawn when he arrived at the hospital she would never fully recover and would most likely die before morning. Yet Kate stunned the medical community when she survived and after several months of grueling rehabilitation walked, talked, and resumed a normal life.

After the accident, Kate and Shawn purchased property in Golden, CO in the spring of 2003 and began their therapeutic riding business. But Kate developed mysterious symptoms which stumped her doctors in Denver and put their business on hold. She was referred to the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN but her health continued to decline at an alarming rate.

Shawn was her constant companion and caretaker through a five year ordeal where Kate became wheelchair bound and was dying. They returned to the Mayo Clinic many times desperate for answers, yet none were forthcoming. In a last ditch effort to save Kate’s life, Shawn asked the doctors to consider something they dismissed as insignificant as the cause of her decline. His hunch was right, and after another surgery Kate again stunned her doctors by walking out of the hospital five days later.

Now married, the couple re-opened their equine therapy center in June of 2010 and applied for 501c3 non-profit status. Their book, I Am Not Supposed To Be Here, tells the remarkable story of their five year ordeal to restore Kate’s health and to open their non-profit equine therapy business.

Kate and Shawn have been the keynote inspirational speakers at a number of events including the National Traumatic Brain Injury Employment Conference. They speak regularly to civic organizations, church groups, hospitals and organizations for the disabled sharing their message of determination and hope.