When Shez Ah Super Freak, “Olivia” in the barn, stepped into the Congress Super Sale ring last fall, Mike Byrnes knew immediately she was the one. “The second she came in the ring, I wanted her,” he recalls. “She was a nice mover with a pretty head.”
New York Trainer Shawna Dull, who works out of Mike’s barn, was there, too. At the time, Olivia wasn’t her first pick. “Funny how things work out because, to be honest, she wasn’t my favorite at the time,” Shawna says. “But Olivia has been so easy and a barn favorite from day one.”
Easy mattered. Shawna was, still is, in the most brutal fight of her life.
Diagnosed with stage-four triple-negative breast cancer in January 2023, Shawna endured chemotherapy, immunotherapy, a lumpectomy, and radiation. Within months, the cancer returned. More chemo followed, then a mastectomy and another lumpectomy, and additional radiation as 2024 came to a close, right around the time Mike purchased Olivia. Despite the aggressive protocols, the cancer came back again, this time in her chest wall and in lymph nodes opposite the original tumor.
Through it all, Shawna kept showing up to do what she does best: start colts and make them honest. It’s a job that demands full strength and quick reflexes, hardly ideal when your body is fighting a relentless disease. But horses have a way of insisting on your presence, your routine, your grit.
“Riding and training definitely helps keep me distracted and busy,” she says. “There are days that I feel terrible and don’t want to get up, but horses still need to be tended to and worked. I usually feel better after I make myself get up and head to the barn. I think the more sedentary you are, the harder it will be to keep going.”
Her return to the saddle after surgery was as pragmatic as it was brave. “Don’t tell my doctors,” she admits with a smile, “but I was back riding as soon as the drains were removed.” She’d ask someone to tack the horse, then swing a leg over and go to work, no drama, no excuses.
Mike has watched the steady cadence of her commitment. “She never slowed down with all that she has gone through,” he says. “She’s always been all work, no talk. She just never slows down; she’s always riding and willing to learn. Despite everything, she shows up every morning and does her thing.”
Doing her thing has been a lifeline. “Most days, I try to carry on like nothing is different. I’ve always been one to take it day by day,” Shawna says. “Being only 37 when diagnosed and with two children (now 11 and 12), it’s definitely not an easy pill to swallow. I have cut back and don’t take in very many training horses now, just enough to keep me busy without being overwhelmed. I’ve been blessed with wonderful friends, family, and horses, which has truly made things easier.”
One of those blessings is Olivia, the two-year-old Quarter Horse mare who acts older than her papers suggest. “This horse is so chill; she is not fazed by anything,” Mike says. “She’s a barn favorite. At only two, she acts like she’s 15 and has been showing the last 13 years.”
Shawna agrees. “I love that as a young horse, I never had to ride her into the ground. It made things a lot easier for her to be ready for the Stakes Sale class,” she says. “My goal for us is to make it around the Congress show pen well and for me to keep my hands still. Mike bought this horse with the intention of selling her, so I hope to have done a good enough job to find her a new, amazing home as a show horse. She’s really just a great, easy horse to have around and work with.”
That quiet, uncomplicated kindness – the kind you find in a good-minded horse – has met Shawna exactly where she is. Even as doctors have been candid that her treatment is palliative, she hasn’t surrendered hope or purpose. She’s currently cycling through different chemotherapies to find a regimen that can hold the cancer at bay, and she’s added natural remedies to support her body through the process. Meanwhile, she continues to bring colts along, continues to parent, continues to laugh with friends in the barn aisle, and continues to point Olivia toward Congress.
There’s nothing sentimental about Shawna’s approach. It’s practical, stubborn, steady. Get up. Feed. Ride. Cool out. Repeat. In a world suddenly defined by scans and schedules, she’s chosen the rhythm of the barn to frame her days. The work keeps her moving. The horses keep her honest. And Olivia, soft-eyed, unruffled, and willing, keeps her aiming at the next gate.
Look for Shawna Dull and Shez Ah Super Freak on October 18 in the Two-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle Stakes Sale class.
Megan Sacia Ulrich earned her Bachelor’s in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin. She currently teaches high school English and enjoys showing in all-around events.
