Forged Through Faith: Angela Valentine’s triumphant return to the show ring with Scriptture
Angela Valentine knows God answers prayers. In 2016, she was hospitalized with a rare lung infection and has since faced other health complications and a years-long recovery wrought with lingering side effects. In September 2024, Angela finally returned to the show pen and watched her dream come true at the 2024 APHA/WCHA Halter Million. Trainer Terry Sartain showed Angela’s yearling stallion Scriptture to a world championship title in Solid Paint-Bred Yearling Stallions, giving the horsewoman from Magnolia, Texas, something she’s wanted for a lifetime: a championship neck ribbon.
“I’m so excited,” Angela said. “Being sick for so long and still having side effects that I go through daily, it’s hard. The neck ribbon is all I wanted, and I got a world champion on top of that.”
Pushing Through Adversity
The owner of a trucking company, Angela was chatting with an employee in 2016 when she started coughing up blood. Family rushed her to the emergency room, where doctors isolated her and worked to identify the illness’ cause: an extremely rare bacterial lung infection.
“I was isolated in the hospital for over seven days, and then in the hospital another 15 days until I was released,” she recalled. “They found a lesion in my lung that had burst. They ended up removing the upper left lobe of my lung.”
Recovery has taken years, and Angela still lives with side effects.
“I had to re-learn how to talk and breathe,” Angela said. “Walking long distances, I get winded pretty quickly.”
A single mom of two at the time, Angela was out of work while she recovered, which created anxiety about how to provide for her children. Faith, friends and family helped Angela persevere.
“During the recovery process, there’s a lot of emotions that you go through. You have good days and bad days, and bad days are the lowest of lows. I was in a state of depression,” Angela said. “My friend gave me a book called Jesus Calling; it has a passage for every day for the whole year; I still read it to this day, over and over. It opened my eyes to a whole new light on the world. That book helped me recover.”
Heaven-Sent Scriptture
During her health challenges, Angela sold her horses to focus on her recovery and her family. In late 2021, however, she purchased Elusive Features (QH) and bred the mare to LFL Eligiance in 2022. Angela prayed for a healthy, dark-colored foal; in 2023, Angela got just what she had ordered. A testament to her faith and her recovery, she called the colt Scriptture.
“When I first purchased Elusive Features, I had a dream of raising a world-champion baby,” Angela said. “I knew he needed a special name because God gave me something I had wanted for a long time. I gave him the name Scriptture because he deserved it.”
The Halter Million was Scriptture’s first show, and he exceeded Angela’s expectations in his debut class. Next up was Angela’s return to the show pen on September 23, where she was sixth in WCHA Non-Pro Yearling Stallions and ninth in the color division. She’ll handle him again for the APHA Amateur Yearling Stallions class, too.
Angela’s advice to others who are going through their own challenges is to have faith.
“Never give up on your dream,” she said. “I’m a small fish in a big pond out there, especially in the halter world. Keep pushing forward and have the faith in your Lord and let Him guide you.
“It is by the grace of God that I was able to come back,” Angela continued. “It’s heaven sent. I’m living my dream. This horse means a lot to me, and I can’t thank the lord enough for giving me this blessing.”
[Reprinting all or part of this news release is permitted. Please credit the Paint Horse Journal and provide a link to apha.com.]
About APHA
The American Paint Horse Association is the world’s second-largest international equine breed association. Since it was founded in 1962, APHA has registered more than a million horses in 59 nations and territories. APHA promotes, preserves and provides meaningful experiences with Paint Horses. Learn more at apha.com.