"There is a lot of functional strength in sheep farming. You do a lot of stuff like sprinting after lambs, catching ewes, pushing around ewes and stuff like that."
CrossFit athletes come from all walks of life: doctors, lawyers, musicians. Few, however, are sheep farmers.
By the time most people are waking up, a fiery red-haired Kiwi by the name of Ruth Anderson Horrell is already outside chasing sheep and rounding up cattle.
Hailing out of a small New Zealand town called Riverton on the southern coast of the South Island, Horrell makes a living farming sheep.
“It’s definitely a full-time commitment,” she says. “I’m a full-time sheep farmer with my husband and we have about 2,500 sheep to take care of every day.”
For Horrell, being a sheep farmer is a seven-day-a-week job; remarkably, she also manages to run a successful CrossFit gym in Invercargill and maintain her status as one of the world’s best CrossFitters at the same time. The 28-year old is a two-time CrossFit Games competitor who finished 17th at this year’s Games.
Being able to accomplish all of this requires serious organizational skills.
“I just start the day with a goal and I get it done,” Horrell says.
“I guess everything is towards an ultimate goal and that's what’s driving you. I have a list for the day, I have my workouts for the day and I have a goal, and it’s gotta be done.”
It’s fair to say Horrell doesn’t sleep in often.
On a typical day she makes the two-hour round trip to and from her CrossFit box to train herself, then coach her clients, before turning her attention back to farm duties.
Horrell admits it would be impossible to do so without the help of others, especially when she is competing overseas.
“I co-own the gym with Maria McKay and she pretty much gets down and does all the coaching. It dumps a lot of pressure on her with no sleep-ins,” she says.
“Here at home, my husband just works his butt off while I’m away. That's pretty much how it works.”
While some people might think the task of having to juggle elite-level CrossFitting and sheep farming might take its toll on her athletic performance, Horrell says otherwise.
She thinks of sheep farming as extra conditioning for CrossFit.
“There is a lot of functional strength in sheep farming. You do a lot of stuff like sprinting after lambs, catching ewes, pushing around ewes and stuff like that. So I guess there are a lot of constantly varied functional movements,” Horrell explains.
“There is the mental challenge of it as well. You have a certain amount of work and it’s gotta get done. If you don't catch that ewe and you don't catch that sheep, there are consequences. So I guess it's the same kind of thing with CrossFit: You gotta get it done.”
Despite CrossFit’s rapid growth and Games-level competition increasing, Horrell says she has no interest in giving up farm life to focus on getting to the podium in Carson, Calif.
She says she is more than happy with her life, community and daily routine of doing what she loves: sheep farming and CrossFit.
“I can’t see either not being in my life,” Horrell says. “I can’t see that I’m one day going to give up CrossFit, and I can’t see that we’re going to give up sheep farming. I just can’t see it happening.”
