The man in the arena

The man in the arena

Stephanie Shallbetter turned on the television and recited her prayers, one by one, in the same order she has since her son first climbed onto a bucking horse. She fiddled with a piece of jewelry and watched as her boy, Coleman Shallbetter, mounted a bronco at the San Antonio Stock Show and wrapped his hand into the rope. But sitting there, eyes locked onto the screen, seconds before the horse erupted from the gate, she recalled memories of her …