Bareback rider Mark Garrett tapes up his wrist and biceps in addition to wearing a neck brace before competing. Photo by Craig L. Moran . Bull rider Cory Check scrambles out of the way of Nine O during Saturday night's competition at the National Finals Rodeo. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett . Each of these cowboys competed Sunday.
Cowboys seem only to know how to play when they're in pain.
Injuries should be expected when men weighing between 125 and 200 pounds take on animals that outweigh them about tenfold and get pitched about 5 or 6 feet off the ground. The number of major or fatal injuries in Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events is relatively low when one considers the nature of the beast and that the group sanctions more than 700 rodeos a year. Dr. Tandy Freeman, an orthopedic surgeon who works with the Justin program and the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, said the protective equipment has reduced injuries significantly. The vest is designed to absorb the impact from the metal fence in the chutes or the crushing blows of a horse's hoofs or horns. He also recalled when Lane Frost was killed in 1989 when a bull pushed him aside with a horn that cracked a rib and went into his heart.