Laramie native Ryan Gray returns to bareback riding after gruesome injury
Rodeo TrackerWHAT: Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo.
CLOSE CALL: Laramie-raised bareback bronc rider Ryan Gray suffered a lacerated liver at the Wrangler National Finals rodeo in December. He was out for four months.
SEVEN-TH HEAVEN: Despite being out of rodeos for most of the early season, Gray will attempt to make his seventh-straight NFR this year.
NEXT: Central Wyoming Fair and PRCA Rodeo, 7:30 tonight.
For someone who lacerated his liver on rodeo’s biggest stage, Ryan Gray felt lucky.
The world’s top-rated bareback bronc rider heading into the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo last December, Gray was thrown under his 1,200-pound horse Golden Dream and trampled. He was rushed to hospital as a stunned crowd watched at Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“It’s pretty serious. It could have been a lot worse. I was fortunate,” the Laramie-born cowboy said. “They could have gone in and taken half my liver out ... or I could have died.”
For Gray, the injury meant four months of house work and hanging with his wife, Lacy.
“I was pretty content at home, and I didn’t even want to leave when it came time to start rodeoing again,” Gray said.
His return began inauspiciously.
At the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in March, a big-paycheck event that he won the previous year, Gray separated a rib. That meant another month and a half away from competition.
“I just started back up lately. It’s only been a month and a half,” said Gray, who was either champion or co-champion at 12 rodeos last year to lead the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bareback riding regular season standings.
The string of recent bum luck hasn’t frayed his spirit.
“It’s part of what we do. None of us are in denial that something like that could happen,” Gray said. “It’s obviously a reality. It’s a dangerous sport and things like that happen.”
Lately, Gray has resembled his old self.
In mid-June, he won his first rodeo of the year, capturing a $2,109 payday at a rodeo in Livermore, Calif. Several other strong efforts have pushed Gray into 26th in the bareback money standings with $23,753.
“I feel healthy. I feel 100 percent. It’s just a matter of entering and going everywhere I can and taking advantage of the opportunities — win on some horses you’re not supposed to win on and win on the horses you’re supposed to win on,” Gray said. “I need to just go win.
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The horse surprised Gray by spinning low out of the chutes and the cowboy nearly tumbled off the left shoulder of Multi-Chem Baby Doll, a horse that's been featured in the NFR. The draw was far from what Gray had hoped. “I'm not sure how to say this
A contest highlight is the Ranch-Bronc Riding which took place Saturday afternoon (right after the rodeo performance) as the ranch cowboy contingent of bronc riders took their working saddles over to the bucking chutes. It was gratifying to see at
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