“He knocked me down into the chute. Pinned me there. Commenced to
hing me with his horns, his head, and his hooves. Just beang me up at
the boom at that chute.”
An arena worker ran over and opened the gate.
“Once he le the chute, I rolled over to my stomach and got up on my
knees. Tried to stand up. My chest was one massive amount of pain.”
Not surprisingly, Boney ended up at the hospital.
“Obviously I was prey messed up and needed some help,” he said.
“hat’s interesng is that the inuries occurred despite the fact that I had
the safety vest on. Had I not had the vest on, it may very well had killed
me. That vest absorbed a lot of impact.”
Despite bruises head-to-toe, as well as broken ribs, Boney showed up for
roll-call Monday morning right on me: Promises made promises kept.
Of course, not all rides end with broken ribs and bruised bodies. In fact,
tumbles and spills aren’t a reuirement to form close bonds living the
rodeo life. Truth is, the visible workings of a rodeo what the crowds see
are made possible because of hard work done in the background by
professionals and volunteers skilled in computers, public relaons,
publishing, administraon, networking, and the Internet. These people
represent dedicated organizaons large and small that make it a point
to welcome military personnel, whether as observers or parcipants.
Here are ust some of those groups:
Professional Rodeo Cowboys Associaon www.prorodeo.com
Military Rodeo Cowboys Associaon www.mrcarodeo.org
Professional Armed Forces Rodeo Associaon www.rodeopafra.com
arriors and Rodeo www.warriorsandrodeo.org
Military Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame www.mrchof.com
omen’s Professional Rodeo Associaon www.wpra.com
Cowboy’s Professional Rodeo Associaon www.cprarodeo.com
Naonal Cowboy Pro Rodeo Associaon ww.ncprarodeo.com
Professional Bull Riders www.pbr.com
And that doesn’t count the many venues across the country that rounely
sponsor special nights for military personnel and their families — such as
the Rodeos USA Boots for lory Veterans Rodeo in Butler, Alabama Armed
Forces Appreciaon Day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo,
Naonal estern Stock Show’s Military Appreciaon Night, as well as
Military Appreciaon Nights at Rodeo Killian, the Scosdale Rodeo,
San Angelo Stock Show, ichita Falls PRCA Rodeo, and the San Antonio
Stock Show and Rodeo, ust to name a few.
Celebrate America is a representave example of an outreach to
military personnel.
“Two years ago, we formalized the sense of love of country that has always
pervaded the sport with a program called Celebrate America,” said PBR’s
Andrew iangola.
To kick o the program, iangola said Celebrate America honored Sgt.
John Hyland of San Antonio, a US Army Scout who lost his leg in Ira.
In addion, Hyland sang the naonal anthem.
“e honored him that night and then recognized a worthy veteran every
week throughout that season,” iangola said.
60 Rodeo LIFE Photo by Eva Scoeld