Rookie Saddle Bronc Rider Riggin Smith Out with Injury
Rookie saddle bronc rider Riggin Smith will miss the rest of the 2020 season after tearing the PCL, MCL and meniscus in his right leg at the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo in Kalispell, Aug. 22.
Smith posted an 83.5-point ride on The Cervi Brothers’ Wyatt Earp, but things went south during his dismount.
“It was a freak deal,” said Smith, 22. “I got off, and she ducked away from me as I was getting off. I guess my leg was hanging out there, and her butt hit my knee, and the outside of my ankle felt like it hit my hip.”
The pain was familiar to Smith, having torn the ACL on his left leg before.
“I tried to walk on it, but it kept trying to fold in, so I had someone help me out,” Smith said.
Smith returned home to Winterset, Iowa, for an MRI and got the results Aug. 26.
“They were saying it’ll be six months before I can compete again, and that’s just not going to work for me,” Smith said. “I’m going to call Tandy Freeman (the Medical Director of Justin Sportsmedicine) today to see if we can figure something out.
“I will probably have surgery, but I’d rather it be him since he knows what we do. … But of course, as soon as I hurt my knee, I started drawing good, like for the bronc match (in Rapid City, S.D.) I would have had (J Bar J’s) Life Jacket, and that would have been awesome.”
With a month left in his rookie year, Smith was 22nd in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $27,164 and No. 1 in the PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings by about $10,000. He was also 11th in the ProRodeo Tour Standings with 1,980.39 points.
“It would be nice (to maintain the lead),” Smith said. “The guys behind me ride good enough to win however much money they want to, but I drew really good this summer and it happened to work. I was hoping to make the Finals, but that’s not happening. I could probably ride a hopper right now and at least stay on it, but if there was any wiggle to it like at the Finals I’d have heck.”
Smith is already looking ahead at the 2021 season in hopes of qualifying to compete at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and RodeoHouston.
“They are so huge in getting your preferences for the next year,” Smith said. “I won’t be a rookie next year, and that helped me this year if I was in a slump because at least I was in the top two of the rookies and could get into some rodeos.”
Courtesy of PRCA