(Editor’s note: PRCA media release)
CALGARY, ALBERTA — World No. 3 bull rider Parker Breding is likely done for the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury earlier this week at the Calgary Stampede.
“I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), MCL (medial collateral ligament) and there were some smaller ligaments that go with the ACL that were torn and the very top of my tibia on my left leg got some small fractures,” said Breding, 26. “Right now I’m in a big knee brace that’s locked, and I’m trying to get in to to see renowned-surgeon (Guy Schmidt) in Billings. They said the surgery would be an ACL reconstruction, and they are telling me that recovery would be nine to 12 months, but I’m really hoping if I do have the surgery I would be able to come back in four months for the NFR. Right now I’m really not too sure though, and hopefully I will have more answers after I have a doctor’s appointment.”
Breding, who qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2013, 2015 and 2018, made the whistle while riding Kesler Rodeo’s Late Nite Host, and then his problems began.
“I made a pretty good ride and I had a little tiny bull, and he wouldn’t quit spinning when I was trying to get off him,” Breding said. “The rope was pretty sticky so I couldn’t get my hand out either, and I put one foot down in the dirt and (my other foot) was still on his back as I was trying to step off him. He took my right leg with him spinning and my left knee stayed in the dirt and it got buckled sideways. I felt a big pop when it happened, and I knew right away it was something pretty bad.”
Breding, who finished a career-best fourth in the world standings last year, has had his share of knee injuries, but nothing to this extent.
“I have no posterior cruciate ligament in either of my knees, and in my left knee I had two surgeries for my meniscus but they were minor,” Breding said. “For as bad as my knees are, I made it quite a ways into my career without something like this, but I guess this is bound to happen sooner or later.”
Saddle bronc rider Jake Wright meanwhile is also out for the rest of 2019 after getting kicked and stepped on at a rodeo in Colorado.
“Last night in Estes Park Colorado, 83.5 points ended my season,” Wright wrote in an instagram post. “#buckin #crazy kicked me in the head when I was getting off of him! And stepped on my ankle and cracked it!! Hurt like hell. Didn’t knock me out, gave me a major concussion and a brain bleed!! Split my scalp to the bone. They did a quick hair cut, three layers of stitches and 22 staples!! And put me in a walking boot. I guess it’s the universe telling me to go home and get healthy because I’ve been riding with a hurt knee since 2014! In a couple weeks I will have surgery on my right knee! I will be back in eight months strong and ready to #win! Thanks to my family friends an my sponsors! Couldn’t do it with out you guys!!”
Wright, a member of the famous Wright rodeo family, is currently 28th in the PRCA world saddle bronc standings.
