Kaila Mussell-Dent is the only woman in the history of PRCA who has ever placed in any of the roughstock events and in 2002 she made history in Prineville, Oregon at the Crooked River Roundup, placing 4th in the saddle bronc riding event. Kaila, who has now been a card-carrying member of Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, winning a few and losing a few saddle bronc competitions for more than seven years will be sidelined, possibly for the remainder of the season and the final outcome is yet to be determined.
On July 17 Kaila competed at the Taylor, Texas CPRA Rodeo and drew a bronc from Cadillac Rodeo Company. She hung up on the chute gate with her right foot while marking out the bronc. With a season ending thud, she came down hard on the same shoulder she had broken more than a year ago. Kaila said she got up slowly thinking, “Please don’t tell me I broke it again!”
Her physician gave her even more devastating news when, upon examination of the x-ray, he determined the initial break had never healed. Kaila had come back into the competitive arena much too quickly and had not allowed the bones enough time to mend. All that was holding the collarbone together was a fibrous tissue around the bone allowing activity and this tissue tore away when she left the deck at Taylor.
Well known Orthopedic Surgeon, Tandy Freeman performed surgery on the shoulder inserting a 4” steel plate and grafting bone to the break site on August 3. Kaila reports “As it stands, my collarbone seems to be healing fine. I’ll see the doctor this Thursday to see how I’m progressing. It will be four weeks before I can start lifting light weights and another six weeks before I can consider getting back in the saddle. . .”
Reminds me of another champion cowgirl, Fox Hastings. Upon breaking two ribs when a bronc fell on her during a ride at Sheepshead Bay in 1916, she was asked by a reporter if she was disappointed she couldn’t finish the competition? Fox replied curtly, “I plan on riding this afternoon. I have a contract and management is depending on me.”
Not unlike Fox commitment to management, Kaila exhibits the same championship spirit and commitment to herself. “I keep my thoughts positive and have faith that I will heal well. If all goes according to plan, I will be riding somewhere around the end of October of this year. I look forward to the future.”
Fox Hastings, one of the few women bulldoggers in the sport followed the rodeo circuit from coast to coast for more than twenty years. She suffered broken legs, crushed ribs, fractured arms and a moderate concussion. Describing her love and commitment to the sport Fox said, “I wouldn’t give this up for any other life. I like the thrill when I match my 135 pounds against a half ton of brute force. I like the feeling of triumph which surges through me when the animal falls to the ground.”
Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of Kaila Mussell-Dent. Not by a longshot.
