Top 10 rider out six weeks after breaking leg saddle bronc riding
PUEBLO, Colo. (August 19, 2008) - Travis Briscoe thought it would be fun to enter an amateur rodeo with his wife, who was barrel racing and roping.
Unfortunately, he’ll miss the next six weeks of the Built Ford Tough Series with a broken fibula after getting his leg slammed into the chute gate in Alamogordo, N.M.
Briscoe, who has been saddle bronc riding since high school, had a horse that squatted in the bucking chute. He nodded his head anyway, and she reared up on the way out of the chute and posted him.
“I felt the leg smash,” said Briscoe, who rode two more jumps before bailing out. That was Saturday night, and hoping it was merely a muscle injury of some sort, the New Mexico native didn’t visit the doctor until Monday afternoon.
X-rays confirmed that he did indeed break the fibula. Luckily, he only broke the smaller of the two bones in the lower leg. Making the injury even less serious is the fact that it’s up high – just below the knee, as opposed to being down low near the ankle, which could have caused a longer layoff.
In the meantime, he’ll be in a walking cast while he allows the break to heal on its own.
Question: Do you have any idea how long you’ll be out?
Answer: Tandy (Freeman) said that depending on how I feel, four to six weeks, it should be sticky enough to where I can start moving around and getting around pretty normally, but that as far as riding, I should probably wait about six weeks.
Q: So your place in the World Finals is not in jeopardy?
A: No. Being that I secured my spot in the Finals, it’s not too stressful, but, of course, it sucks that I’m not going to be going down the road.
Q: Like you said when I first called, you always try to find the bright spot, and if there was one you can use these next few weeks to get yourself rested before the Finals. You’ve already proven to yourself that you’re capable of winning events.
A: I always come back strong off of an injury, and if I sit out six weeks, that’s six weeks to prepare and get healthy and be 100 percent going into the Finals. I can use this time to work out, prepare myself for the Finals and deal with the demons that I’ve been fighting that are the reason that I’ve been in a slump that I’ve been in.
Q: Talk about those demons. It’s a mental thing, I suspect.
A: I’ve always had problems with my wrist and they quit happening in the beginning of the year, and then I started having that problem again. It started getting me down because I really got selfish and taking things into my own hands, and I wanted to win so bad that I forgot about why I was doing this. It’s something that I’ve dealt with before, but it’s humbling sport and it makes you realize this is what you do, and if you don’t love it, then what’s the reason (for) doing it?
Q: You may have battled some demons, but it’s been a great season thus far, and there are definitely some points in this season you can look to and say, “I can be a World Champion.”
A: Now that I’m married, I realize that I’ve got a lot more at stake than to go duck off at something that I can win $1,000 at, rather than go win $30,000 at an event. It kind of hit me hard to blow a shot at this year, but I guess you learn from your mistakes and go on about it and don’t worry about it.
Q: Anything more you want to add?
A: No. Just that I’m coming back strong when I do come back.
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