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Bareback rider Colletti could miss ’15 season

Bareback rider Casey Colletti, 29, who qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo from 2011-2013, continues to be sidelined with a spinal cord injury.

The Pueblo, Colo., cowboy has not competed since Aug. 2, 2014, at Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg.

“I bruised my spinal cord at the C4, C5, C6 (of the cervical vertebrae),” Colletti said. “At Phillipsburg, my neck popped and my free (left) arm went completely numb right in the middle of the ride, and I haven’t been on since. It hasn’t really improved a lot from August until January; it’s just very slowly improving. I’ve been getting MRIs to see what the deal is.”



Colletti said he has seen Dr. Drew Dossett in Dallas numerous times about his injury since September. Dossett is a spinal consultant for the Dallas Cowboys, and has worked on many big-name PRCA competitors.

“He told me if something happened, I could be paralyzed from the neck down,” Colletti said. “He told me I had to take some time off and let it heal back. He recommended to me that I not ride at all.”



Now, Colletti is just playing the waiting game.

“I have to get another MRI in April and see what is happening,” he said. “I’m not trying to be negative by any means, but how it has been healing since August, I’m kind of thinking it will be this time next year (2016) when I’m able to go again. In April, I will send my MRI down to (Dr. Dossett) and if he tells me it is healed, I will go rodeo. If not, I will just keep talking to Dr. Dossett throughout the year and see what he has to say. I can’t do anything about it except sit around and let it heal.”

Wrangler National Finals Rodeo bareback rider Ty Breuer is out of competition indefinitely after suffering a fractured right wrist and fractured thoracic spine at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. WNFR bull rider Beau Hill is also out of competition for a while after suffering separated ribs at the RAM Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo.

–PRCA