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Checking in with Austin Broderson: Recovery after Denver Bareback Wreck  

Broderson winning the round at the Cody Nite Rodeo Finals. Sasa Starkjohann photo.
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Spectators at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, Jan. 15 in Denver watched with bated breath as Austin Broderson, 19, was drug around the arena during a bareback ride gone wrong.  

It’s been nearly four months since the wreck that changed his life, but Broderson is home in Alberta and recovering as well as possible. “It’s going pretty good. I just got out of my neck brace a few days ago. I’m freed up and walking,” he says. “My life’s kind of back to normal. The only problem is my arm – I’ve got no use of my left arm.”  

A sophomore at Casper College, Broderson hit pause on his education while he recuperates, goes to his appointments, and helps his family with their cow herd.  



Broderson has limited memory of the wreck. “I’ve watched the video a few times. I had no idea what really happened. I waited a few days and I watched it, and it didn’t really bug me. I watched it twice in the hospital, but now I’ve watched it since being home and I realized how bad it was. I just realized how close I was to dying.”  

That day, after completing his ride, Broderson’s rigging slid off the side of the horse. With Broderson’s gloved hand stuck in the rigging, he was drug underneath the horse at the mercy of pounding hooves and the nearby fence, his body limp from a blow to the head. The wreck went on for an agonizing thirty seconds before pickup man Chase Cervi was able to drop a loop around the horse and bring him to a stop so that Broderson could be set free from the rigging.  



Chad Schmidt, an athletic trainer with Justin Sports Medicine Program and Orthopedic and Spine Center of the Rockies was one of the first on the scene.  

“[Typically] the rigging stays up in the right position, but once that rigging really slid back toward the flank, that really put him into a bind. We knew it was going to be a bad wreck as it was happening,” Schmidt said.  

Schmidt helped to do the initial assessments on the arena floor as Broderson was transferred to a backboard and to the care of EMS. “At that moment, when you don’t really know, you’re worried about head injuries and neck injuries. Those are the immediate concerns.”  

Dazed, but awake enough to respond to their requests, Broderson wiggled his feet and right arm, but struggled with the left – his riding arm. “We were pretty thankful he was still intact,” said Schmidt. Broderson was sent on to the next level of care at Denver Health where further diagnostics were done.  

His list of injuries was extensive: a broken left hip, a shattered nose, fractured vertebrae in his neck, arterial damage coupled with internal bleeding which required a stent, and nerve roots pulled away from his spine, leaving him with no use of his left arm.  

Recovery of his arm may be extensive. “If anything, it’ll need surgery and maybe get use of it again,” he says. “I have no feeling in it. In two years, I’ll know what the potential of it is.” Right now, doctors are still indecisive about how to proceed with surgery, as well as the outcome.  

Bareback riders in hang-up situations are at the mercy of the skills and quick action of pickup men. Despite harsh criticism directed at the two working the wreck – Chase Cervi and Randy Britton – Broderson defends their actions. Britton was actually closest to Broderson during the beginning of the wreck. “[Britton] just said it happened so fast,” says Broderson. “I called out for him when my rigging started sliding. He had a loop in his rope ready, but he dropped it to reach for me to pull me up, but we couldn’t quite reach each other.”  

Thus, Britton was without his rope at a crucial moment. At this time, Cervi was able to move in with a loop at the ready to make the rescue.  

“I felt bad for [Britton]. He really felt terrible. He visited me in the hospital and has called me several times to see how I’m doing. He’s a great guy. I feel bad that people would say it’s his fault, because it definitely wasn’t. I would say if anything it was my fault. My equipment failed.”  

Broderson and others speculated after the fact about why his rigging may have slipped. “That horse was built pretty badly. I talked to the pickup man and we don’t really know. I think that horse was blowing out some air and my rigging wasn’t as tight as we thought it was. I talked to my buddy who helped me pull, and he thought it was good, so we don’t really know exactly what happened.” 

His budding bareback riding career had recently collected accolades such as placing second at the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Novice Bareback Riding and being a point earner on the Casper College Men’s Rodeo Team.  

Regardless, Broderson is coming to terms with his future.  

“I was pretty mad at the world for a bit, but now I realize there’s a lot more things you can do other than riding bareback horses. I love to do that, but I’ll have to find something else that I want to work hard at, is how I see it now.” 

The rodeo community provided the utmost support during and after his hospital stay. A GoFundMe started for his benefit raised $90,000. The Canadian Pro Rodeo Association started a benevolent fund for him, and the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund helped to cover his medical costs. Cervi Championship Rodeo provided his parents with rodeo tickets and continued to check in. “I was amazed by all the help and support. It’s been great.”  

Broderson is also grateful for the ongoing support of his parents and coach, Sandy Bob Forbes. His college buddies call him from Wyoming to check in and to keep him updated.  

Recently, he was in attendance at the Gillette College Rodeo in March to be back in familiar surroundings. Schmidt, who works every college rodeo in the region, said, “All in all, he seemed like he was in good spirits and happy to be back around some of his friends.”  

Broderson was earning his business degree, and once he re-enrolls, he will continue. “I realize that now even if I get use of my left arm, I won’t rodeo, probably. Now, I’ve been looking at things I can do, because I love rodeo and want to be a part of it. I haven’t really thought about changing my schooling. I’ve just realized I won’t Pro Rodeo again,” he says. “I’ll just have to find something that I’m really passionate about and do that.”  

If you would like to contribute to Austin’s ongoing recovery, his GoFundMe can be found under the name “Let’s help Austin Broderson” or at this link: https://gofund.me/3d478722.