Professional Nick Price earned the joy of being the only rider to complete the 8-second ride, just after junior bull rider Colton Thornton of Eddy experienced the bulk of the pain.
Thornton’s late injury cast a sour taste on what had been a patriotic first day at the 84th annual Belton Fourth of July PRCA Rodeo on Thursday night at Bell County Expo Center.
Thornton’s incident occurred right before the featured bull riding event.
The 14-year-old Thornton was bucked off the bull and was then apparently stepped on by the animal after the ride.
Paramedics from Rodeo Sports Medicine came out as a precaution, carried Thornton off on a stretcher and rushed him to Scott & White Memorial Hospital. Thornton said he had hurt his back on the fall and had shortness of breath as he lay near the north rail.
The next rider after Thornton was Price, who quickly brought the crowd to its feet again.
Riding the bull Slim Stinger, Price, from Russellville, Ark., barely held on to record a score of 89 before being bucked off right at the 8-second mark.
Announcer Charlie Throckmorton’s vibrant voice shouted, “Look at this!” four times as Price’s ride earned the judges’ approval. The next five riders were easily overmatched by the bulls, giving Price the opening-night lead.
“That was a good bull and a tough ride,” said the 24-year-old Price, competing for the fourth time in Belton’s annual rodeo. “I’m just the one who didn’t make any mistakes.”
Price underwent two surgeries in 2006 for bone spurs on both hips and returned to rodeo in the middle of last year.
“The year started off good, then it was pretty slow, but it’s picking back up again,” said Price, who has been riding bulls since he was 13.
Kaufman’s Bubba Hudson, the first rider, got the rodeo off to a positive start by completing his 8-second ride for a 74 to take the lead in bareback riding.
Mountain Home 47-year-old Neal Felton stole the show in tie-down roping from his younger brother Shawn, the defending champion. Right after Shawn recorded a no time, Neal finished in 9.9 seconds to steal the lead from Mike Mathews of Cleburne.
Austin’s Dusty McKenzie edged Houston firefighter Craig Cavaness of Brenham by one tenth of a second to emerge as the leader in steer wrestling.
With Men At Work’s famous tune “Land Down Under” blaring through the speakers, New Zealander Curtis Garton rode the horse Prime Time for an 82 and the saddle bronc lead. Throckmorton predicted Garton would produce a great effort, and after the ride he bellowed, “You got to love it.”
Dakota Shipp of Gainesville and Trey Norris III of Yantis seized the lead in team roping in 5.2 seconds, Jordon Peterson of Chilton took the lead in women’s barrel racing at 16.28 seconds and Trey Benton won junior bull riding.
The second of the rodeo’s three performances begins tonight at 7.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
