Injuries End 2011 Season for Four Top PRCA Cowboys

By Jim Bainbridge/ProRodeo.com R.C. Landingham doesn’t remember the accident, the trip to the hospital in Pendleton, Ore., or being life-flighted to the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) facility in Portland. Everything he knows about the car crash that ended his rodeo season has been recreated for him by family and medical personnel. The short version is that when Landingham’s minivan crashed on May 26, he broke the femur, tibia and fibula in his left leg and two bones in his right hand. He was knocked unconscious for 30 minutes and wasn’t aware he’d been in a car accident for two days, until after he’d undergone surgery to place rods in his leg from hip to ankle. Doctors are estimating it will be 4-6 months before the 20-year-old Pendleton bareback rider can begin working his way back to competition. “I’m kind of shooting for January or February,” Landingham said. “I’m trying to put a little weight on it, but I can’t do much. I know it’s going to be a long process.” Team roper Richard Durham, bull riders Brian Curtis and Kanin Asasy and steer roper Rod Hartness understand all too well the sort of challenge and physical pain Landingham will have to endure to come all the way back. They are among a handful of PRCA cowboys who will be spending their summer in much the same way, dealing with serious injuries. Curtis, of Belle Fourche, S.D., had a head-to-head collision with the bull he was riding at the June 17-18 Cedar City (Utah) PRCA Championship Rodeo and was life-flighted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas with severe head and facial injuries. “All the signs are really good,” Curtis’ father, Randy, told the Rapid City Journal. “All the doctors we talked to said they can’t believe how well he’s doing (considering) what happened. He’s a very a strong young man.” Curtis is listed in stable condition, but will remain hospitalized for an indefinite period of time with a depressed skull fracture and facial fractures. Family friend Chanda Snook has established a fund under Curtis' name at the Pioneer Bank & Trust, 700 State Street, Belle Fourche, SD 57717-1421 to help Curtis and his wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Oaklee, with medical bills and living expenses. There will be a fundraising dinner and auction at 6 p.m. (CT) July 8 at the Branding Iron in Belle Fourche. Asay is out for six months after undergoing surgery in Nashville, Tenn., to repair damage to his right hip. Durham was at eight-time World Champion Speed Williams’ arena in De Leon, Texas, June 10 videotaping a run on a heading horse he was trying to sell for his dad, Brent, when he was bucked off and broke his left leg. Durham, a two-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, had just thrown his loop and was leaning forward when the horse dipped his head and started bucking. “I heard a pop when I landed,” Durham said, “and I was hoping it was something to do with the saddle. But when I lifted my knee, my foot didn’t come with it. I shattered the fibula about three inches above the ankle.” Durham, of Morgan Mill, Texas, spent a week in a hospital in nearby Brownwood, Texas, where he had a plate and 10 screws inserted to stabilize the bone. He is facing three months in a cast and then at least another month of rehabilitation. Hartness, a 14-time qualifier for the National Finals Steer Roping, underwent surgery June 22 to repair an injury to his right knee that he suffered five days earlier in the Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping, a non-sanctioned event in Hartness’ hometown of Pawhuska, Okla. He is expected to miss about a month of competition while he recovers and adapts to wearing a brace. "I tore the ACL and meniscus, and if I had the surgery to repear it now, my season would be over," Hartness said. "Dr. Robert Hood in Tulsa said I could probably get by until the end of the season by using a brace and then we'll go in have it repaired. I'm aiming to come back in time for Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days." The procedure on June 22 was to cut a small piece of the ACL that Hartness said was "hanging down like a rope," and shave the meniscus. He will be fitted for the brace on June 27. Steer roping director J.P. Wickett was also injured at the event in Pawhuska, Okla. Wickett suffered a light concussion, a badly bruised shoulder and other contusions after his horse went down when Wickett got his front feet over the rope. He is drawing out of Pecos this weekend, but was going to try to rope at Sonora June 24-25.