Crunch Time Gray's rodeo season swiftly slid sideways

So much can happen in just eight seconds.

There are plenty of people who can likely attest to that after last Tuesday’s wild windstorm where trees toppled and tragically, lives were lost and others thrown into disarray.

While somewhat pale in comparison, that relatively short span of time turned Cheney High School grad Ryan Gray’s return to the upcoming National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas upside down this past summer.

Riding well in June and July and rising swiftly in the Pro Rodeo Cowboy’s Association bareback standings the injury bug bit, and as fast he was flying, Gray was grounded.

He won at Pecos, Texas June 30 and won nearly $16,000 in the weeks surrounding. That moved Gray from 11th to sixth in the money standings, the determining factor in qualifying for the NFR.

A rib injury that he was unable to pinpoint took Gray largely out contention. “They just kind of popped loose, I’d done it before,” Gray said. “It’s probably one of the most painful injuries for my event and I had to fight through it.”

“I’d separated some ribs and kinda’ fought that for three weeks,” he said. “Half of August I didn’t work.”

Gray suffered the same injury before but did not have to ride. This time, however, he had no choice if he were to have hope of returning to the NFR, this year scheduled for Dec 3–12, 2015. Gray missed the cut in 2014 big time, finishing 59th after undergoing abdominal surgery.

“I had to pick and choose where I could go,” he said. Gray had to turn down a number of rodeos that might have served to send him to Las Vegas. When he did compete he admittedly did not ride well because all the core strength was where the injury is.

“I won a little bit and it slowly started to get better,” Gray said.

By the end of August, Gray was pretty much back to as normal as a bareback rider’s body can. This year the 32-year-old cowboy, who currently resides near Reardan with his wife, Lacy, and son Ransom, rebounded quickly in the stretch drive, which for rodeo is September, the final month of any given PRCA season.

At the Labor Day weekend Ellensburg Rodeo things started well as he won $10,000 in the early going.

“I started feeling good, riding good and then got kicked in the face,” Gray said. The kick shattered his eye socket and broke eight bones in his face. He was essentially able to walk away, but right to the hospital. Surgery was required as Gray had two plates put in his face.

It was just kind of a freak deal, Gray said.

“I’m really fortunate, God’s really had a hand in this,” Gray said. “It could have been a lot worse, I’m really thankful.”

Following the accident Gray was supposed to take thee weeks off. But the damage had already been done so he made one more attempt at sliding into the top-15 for the NFR.

“I tried getting on that last week, there were three rodeos and I had a shot,” Gray said. He had a special facemask made for protection, hoping to earn about $10,000.

Gray rode in Amarillo, Omaha and Stevensville, Mont. He won several thousand dollars, which, in the end was not enough as Gray finished 18th, about $8,300 out of a potential ‘Vegas payday. Kaycee Feild’s $118,145 topped bareback winnings.

As the old adage say, if bucked off a horse you have to jump back on, and Gray’s doing just that.

But he’s not entirely sure when or where that might happen. A core group of the top PRCA cowboys have decided to ride in a new Elite Rodeo Athletes’ League of Rodeo Champions. And Pro Rodeo has threatened to not allow membership in 2016 to ERA competitors.

“We’re definitely taking the high road in response to them (PRCA) so we’ll just see how that goes and go from there,” Gray said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.