4 FROM HUMANS TO HORSES CARING FOR ATHLETES, BOTH HUMAN AND ANIMAL, IS A PRIORITY FOR THE STOCK SHOW With a nod, the gate crashes open and for eight seconds, the dance of animal and cowboy is performed in front of thousands. In most cases, the ride ends successfully with the rider tipping his hat to the crowd and the bull, or horse, sauntering back to a paddock to take a drink, grab a bite of hay and hang out until its next performance usually days away. On occasion, though, the ride could result in a season-ending injury for the cowboy, and even rarer still, an injury that sends an animal home to spend the rest of its life in a pasture. While riders twist and turn with the bulls and broncs, behind the chutes stands a Justin SportsMedicine Team professional, closely watching for any sign of injury once the rider hits the dirt. Sometimes it’s the quick wave of a bullfighter’s hand or a rider who’s slow to stand that calls them to action, but no matter, within seconds they’re at the rider’s side ready to assist. For more than 40 years, Justin “Healers,” as they were once called, have provided medical and therapeutic support to rodeo athletes across the U.S., all at no cost, thanks to the support of Justin Boot Company and the insight of its patriarch and former Stock Show Chairman, John Justin Jr., who committed to funding the program in 1981. Serving as the program’s medical director is Dr. Tandy Freeman, an orthopedic surgeon based in Dallas, while nationally certified athletic trainer Mike Rich of Gilbert, Arizona, oversees the program. Both have seen numerous changes to the effort as well as in the facilities where they have worked over the past decade — perhaps none more welcome or as well equipped than the superior facilities available at Dickies Arena. “We went from a tiny room in the Coliseum to basically a facility where we can take care of multiple athletes at the same time,” said Dr. Freeman. “We have an actual athletic training room that’s equivalent to what you’d see in any other professional or collegiate arena. So, from the standpoint of our ability to take care of the athletes, it’s made a huge difference in terms of what we can actually do for them.” Rich is tasked with ensuring that a team of doctors and therapists are available at more than 125 rodeos each year. In excess of 750 volunteers are also engaged in the program, including many leading physicians in the rodeo’s city, particularly in Fort Worth, all of whom volunteer their time. “Tandy is wired in with medical people all over the area, who can be everything from an ob-gyn to family practice to specialty people who we can get them in to see and take care of them while they’re here,” said Rich. The nature of the sport can be a treatment challenge, as cowboys and cowgirls move from city to city, and seek out therapeutic treatment or continued assessment of an injury at each stop. Rich noted that advanced technology has helped create a network allowing the team to evaluate the needs of the athlete based on what treatments have been applied at other rodeos, rather than starting at ground zero.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAxNTQ=