WELD COUNTY, Colo. — Less than two years after climbing into the saddle, 14-year-old Hayden Chambers has earned a spot at the Junior National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
The Weld County teen will ride for a championship belt buckle next week, battling not only the clock and a bucking bronco — but also a comeback from a serious injury just three months ago.
“I listen to Chris LeDoux music a lot, and he was a bareback rider, so that kind of got me into it,” Chambers said. “Think it’s just the adrenaline rush. I’m kind of an adrenaline jockey.”
Bareback riding requires competitors to stay atop a bucking horse for eight seconds, spurring in rhythm to the animal’s movement. Chambers, who was taught by a coach, quickly began excelling in regional rodeos. He placed second at the regional finals, earning him a spot in the Nationals.
“That’s pretty close to as high as you can get, and I’m excited to go do it,” he said.
That excitement was suddenly threatened on Aug. 31 during his second high school rodeo of the season.
“A pickup man was going this way, and I was going this way, and my foot kind of snagged on him and just snapped,” Chambers said.
The tibia and fibula in his leg were broken, and he was dragged through the arena until his horse could be stopped. He left the grounds on a backboard in an ambulance, undergoing surgery that night to place a rod in his leg.
“You don’t want your kid in pain,” his mother, Kara Chambers, said. “But it was, I think it was more heartbreaking for me, because I knew that his high school rodeo season, at least the spring season, was going to be over.
He was really worried he was going to end up missing his trip to Vegas too, and he’d worked so hard for it.”
After weeks of recovery, doctors cleared Chambers to ride again in time for the finals. But an outbreak of equine herpesvirus (EHV) prevented him from practicing on live horses.
“It’s kind of concerning,” Chambers said. “But also I know that it'll just push me that little bit harder to make sure I ride well.”
He’s been training on a “spur board,” a device designed to simulate the riding of a bucking horse, building strength and muscle memory before his first ride back — which will happen in competition at Nationals.
“When I see him get off of a horse, just the look on his face, the smile on his face, he just he loves the sport so much,” Kara Chambers said. “The amount that he loves the sport…I’d never make him stop.”
Despite the challenges, Chambers is focused on the finals.
“Just try and ride the best I can and hope for the best,” he said. “I think I’ll just say a lot of prayers, and I’m excited.”
His mom is just as determined to see him succeed.
“It’s been hard for him having to sit out and watch his friends rodeo,” she said. “So this is his moment to go shine.”
The Junior National Finals Rodeo (NFR) takes place December 4th through the 13th and can be watched live, on the NFR website.
