One Tough Cowboy...A Kick to the Teeth

Austin is a tough kid. I have seen him bucked off on to his head, stomped on, ran over and beat up. Since he was 5 years old, he has been stitched, stapled and glued multiple times. His chin, his head, his hand, his cheek...never mind the numerous bumps, bruises, strained muscles, etc. And all this was before rodeo! Then in rodeo we have seen several more of these and a broken collar bone.

He is tough. He may cry the first 10 minutes but after that he calms down and just does what he has to do to fix the situation. When he was 7 years old, he had his cheek split open during a little league baseball game. Sure, he screamed...he thought he lost his eye...he couldn't see anything. Once we reassured him that his eye was fine, never mind the big gaping slit in his cheek that was pouring blood, he immediately calmed down and was ready to pay the piper. As we waited in the ER, he laughed and talked and acted as if everything was normal...people just stared. When it came time to stitch him up, he insisted that no local was necessary and went with just a topical anesthetic. When he had his head stapled...he didn't even want that...Austin is tough. Not much phases him. When Running Deer bit a chunk out of his wrist the day after we got her...he screamed! But within an hour, he was right back out there helping care for them...no fear in sight.

Even when he broke his collar bone...the ER doctor didn't believe it was that serious because Austin was so calm. His heart rate and BP were normal and he was laughing and watching TV. However, it was split in two.

Last night just proved my theory....here's how the story goes...

Our girls can be onery. They love to not only eat their food, but anyone else's as well. They have no problem bullying their way in to the boys' food or taking food from each other. They can open stalls, the feed room and untie Champ's stall as well. They are very smart cookies! Last night, they untied his stall, ran him out and helped themselves to all his grub. Champ only has one back tooth, so unlike those little Yahoos, he needs all the food he can get. They don't care.

Austin went out to run them out and put Champ back in and relock the stall. Now, Champ can be a booger. Anyone who watched him with Kennedy at Pee Wee rodeo last year knows this. He doesn't always want to go right back in his stall when you want him to. This was the case last night. Only Austin knew that if he did not move him back in soon, his food would be devoured by the Yahoo sisters. He did not have a whip or anything to motivate Champ but came up behind him and "shooed" him along. It didn't go well...

Ok, I have to back up...their is a change in pecking order occuring in the Duval herd. Chazzy has been king for quite some time. When it was him and Champ, order was established and Chazzy had primo everything. Then the girls came and they were young and scared and followed Champ's lead and let Chazz be the boss. Now, they are comfortable. They are figuring stuff out and they no longer like being at the bottom of the pack. In fact, little Running Deer has had it! She is getting pushy with the boys and her "sister" and letting them know she wants to be top dog. It isn't going well for the rest of the group. They are now reshuffling and figuring out who is who and fights have erupted occasionally. Nothing serious...just some pushing, threats to kick and nipping but everyone is on edge. Apparently ol' Champ has had it...

So, back to Austin and Champ...in the "shooing" and moving, Champ decided enough was enough and gave what should have been a "warning" two-foot kick to Austin that he did not want to be bossed only his back feet made perfect contact with Austin's face! He tried to block his face (and this probably kept him from having a wired jaw) but still ended up not looking so good. My sister was out with him and saw it all. Austin never fell...please, go back and read that again...Austin was kicked in the face and did not go down. I would have been on the ground howling like a beaten dog. Blood spewed from his mouth and my sister said that Austin had a few choice words about what happened...I don't blame him. You should have heard me the morning Running Deer kicked me with both feet in the rear! I know my neighbors did...and some are not so close. He headed for the gate and to me and all I could see was blood pouring through his fingers.

Even after spitting and rinsing and spitting I could see nothing other than flowing blood and that he hadn't lost his teeth. His lips were swelling and his cheek was fiery red but he was more ticked than anything. His arm was turning purple and his fingers and wrist were killing him. Let's just say, the local ER must think we are insane parents...we let our son ride bulls (although they though we said he fell of a "bowl") and now he got kicked in the face by a horse! I headed out and Austin was calming down. Dad and Uncle were on their way to a poker game when they got the call and so we met Dad and picked him up. Then 2 friends who were headed out to our place to vist called and so they followed us to the ER to visit...not exactly what we had in mind but we were so glad they were there.

The ER was packed, but to make a long...very, very long...story short...nothing is broken and he will live to ride another day. He is pretty banged up and will have some lovely changes in color to his face over the next week and his lip is cut in several places along with the inside of his cheek and his arm, wrist and hand are banged up as well. We know how very lucky we are that he had no broken jaw, missing teeth, broken nose, broken cheek bone, broken hand, wrist or arm. And no stitches! That is incredible luck for Austin.

And you know what? He took Champ out for a trail ride today as if nothing ever happened. Looks like we're ready for rodeo season, huh?

Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got.~Anonymous

Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.~Anonymous

A cowboy is a man with guts and a horse.~Anonymous