Back from injuries, Kennewick siblings headed to national rodeo

Clay Barry maneuvered around the barrels Wednesday at the Cody (Wyo.) Nite Rodeo, just her third run on her trusty horse Dirty since she broke her right leg May 22.

Barry was trying to get in as much time on her horse going into the National High School Finals Rodeo, which runs July 17-23 at the Cam-Plex in Gillette, Wyo.

“I’ve had two runs on her so far, and I wanted to make one more to build up her confidence,” Barry said of her 8-year-old palomino. “I ran barrel club (July 6), and we were at 16.70 (seconds). It was one of our fastest times.”

Barry, 17, of Kennewick, is fortunate to be able to compete in the barrels at nationals.

She was in Clayton, about 30 minutes north of Spokane, for a high school rodeo and was warming up on her pole-bending horse, Gimme. They were on wet grass, and the horse lost his footing.

“It had been raining, and the grass was slick,” Barry said. “My horse lost his right hind leg, we went down and he was on my leg. I didn’t realize for a minute that it was broken. I tried to get up, and I couldn’t.”

Broken is a mild statement.

Barry’s tibia was broken in six places, and she broke her fibula. She has a metal rod in her tibia, and three screws are helping to hold everything together.

“That was my first time to the hospital and my first surgery,” Barry said.

That’s not all.

“They cut off my jeans, my lucky socks and my boot,” Barry said.

Misery loves company

Clay’s injury was the second in a week for the Barry family. Her younger brother, Miles, broke his left leg bullfighting at a high school rodeo in Goldendale the weekend before.

Before the injuries hit, both were shoo-ins for nationals.

Miles finished fourth at state in light rifle to earn a trip to nationals. Clay, who led the barrel racing all season, finished second overall at state on points accumulated throughout the season, even though she couldn’t race the final weekend.

Shayla Currin of Dayton beat Clay by five points to take first at state. Knowing she would have finished second if Clay could have competed, Currin gave Clay the champion saddle during the awards ceremony.

“I held my spot until the last day,” Clay said. “She won last year. In my mind, we were even. When she gave me her saddle, everyone in the room was bawling.”

It was a true act of sportsmanship.

“You just don’t see that these days,” said world-class bullfighter Rowdy Barry, father of Clay and Miles. “To me, that was refreshing.”

Added their mom, Laura Lee: “That’s kids being brought up right.”

Miles was trying to elude a black bull when it stepped on the outside of his left ankle, breaking his tibia and fibula above the ankle. He has a plate and eight screws keeping everything in place.

The bull didn’t take Miles down, and at first, he didn’t think he was hurt too badly.

“He knocked me into the fence,” Miles said. “I tried to walk it off. I thought it was a stinger.”

With recent rain, the rodeo grounds were hard and didn’t have the soft dirt that might have allowed Miles to slip his foot out of harm’s way.

“I was wearing grippy tape to keep the dirt out of my shoes,” he said. “That may have prevented his foot from sliding off.”

Miles, 15, was working the rodeo with his dad, who has had his share of injuries over the years.

“This wasn’t my chosen profession for him,” Rowdy said. “But he is doing phenomenally well. It has been fun to watch him grow. I will support whatever they love to do. I’m the wealthiest man in the world to follow my dreams and make a living. I don’t measure my wealth in money. It’s hard not to encourage him because I’m doing it. If he wanted to play golf, I’d be behind that.”

Miles’ broken leg isn’t his first casualty of bullfighting, which he has done for a couple of years.

“My first rodeo, I got mucked over (run over) three times,” he said. “My second rodeo, I split my arm open when a bull’s hoof caught me.”

After all of Rowdy’s injuries over the years, Laura Lee wasn’t shocked to see her children on crutches.

“If it’s going to happen, it might as well be at the same time,” she said.

The road to recovery

According to a 2013 report by the Justin Boots Sportsmedicine Team, which offers on-site medical care to pro rodeo athletes, the most common injuries among rodeo riders are to the head and face (about 16 percent of injuries), knee and shoulder (about 12 percent each), and lumbar spine (about 8 percent).

Clay and Miles knew if they had a shot at competing at the NHSFR, they would have to take their rehab seriously.

“Some try and come back too soon, and it comes back to bite them,” Rowdy said. “Then they have to have surgery again and are out longer. I told them I didn’t want them to step on their legs for 30 days, just like the doctor said.”

Clay, who will be a senior this fall at Kennewick High School, returned to classes at Columbia Basin College, where she is in the Running Start program. Miles, who just finished his freshman year at River View High School, also returned to class.

Sitting around was hard, both admitted.

“It was hard not to get on (Dirty),” Clay said. “It was a big change. When school was over, all I could do was sit on the couch. I was down to 98 pounds. I lost eight pounds of muscle.”

And not going to nationals was not an option.

“Barrels is what my heart is full of,” Clay said. “I want to do it forever.”

Though she is cleared to compete, Clay still has pain in her leg, but she’s not going to let it stop her from competing in her first NHSFR.

“When we got the X-rays done, there was enough bone growth to clear me,” she said. “It hurts when I get off from riding some days.”

Not having to ride a horse, Miles still would have been able to compete in light rifle at nationals. But with the injury, he and team roping partner Baley Westberg were done for the season.

His priority now is getting healthy for the upcoming football season, and to get back to work in the arena. He already has had to turn down several jobs.

“My adrenaline gets going twice as much playing football,” Miles said.

While both of his sports are to the extreme, light rifle is not.

The participant is 50 yards from the target, shooting a .22-caliber rifle. Each person gets 12 shots per position (standing, kneeling and prone).

“When you are about to shoot, you have to control your breathing and keep your heart rate down,” Miles said.

He has done well in the event in the the past. He was 12th three years ago at junior high nationals, then followed with a 16th-place finish the following year. Last year was not a good year, Miles said.

Growing up around rodeo and watching his dad work, Miles at one time wanted to ride the bulls, and he was a two-time junior high national champion in the steer bronc riding. But he has since changed his mind.

“I’d rather fight them than ride them,” Miles said. “When you look down at them in the chute and their back is this wide (he stretches out his arms) and their shoulders are this wide (again shows the girth of the bull), that’s not for me.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Back from injuries, Kennewick siblings headed to national rodeo."