Horse riding accident can't deter junior rodeo queen
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| SARAH WHITNEY PHOTO -- Lorna Dreyer, Miss Junior Rodeo Queen Missouri, pins Warren County Junior Rodeo Queen Rachel Bruns' sash July 1. |
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The blonde-haired 14-year-old from Warrenton smiled and waved at the audience as she galloped past them and then circled around into line with the other Junior Rodeo Queen candidates.
Two summers ago, Bruns could not even walk, let alone ride.It's a similar story for Ashley Bauer, this year's rodeo queen winner, who fell from her horse five years ago and had three metal plates inserted into her skull.
"We both had accidents," Bauer said. "Mine involved a fractured skull and hers involved a concussion."
In May 2006, while doing a practice run on barrels at Gateway Riding Club in Lincoln County, Bruns' horse tripped, threw her to the side and rolled over on top of her.
Nancy Bruns' voice shook as she recalled her panic at seeing her unconscious daughter under the horse. "I just ran to her," she said.
Rachel was airlifted to St. Louis Children's Hospital, where she was treated for bleeding on the left side of her brain and severe head trauma. She spent the next month relearning how to write and walk.
"I still don't remember going into the arena," Rachel said. After warming up her horse, the next memory she has is waking up three days later in the hospital.
"I was asking for cookie dough (ice cream) and shaking. Everything smelled of mold," she said.
Doctors asked her math questions and one even teased her to get her mad.
"He called me, 'Blondie.' He was trying to get me to respond. So I called him 'Baldie' right back because he was bald," she said.
Rachel described her first time writing after the accident as weird.
The therapist asked her to draw a clock.
"I knew exactly how to do it, but I couldn't do it with my right hand. My hand just scribbled," Rachel said as she pantomimed the gesture she had no control over. "So I switched to my left and I could do the clock face."
After a month of practicing, she could write her name.
She showed the same determination when it came to riding.
"Since I don't remember (the accident), I wasn't phased," she said. "I wanted to ride, but my mom wouldn't let me."
The first horse she rode two months after the accident was the same horse she was riding when she fell.
Nancy said it is her faith that helps her every time Rachel gets back on a horse.
"It's what she loves," she said. "I'm not going to tell her she can't do it."
On July 1, Rachel was once again on horseback, listening as the crowd filled with her friends and family wearing T-shirts with her picture shouted its support.
The volume of the audience is the final stage in the rodeo queen contest and the judges had no doubt who the crowd favored.
Teresa "Dood" Lee, coordinator of the event and 4-H leader, did not hesitate as she named Rachel the junior queen.
"It felt good," Rachel said. While she was sitting on Damita looking out across the crowd, she said she felt like she had accomplished a lot in the past two years.
Bauer understands and is happy that her friend won.
"We just couldn't stay away from horses and everything worked out," she said.
Rachel's faith keeps the accident and her royal title in perspective. She understands it's all part of God's plan for her life, a belief that comes from her life verse, Jeremiah 29:11:
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future," she recited.
Whenever she rides, she always has a cross somewhere with her, she said.
During the July 1 event, she wore dangly cross earrings and sequins outlined a cross shape on her pants pockets.
Friends and family recognize the difficulties she's faced.
"She had a lot of courage to come back to riding and that's why I admire her," Lee said.
Since the accident, Rachel has made a full recovery. The only difference Rachel noted is her right side is slower than her left.
"You know how you flip flip-flops when you wear them? I can't do that with my right (foot) anymore," she said.
Rodeo queen
Bauer faced a familiar challenge during this year's rodeo queen contest. Her horse turned up lame for the second year in a row.
She said her horse Diamond turned lame two months ago at a show. Since then, she's had to train with a backup horse, Midnight.
"I had worked for so long to get (Diamond) to do his show look then he pulled up lame. I was a mess. I didn't know what to do," she said.
The contest requires entrants to do a lead line change and also a figure 8 pattern. Bauer said it was a challenge to get Midnight to do the lead change.
"It's difficult to switch horses because each horse is different and they have different cues," said Lorna Dreyer, Missouri's Miss Junior Rodeo Queen and Bauer's friend.
It is not unusual for contestants to train their horses for a year before the event. With only two months to get Midnight ready, Bauer faced a challenge, but she was optimistic after the contest.
"I honestly think we had a good run," she said.
Lee and judges faced a difficult decision when the crowd cheered just as loud for Bauer as it did for competitor Liz Wilson of Warrenton.
"There were a lot of people cheering for me and a lot of people cheering for Liz," Bauer said.
Lee joked at one point that she almost needed to flip a coin, but after the crowd started chanting Bauer's name the judges came down in her favor.
"I'm really excited," Bauer said about her win. "It was a lot of fun."
She added that she was thankful for all of her family and friend's support.
Rodeo royalty winners
Rodeo queen: Ashley Bauer
Rodeo king: Dalton Garret
Jr. rodeo queen: Rachel Bruns
Jr. rodeo king: Carl Klem
Rodeo princess: Kelsey Miller
