Word Count: 66,054
Summary of Events:
Kingston, Drew, and several other bronc riders went out for pizza together; conversation revolved around how some of them were having success, while others weren't, and Kingston ended up rather insulted when the one rider suggested that he — and the others who weren't having success — weren't putting in enough effort. That night Kingston was upset to see the rider who suggested he wasn't trying hard enough win the bareback bronc event for the night before Kingston went out and rode in the saddle bronc; in the last moments of his ride Kingston lost hold of the lead rope and got shifted out of his seat by a buck with one foot free, one not . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
Kingston wished in this moment that saddle bronc saddles would have horns on them like normal saddles. At least his had a hole under the cantle right at the front of the seat, so he stuck his hand through and tried to shift over to get his right foot free while the horse continued to buck.
The horn sounded moments before the horse stumbled — likely having stepped on the lead that Kingston had lost — which threw Kingston forward, leaving him in an even worse position to get his right foot free.
Immediately the pickup riders came in, but Kingston was too far to the right to go for the one to his left, and his right hand — which was hanging onto the cantle — was all that was holding him from going down to the dirt.
Kingston pushed himself back into the seat of the saddle and got his right hand free, only to have the horse give a sudden hard buck that sent him onto the horse’s neck. He grabbed on, but the horse dropped its head, pulling on his right leg.
Because in saddle bronc the narrow stirrups were settled right at the heel of the boot Kingston’s right foot didn’t slide out of the stirrup, but instead twisted the stirrup and fender around with it.
The horse was quite displeased with the weight on its neck and kept its head down until Kingston finally let go, pushing to the right, where the pickup man had peeled off for Kingston’s safety.
Being dragged by a horse for too long could result in death, so as soon as Kingston hit the ground he started trying to wrest his foot out of the stirrup, but was getting nowhere fast. The crowd was silent. If they didn’t know this was a bad thing for sure they were pretty convinced it wasn’t a good thing.
The other pickup rider had the horse by the lead and was trying to get it to stand still, but it wasn’t working, the horse kept circling around the pickup man and his horse, which meant Kingston was continuing to drag on the ground.
Finding that the stirrup wasn’t going anywhere, Kingston went to work on his boot, if he could get his foot out of his boot he’d be free.
Kingston’s leg felt excessively stretched, he might tear a muscle in it if this went on too much longer — although if he got his head bashed in by one of the hooves a torn leg muscle wasn’t likely to matter.
Desperately Kingston fiddled with the spur strap. Why had he gone and bought new spur leathers this offseason? Now they were stiff and difficult to work with at a time when his life was at stake.
Finally the strap came free and Kingston got his heel loose. His foot slid free and he managed to roll away from the horse amid significant cheers.
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