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Cowboy recovering from horse kick at Snowmass Rodeo

Rick Carroll
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado

SNOWMASS VILLAGE – A Greeley man was released from a Denver hospital Friday after being kicked in the mouth by a horse Wednesday at the Snowmass Rodeo.

Jared Roth, 21, underwent surgery for facial injuries and was scheduled to return to his hometown, said Chris Kelly, executive director of the Snowmass Western Heritage Association, which produces the rodeo.

“We don’t have a lot of incidents like this,” Kelly said, “but rodeos can be a risky venture.”



Roth, a newcomer to the sport, was participating in the bareback horse riding event, in which the rider does not use a saddle. After he was thrown off of the horse, the animal kicked him in the face, said Snowmass Mayor Bill Boineau, who was at the rodeo and captured the incident on a video camera.

“I felt sick to my stomach when I saw it,” Boineau said.




The event was the first of the evening, and when Roth got bucked off the horse, he fell to the ground before getting kicked in the face, the mayor recounted.

“He was talking some and an ambulance crew came out and took him out on a gurney,” Boineau said.

The mayor said the crowd fell silent when Roth was kicked.

“The emcee said this does not happen that often and let’s all say our prayers for him,” he said.

Roth is a 2007 graduate of Platte Valley High School. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

Kelly said she has been told that Roth plans to return to the rodeo circuit.

“From what I understand the surgery went well,” she said.

The Snowmass Rodeo, held every summer, runs each Wednesday through Aug. 19.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com