Just a week removed from a freak accident that sent her to the intensive care unit, Texas A&M University rodeo team member Madison Outhier is ready to get back in the saddle.
The morning of July 18 played out like any other for the A&M senior as she prepared for her breakaway roping competition at the Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo in Salt Lake City. The routine was nothing new for Outhier, the 2021 Resistol Rookie of the Year in breakaway roping and two-time Women’s Rodeo World Champion breakaway roper.
Outhier was on her way to the arena along a slick asphalt path after unloading and saddling her two horses — Rooster, an older, veteran horse, and Eva, a younger horse. As Outhier rode Eva to the arena while leading Rooster, he stopped to defecate. When Outhier halted Eva, she lost her footing and fell backward, crushing Outhier against the asphalt.
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“I knew right when [the horse] hit the ground it crushed my whole right side,” Outhier said via a phone interview this week. “I’ve been roping on [Eva] the last year and took her to a lot of rodeos this year already, so I was really comfortable on her. It was just a total freak accident. It could have happened on my [veteran horse] just as easy on her.”
Eva didn’t suffer any injuries, although Outhier was left in dire need of help. Professional calf roper Marty Yates and Outhier’s boyfriend, A&M rodeo teammate Connor Atkinson, were the first on the scene to assist her before paramedics loaded her into an ambulance and took her to Intermountain Medical Center.
“I knew that it was bad whenever it happened,” Outhier said. “They were just trying to keep me calm while I was on the ground until the paramedics got to me.”
The Level I trauma facility executed CT scans on Outhier, revealing seven broken ribs, a broken right collarbone, a punctured and collapsed right lung and a Grade III lacerated liver. After two days in the ICU, she underwent collarbone surgery while using a tube to drain blood from her chest cavity.
The operation was successful in significantly reducing Outhier’s pain levels, allowing for her release from the hospital on Tuesday.
“Everything was looking good, so they sent me on my way,” Outhier said. “I have a lot of pain meds that I’m on, still trying to keep the pain under control, but other than that I’m doing pretty good. … They treated us really well, so it wasn’t a terrible six days by any means, being in there, but I was definitely excited to get out.”
A number of teammates and coaches made sure those six days weren’t spent alone, paying Outhier visits during her stay. Salt Lake City’s proximity to the region’s rodeo events allowed familiar faces to drop in and offer her shows of support.
“[It’s] definitely making a world of difference,” Outhier said. “To see them and have their support has been awesome. My Texas A&M coaches have been calling and sending get-well packages and things like that to us. Just to have everybody’s support, all the way around, has been really awesome.”
So begins the recovery process for Outhier, one that’s expected to take eight to 12 weeks for her injuries to fully heal and at least two months before she can start riding again. For someone whose life has been built around being on the saddle, that time can’t come soon enough.
“That’s the number one thing on my mind right now, is when I’ll get to start competing again and riding again,” Outhier said. “I’m hoping it’s before that two-month mark, but I’m going to be listening to my body, of course, and doing what’s best for myself. If it takes longer than two months, then I’ll be OK with that.”
While Outhier was unable to compete on Rooster last weekend, she still found a way for her horse to make a difference with the help of senior teammate Madalyn Richards, who drove Rooster to Nampa, Idaho, for the Snake River Stampede.
After Outhier earned a victory on Rooster in the event’s breakaway roping competition the summer prior, she lent the horse to friend Josie Conner for this year. Conner continued Rooster’s winning tradition, taking first place in the competition while offering praise to Outhier.
“This win is for her,” Conner said in an Instagram post. “I’ll never be able to thank her enough.”
Outhier said she hopes to be back in action for the start of A&M rodeo’s fall season in a couple of months, but her recovery must begin with simply making her way back to Texas.
With her collapsed lung keeping flying out of the question, Outhier is making the 1,400-mile drive back home with her parents, Kristy and Mike, both accomplished horse riders in their own right. Kristy is a world-renowned women’s polo player, while Mike is a four-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo in saddle bronc riding.
“We’re going to be at our house in Fulshear, Texas, and my mom is like the best therapist ever,” Outhier said. “She’s going to be with me and we have a lot of remedies that we use on our horses to help them through injuries, and so we’re going to use that on me. Hopefully, not have a full two months of sitting in the house is what I would like to do, but it sounds like it’s going to be pretty close to that.”
The recovery comes less than a month before fall classes begin at A&M, where Outhier is set to wrap up her marketing degree, despite being instructed not to lift anything over 2 pounds with her right arm for six weeks. With plans to return to school as scheduled, she’ll rely on the supporting cast around her to navigate the process.
“Madison is a super strong girl,” said Millie Frey, Outhier’s teammate and roommate. “She’s very dedicated and passionate about what she does, so I have no doubt that she’ll take all the steps necessary to properly heal. … She’ll take the adequate time off that she needs to kind of heal her body and be back to normal, because she has the talent that whenever she’s ready, she’ll be back ready to go good.”
Outhier’s return to Texas might take a bit longer than expected, though. Before heading home, she’s planning to make a pit stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to catch Richards and Atkinson in action at the Cheyenne Frontier Days. While Outhier can’t take part in the competition, she’s finding the next best thing to showcase her passion for the sport.
“She’s an extremely tough person, very resilient,” Richards said. “She loves to rope and rodeo almost more than any person I’ve ever met. I know that she will be able to come back stronger than ever.”