Cole Lewis is thrown from a bucking bronc Friday night during the Ranch Rodeo at the Eastern Idaho State Fairgrounds in Blackfoot.

Cole Lewis is thrown from a bucking bronc Friday night during the Ranch Rodeo at the Eastern Idaho State Fairgrounds in Blackfoot.

BLACKFOOT — A Blackfoot cowboy is out of the hospital and recovering from injuries suffered after landing awkwardly when he was thrown from a horse in the Ranch Rodeo event during a saddle bronc event at the Eastern Idaho State Fairgrounds Friday night.

In response to a post on the Life In Blackfoot Facebook page Saturday, Cole Lewis said he suffered a broken neck and an injury to the T6 thoracic vertebrae in his back, located just below the level of the shoulder blades, as well as a bruised sternum and a “pretty good bump on my head” after a bad get-off in the ranch broncs event.

Lewis was first transported by ambulance to Bingham Memorial Hospital where doctors were reviewing some scans on his spinal cord/ligaments and other sensitive structures in his neck that were taken Friday night, waiting to see if surgery was needed and making a plan of action.

He was transferred to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls for an MRI and was released from there Saturday night.

In a Facebook message exchange Sunday night, Lewis said he’ll have follow-up appointments in the coming weeks but he “should be back to shoeing horses and riding colts in the coming months. Thanks everyone for the prayers and messages of support, they were greatly appreciated and felt.”

Lewis said Sunday he’s up and moving pretty well. He recalled the experience as he remembered it.

“I remember I got down on (the horse) in the chute she was good in the chute,” he said. “I called for her and she left really strong and when she landed the first jump she kind of made a few forward shuffle steps and it pulled me forward and I got mashed on my horn a few times. I was fighting to get back in my seat and the next jump she rolled to the right and I came off the left into my rein and I felt the top of my head hit and it rattled me and then I flipped over and couldn’t breathe and couldn’t get up and was in a lot of pain in my chest. I had really good help and people around me and all the prayers definitely helped me and I appreciate all of them.”

A packed grandstand crowd was quiet as Lewis was attended to, and the announcer immediately asked the crowd to join him in prayer. It was reported to the crowd that Lewis was moving and talking as he was on the ground. Blackfoot EMTs responded to the scene and took him to the hospital in an ambulance. The horse Lewis was riding was contained on the east end of the arena until Lewis was loaded into the ambulance and the arena was cleared before the ambulance left the scene.

The rodeo was part of the Celebrate Blackfoot event.

Sign up today, or manage your subscriptions, to one of our great newsletters: Special Offers Daily Headlines and much more!

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.