An Australian trick rider was dragged halfway around a rodeo arena after becoming trapped in her saddle straps during a horror fall that may leave her unable to work for at least nine months.
Dayna Rose Bradshaw suffered repeated blows to her head, torn arm tendons and extensive knee damage when her presentation at the Mount Isa Rodeo in Queensland went wrong.
The founder of Cowgirls With Wings Trick Riding had just two tricks remaining in her final performance at the event when she lost her grip while riding her horse Macey Mae.
Bradshaw was performing the Superman, a stunt she had completed countless times during her 10 years of trick riding.
‘As we hit the corner, somehow my hand slipped from the saddle horn,’ she wrote on her GoFundMe page.
‘To this day, I’m still not exactly sure why or how my hand slipped.’
Dayna Bradshaw suffered serious injuries after she fell while performing a trick at the Mount Isa Rodeo event
The performer was dragged around half the arena after becoming caught in straps attaching her to the saddle
Bradshaw said she did not know whether her new long-sleeved costume or a change of saddles had contributed to the accident.
With her body attached to the saddle by straps, she became caught and was dragged around the arena.
‘When I lost my grip, I became caught up and was dragged around half of the arena until some incredible cowboys jumped in front of Macey and my foot eventually came free at the same time,’ she said.
The rider suffered a head wound that required staples, along with cuts to her lip and chin which needed stitches.
Despite the repeated impacts and damage to her arm and knee, Bradshaw said she did not break a single bone.
But further examinations revealed several torn tendons and haematomas in her arm, with three months of physiotherapy needed to give her the best chance of regaining full movement.
Her knee injuries included a complete anterior cruciate ligament tear, tears to both the medial and lateral menisci, and a grade two medial collateral ligament injury.
In a September 5 update, Bradshaw confirmed she had undergone surgery.
The trick rider suffered torn arm tendons and extensive knee damage but said she escaped without any broken bones
‘Surgery is officially done! Everything went well,’ Bradshaw said.
‘I had a full (anterior cruciate ligament – ACL) reconstruction, using part of my hamstring tendon to reconstruct my ACL, so I’m a little more cut up and in pain than I originally expected.’
The performer, who started trick riding at 14, said returning to tricks involving hanging or dragging from her knee could take 11 months to a year.
She has already withdrawn from shows and rodeos as she faces a lengthy rehabilitation and hopes to return to performing in 2027.
With performing her main source of income, Bradshaw launched the fundraiser to help cover surgery, medical bills and recovery costs.
‘With the reality that I could now be out of work for the next nine-plus months, I’ve made the difficult decision to start a GoFundMe page,’ she added.
She said asking for financial help was something she had never expected to do.
Bradshaw also defended Macey Mae’s response during the accident, saying the horse continued following her usual performance pattern without rearing, spinning or running her into a fence.
‘She continued running our normal trick pattern just as she has been trained to do with our drag tricks. I couldn’t be prouder of her,’ the rider said.
Macey Mae was uninjured and is now home with Bradshaw’s other horses while she recovers in the small town of Tingha in New South Wales’ Northern Tablelands.
Bradshaw said the accident was her second major fall in a decade of trick riding, and explained why she had chosen to share what happened publicly.
‘We all fall. We all have accidents,’ she said.
‘This accident doesn’t define me or my ability as a trick rider, and it certainly doesn’t erase everything I’ve achieved over the last 10 years.’
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