Broken leg won’t keep Clay Smith out of the saddle

Clay Smith never thought about stopping.

Not after surgery.

Not during his recovery.

Not as he limped along on crutches.

Not even after it became clear he would need to change how he prepared to compete at a rodeo.

Making the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo was his focus. And nothing was going to change that.

“This whole year has been what the good Lord can do for you,” Smith said with a smile. The two-time world champion team roper is now competing at his eighth NFR. “I always thought if it hurts me too bad, I’ll stop. If I’m not winning, I’ll go home. But it just kept on rolling the right way.”

Smith’s entire 2022 season changed in late June at the Prescott (Ariz.) Frontier Days Rodeo. The barrier rope holding back the steer caught the spur on his right boot and turned his leg in the wrong direction. Doctors at the hospital in Prescott quickly concluded the injury was beyond their expertise, sending him to Phoenix for immediate surgery.

His first time on the operating table, Smith had a rod put in his leg that runs from his knee down to his ankle, with a plate holding in place the femur and tibia, both of which were broken.

Initially, doctors told him it could be 15 weeks before he’d be back on his horse. That’s a number Smith could not accept.

“For me and my family, the NFR is our favorite time of the year. It’s what we live for all year long, to try and make NFR,” Smith said. “I knew that with the NFR being on TV, it would have just killed me. I knew by the time the NFR rolled around, I’d be feeling pretty good, and it would have killed me to sit there and watch, knowing that I could have tried. That was the reason that I wanted to try, because I didn’t want to sit there and be wondering if I could have made it.”

Smith’s wife ordered an orthopedic boot to help stabilize his leg. He contacted renowned saddle maker Doug Harrigal about constructing a special saddle that featured an oversized stirrup, so that the orthopedic boot could fit. Cole Davis, a longtime friend, agreed to come on the road and help Smith prepare to compete.

Four weeks removed from surgery, Smith was back on a horse. He and partner Jake Long — Smith is a header and Long a heeler in team roping — won the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo, their first event since Smith’s injury.

“To his credit, he just wouldn’t let anybody hardly talk to him about it. It was amazing,” Long said, noting he was on pins and needles watching every bump Smith took. “I don’t think I could have done it, and I don’t know how many guys could have pulled off what he did, I really don’t. It’s pretty crazy.”

A late-season push was enough to get Smith back into a familiar place — the top 15 of the PRCA standings, cementing his spot as an NFR competitor.

Together, Smith and Long won or co-championed four rodeos following the injury. Smith finished with just under $89,000 in earnings for the year, good enough for 13th overall among headers, with Long nabbing a little over $130,000 to finish second in the heeler standings.

Smith is off crutches and back wearing a regular boot. He spent the days between the end of the 2022 regular season and the NFR practicing to stay in rhythm and feel normal.

The duo went out Friday night at the NFR and won the second go-round, clocking 4.1 seconds to earn $28,914 apiece, a great bounceback from a no-time in Thursday’s first go-round.

Smith said his goal is to put Long in position to compete for the heeling world title, even if that means Smith isn’t in a place to win a header buckle for himself.

No matter the outcome, Smith considers himself fortunate to be healthy and able to compete against the best cowboys in the world.

“I don’t know what else to do but ride and rope. That’s all I’m good at. I’m not the best at it, but that’s the only thing I know how to do,” Smith joked.

Long sees it from a different perspective. He wasn’t sure this moment was even possible back in early July.

Long is quick to point out that Smith simply doesn’t give himself enough credit for his skills or his grit — both of which have them in position to succeed.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle, honestly. He was telling me all along that he was going to come back. We kind of joke more about it now, but at the time, in my head, I was like, ‘Man, I just don’t see it,’ because it was just a horrific injury for him to sustain,” Long said. “I thought he would have been doing really good to come back maybe two or three weeks later than what he did.

“So for him to come back when he did was nothing short of a miracle. And then for him to rope the way he roped on top of it, it just speaks a lot to the toughness and his mental fortitude.”