BILLINGS - Cowboys risk life and limb trying every week all to put food on the table for their family, but what if a cowboy is unable to compete due to serious injury.
Rodeos and injuries go hand in hand, but when those injuries become serious some cowboys look for a little extra assistance. "I've been around rodeo for 25 years and something that always amazes me is there are so many close calls and guys get up and walk away," said NILE Athletic Trainer Andy Hopkins. But cowboys at the NILE rodeo are also human and sometimes those close calls are too close for comfort, turning into serious injuries.
Those injuries can do more than ruin a career they can impact the whole family. "If they're not winning their families going hungry back home. There's no groceries' going on the table. It's not sit at the end of the bench and collect your check. If you're not winning you're not making any more in this sport," said Hopkins.
That's when the Justin Boot Company saw the need to start a crisis fund. "When a guy is out, he's not making any money. He has bills to pay and a family to take care of and that program, the crisis fund, is there to help those guys in that situation," said Hopkins. The program has raised millions of dollars since it started in 1989 and is an important part to some cowboys' careers.
"Some of these guys that have benefited from it in the past its something they always talk about and they are grateful for it. It's what allows them to survive until they are able to go out in the arena and compete again," said Hopkins.
If you would like to donate to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, all you need to do is click here.