Hollywoods Fan - 2019-12-17 6:04 PM

They most likely could be sued, whether or not they would be found liable would be up to the court.  It sure wouldn't help their case if it were brought before a court that many people thought that ground to be dangerous to both horse and human.  And, Rodeo has a lot of knowledgeable fans.  If a horse or human is hurt because of the ground, the fans are going to know the cause and it will not go over well in the court of public opinion.

I heard that Sharon Smith sued when she lost her good horse, Bumper because of the ground conditions at the NFR.  (If I am not mistaken, that was like 20 years ago and people still talk about it,)  Someone with more first hand knowledge would have to verify that though.  The one thing I do know is that Bumper (Speed Money) broke his pastern because of a metal pipe they put across the alleyway that served as the bottom of a gate.  They put some dirt over the top of it that obviously barely covered it.  The horse hit it running down the alley and broke his pastern, He ran to the first barrel holding his leg up and Sharon was struggling trying to pull him up. He was an awesome athlete.  It was sickening.  When I see these horses slipping and losing their hind ends on that ground, I think of Sharon losing her great horse.  It is maddening because we worked so hard to address this issue four years ago and it resulted in Shawn Davis hiring an excellent ground man.  So new Management comes in and it is back to crappy ground.  Ridiculous.

Ticktock - 2019-12-17 4:40 PM

Can the NFR management be sued for the ground if lets say Heaven Forbid but hypothetically someones horse slipped and broke a leg and had to be put down immediately when they knowingly knew the reputation of the ground in years past, hired a professional to fix it 2016 to 2018 then due to management change they let those people go and it went right back to bad ground?  Just curious.