2007 World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Muncy sidelined with fractured ankle

Taos Muncy is starting to appear as unlucky as he is talented.
Unable to defend his 2007 saddle bronc riding world championship last year because of a broken leg, the Corona, N.M., cowboy is now looking at another 6-8 weeks on the sidelines with a broken right ankle.
Muncy, 21, was working colts at Mike Outhier’s ranch in Utopia, Texas on Feb. 17 when the horse he was riding put him into a chute gate, fracturing the lateral malleolus bone.
Examinations by Dr. Greg Gordon at Southwest Texas Methodist Hospital and Dr. Keith Markey, the medical director for the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, determined that surgery would not be required, despite the fact that the injury was complicated by its proximity to an earlier fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg.
Muncy has been fitted with a splint and will be using crutches to get around until he gets medical clearance to put weight on the foot.
It is a truly frustrating turn of events for Muncy, who had recently returned to the form that made him the youngest saddle bronc riding world champion in PRCA history, at 20 years, five months and two weeks.
Muncy had won the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo in Rapid City, S.D., and the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, Miss., already this month to climb into second place behind Bradley Harter in the PRCA World Standings.
Then he won two rounds of three in his bracket last week at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo to easily qualify for the semifinal round of the rodeo, only to be knocked out of action in an incident away from the arena.