NFR Bareback Champion Sam Petersen Undergoes Surgery For Knee Injury
The 2025 NFR Average Champion suffered a knee injury at the Wainwright Stampede and has already undergone successful surgery as another top bareback rider joins a unfortunate growing list of injured athletes.
Video Transcript
Hey, it's Madison Richmond with Rodeo Roundtable.
Bareback rider Sam Peterson underwent surgery on his knee after an injury up in Canada at one of the rodeos, and it's looking like he's gonna be out for about six months.
We have seen bareback riders really take a beating lately.
We saw Rocker Steiner undergo neck surgery that has been an ongoing issue for him.
We saw Wacey Challa get hurt, and actually he got hurt in the bull riding, but he's also one of the top bareback riders in the world right now.
And now Mr. Peterson is also on the injury list.
And Sam last year was the NFR average champion, and that was at his very first NFR.
He has continually been one of the best this year, sitting in the top twenty in the world, and it looks like some things are gonna change for him in twenty twenty-six.
Some goals might change, and I'm guessing that twenty twenty-seven will be the comeback year for him.
We've seen crazy things happen with these rodeo athletes coming back sooner than expected.
But his injury was serious, and it was a knee injury.
They took him right into surgery and got it fixed up as soon as they could.
They actually got him on a plane from Canada to Dallas, where he underwent surgery with some of the best doctors.
And they all have the same goal of getting these guys back in the arena as soon as possible.
But they also wanna look at longevity and make sure that they can ride healthy and strong for a long time, not just to come back for this season.
So we are sending our well wishes and prayers to Sam and all of the bareback riders that have been injured this year.
It's gonna change some things up without a doubt, but all of these guys are great, and they will be back in the arena very soon.
