After suffering a life-changing injury in 2018, bareback rider J.R. Vezain is determined to pursue his passion and dreams of not just walking again but competing in the World’s Greatest Horseman competition.
J.R. made his first ride at the Cody Nite Rodeo in Wyoming the summer before his freshman year when he was 14 years old. He went on to clinch the National High School Finals Rodeo bareback riding champion title in 2009 and finished third in the all-around category. During summers at the Cody Nite Rodeo, he earned $20,000, which enabled him to turn professional at 18 years old.
J.R. was recognized as the Resistol Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year in 2011. He went on to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo six times (2012-14 and 2016-18).
In 2014, J.R. found himself at his lowest point, describing himself as a black sheep immersed in a lifestyle of “sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.” However, in 2015, he experienced what he referred to as a transformative “come to Jesus” meeting.
“That conversation was ‘Lord, I can’t promise to be perfect, but I promise if you get me out of this mess, I will do right by you,’” J.R. told WLJ. “And that set me on a more focused path of glorifying God while I was rodeoing. So, at the time of my wreck, I was at a good spot spiritually knowing that good would come from the situation and that all things happen for a reason.”
Life-altering accident
J.R. sustained a significant back injury on Sept. 22, 2018, while competing at the Pasadena Livestock Show & Rodeo in Texas. A horse he was riding flipped on him, leaving him with mobility issues from the waist down. After the accident, J.R. spent a month rehabilitating in Houston, TX, and then six months in Sandy, UT. He continues an extensive rehabilitation program at home, intending to walk again.
When J.R. got home from Sandy, he believed that he would walk again and set goals of three, six and nine months for milestones. That’s when he had another conversation with God and realized he had to surrender control, which is something he has had all his life.
“At nine months, I asked him, ‘Why am I not getting what I believe I deserve?’” J.R. said. “‘I believe you can hear me, and I believe you can snap your fingers and I would be healed. Why?’ And the lesson I learned was to surrender control.”
J.R. continued he still believes he will walk again one day and prays the lord will provide a medical miracle to enable him to realize the dream. He said he has studied people who have recovered and believes he will be blessed one day.
Fine-tuning a new passion
J.R. said his uncle was his role model growing up and remains so because he got him into training horses and rodeo, and overcame adversity himself. His uncle accidentally shot himself and has a feeding tube in his stomach, which requires him to keep his pants unbuttoned. J.R. joked that as a kid, he also kept his pants unbuttoned because he wanted to be like him.
“He was my hero, my role model,” J.R. said. “When I was 12 years old, I would go to his house in the summer and I learned how to train colts. I’d spend summers there and when I got out of high school, I moved to his place and trained horses.”
They would train colts for a short period in the vaquero style of natural horsemanship, allowing the horse to advance gradually through training stages and various bits while riders engaged in activities like herding cattle and roping, before transitioning to the hackamore.
In 2014, at the inaugural American Rodeo in Arlington, TX, J.R. said he and R.C. Landingham went to watch some of the competition. J.R. recalled it was “some of the coolest stuff between horse and human that I’d ever seen.”
At that time, he wanted to find some of the best trainers and learn the finer details of training horses and turning them into excellent riding horses. He told his wife, Shelby, who he was dating at the time, that was the career he wanted when he retired from rodeo.
J.R. said he has always been a horseman at heart, and he only ran cows to make a good cow horse. The family continues to run a handful of yearlings but sold most of their cattle a couple of years ago.
During a 2020 podcast episode of “Team Never Quit” with Marcus and Morgan Luttrell, J.R. told them he wanted to train and compete with reining horses regardless of his accident.
“Fast forward to March of 2022 and the 3-year-old colts were standing in the yard and I was pissed trying to decide who they were going to be sent to and I was wanting it to be me,” J.R. said, referring to the horses at his parents’ ranch. “I did a little prayer, ‘Lord, you’ve got to change my dreams, desires and passions because this is the only thing that is keeping me frustrated.’”
Two weeks later, he received a phone call from a stranger, Aaron Brookshire, who had listened to the podcast and tracked his phone number through a few mutual pro rodeo friends.
“He asked, ‘Is that still your dream?’” J.R. said. “His exact words were, ‘90% of my non-pros don’t know how to use their legs anyway. So, if that’s still your dream, I think we can get it figured out.’ So that started my journey.”
Relighting a fire
J.R. said after that conversation, it all steamrolled. Brookshire asked J.R. to come down to Texas and find a suitable colt to train after having little success with a 3-year-old J.R. owned. J.R. said he started learning the finer cues and details from Brookshire, and after the second trip to Texas, things started to click. When he returned home to Montana, he called Brookshire and asked how long it would take to pay off a good horse and what he could win.
“His exact words were, ‘Well, let’s not treat it that way. Let’s treat this as a hobby,’” J.R. said. “So, he didn’t tell me it was impossible, but he didn’t want to fill my head with false hopes either.
“I called him later that evening and said, ‘Here’s the deal, amigo. I appreciate all you’ve done for me, I just need you to know who you are dealing with. I don’t think you understand what you have relit inside of me.’”
He told Brookshire he needed to chase his desires, dreams and passions. “I have to set my goals for the stars and if I end up in the clouds, it’s okay,” J.R. said, recounting the conversation. “I gotta shoot for the impossible here and the impossible is me competing in the World’s Greatest Horseman someday. If you’re not going to coach me with those expectations to that level, I’ll get a new coach.”
Brookshire replied that in all the research he did on J.R., nobody accused him of setting his goals too low.
J.R. said they are polar opposites, but God put Brookshire into his life for a divine reason, as they have forged a great relationship.
Training without the use of legs has been a journey of trying to train his mind and body in correlation with the horse, he said. He uses dressage whips along with bridle reins and is working on voice commands and sounds. J.R. said his horse, Neat Shorty Cat, has made the perfect match, with both learning to work together.
J.R.’s first reining competition was at the Colorado Reined Cow Horse Association’s 2023 Sagebrush show. He won $27.50 and said, “You couldn’t wipe that smile off my face.” He had won a lot of money in his rodeoing days, but nothing compared to that check, which he still has.
This year, J.R. competed in the Celebration of Champions show and the non-pro box, where he missed the final by three points. His goal for next year is to step up in special classes, go down the fence, and work on his cutting.
“Competing at the World’s Greatest Horseman will not define success for me in this journey,” J.R. finished. “That’s just what I am shooting for. I believe that I will figure out how to compete there one day. What defines success is never giving up, shining the light, and encouraging people to chase their dreams, desires and passions.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
