Teen who longed to do rodeo dies after first ride

Horse rolled on top of Denver boy during bucking bronco ride

Video: Life

Nightly News

Rudolph the dog leads way to learning
Dec. 16: Making a Difference: A little dog who didn't seem to have much of a future is helping kids learn a very important lesson about compassion. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

A can-do canine named Rudolph

Teen struck by friend’s car overcomes obstacles

Kidnapped granny: ‘I’m feeling fine, dear’

Hope fading for Mount Hood hikers

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

Photo features

AP	The Week in Pictures A fiery protest in Greece, Baghdad bombing, winter winds, a cold dip in China, a relaxing bath in Hungary, police officers remembered and more news and feature images from around the world.
AP file	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

Most popular

• Most viewed

• Top rated

• Most e-mailed

Brazil court rules for U.S. dad seeking custody

House narrowly approves Democratic jobs plan

Poll: Obama approval dips below 50 percent

10 best PlayStation 3 games of 2009

Police say 2 dogs fed on Nebraska owner's body

Most viewed on msnbc.com

updated 3:01 p.m. ET April 28, 2006

DENVER - A 17-year-old fulfilling a dream to learn rodeo died after a horse rolled on top of him during his first bucking bronco ride, his family said.

Stuart Mazanec died Wednesday from organ damage, four days after the accident at a weekend rodeo clinic in Byers, about 30 miles east of Denver.

“It was his first and last ride,” said his mother, Pam Mazanec.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Stuart Mazanec, a senior at Douglas County High School south of Denver, was trying to get off the bronco after finishing the standard 10-second bareback ride Saturday when his hand got caught in the rigging around the horse’s neck, said Jay Brentner, a family friend and rodeo veteran who was at the clinic.

Mazanec tried to run alongside the horse, but the animal staggered, tripped and landed on him. When the horse got up, the teen was hanging limply at its side, Brentner said.

After being taken to a Denver hospital, Mazanec managed to speak despite a broken jaw, his mother said.

“The first thing he told me was, ‘Mom, don’t cry,”’ she said.

By Wednesday, his body had begun to fail, and the family decided to remove life support that night after consulting with doctors and a priest, Pam Mazanec said.

Pat Bohlender-Lowe of the Colorado State High School Rodeo Association said she could recall only one other youth rodeo fatality in the state, a bull-riding accident about 20 years ago.

“People sometimes forget what a rough sport it is,” said Brentner. “But for Stuart, the one thing he always wanted to try ended up being the thing that killed him.”