PRORODEO Sports News February Digital Edition

SHORT ROUND

BULLFIGHTER NOAH KREPPS RECOVERING AFTER INJURY IN DENVER PRCA bullfighter Noah Krepps is recovering from an injury at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo on Thursday afternoon, which caused him to spend three nights at St. Anthony Hospital in Denver. Krepps was helping a bull rider who got hung up when a bull hit him with its horn on his right side. At the hospital, they put in a chest tube, stabilized a couple of broken ribs and a punctured lung, and monitored him until he was discharged at Noon on Sunday as an extra precaution. “I got the kid undone and then as the bull came around he met me, hit me in the sweet spot and rolled me out of there,” Krepps told the PRORODEO Sports News on Mon day. “Luckily, the guy came undone … but I had to go sit in the hospital for a couple of days.” The doctors said Krepps could get the stitches out from the chest tube in two weeks and that it could be a while longer before the pain in his ribs subsides. But he said he wanted to get back into the arena at the Denver Coliseum as early as Friday. Krepps ultimately decided to head back to his house in

COLEMAN SHALLBETTER RE COVERING AFTER INJURY IN DENVER Resistol Rookie saddle bronc rider Coleman Shallbetter is recovering from a wreck Friday night at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. He was competing in his second round on The Cervi Brothers’ Hillbilly Hovoc on Jan. 23. Midway through the ride, the bay horse stumbled, returned to its feet and lunged forward while kicking high on its back end. That forced Shallbetter over the front of the bronc’s head, and the horse landed at least two hooves on the cowboy’s torso. Shallbetter was taken out of Denver Coliseum on a back board and transported to Denver Health Medical Center. He suffered three broken ribs, one of which punctured his left lung. He had surgery that night and was released Sunday, Jan. 25. “They did surgery and took that rib out of my lung, got the blood out and reinflated that lung,” said Shallbetter, 21, the No. 2 man in the Resistol Rookie of the Year stand ings from Gunnison, Colo. “I think one of those back feet is what got me.” Shallbetter was in intense pain – “It was pretty rough and was a good 10 out of 10 for a while there,” he said – but the surgery and his recovery is helping with that. He is recuperating at the home of his fiancé in Loveland, Colo., about an hour north of the coliseum. “The doctors just fixed that one that was broken really badly,” he said. “It was displaced and shoved into my lung. They took it out of my lung and put it in place.” Shallbetter is in the Top 10 of the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings. He won the 2025 permit standings championship with more than $120,000 in earnings. His biggest victory so far this season was the bronc riding title at the New Year’s Eve Buck & Ball in Gillette, Wyo., where he won both rounds and collected $7,732. For the next few weeks, he will continue to recuperate

and let his body heal. He’s hoping to get back to work in time for La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Tucson, Ariz., which will give him five weeks’ rest. “The doctors said I’d be out for four to six weeks, so I’m looking to be back for

Bullfighter Noah Krepps is recovering after an injury at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. PRCA photo by Ric Andersen

Montgomery, Ala., to rest up before getting back to action in February. “It’s part of it,” Krepps said of getting injured. “I signed up for it when I took the job and I’m just glad it wasn’t any worse than it was. CommonSpirit Health, one of the sponsors for the rodeo, took really good care of me. From the time I walked in the door, they were on point … I sur prisingly feel really good and like I could fight a bull pretty well today.”

Tucson; we’re out on the 28th (of February),” Shall better said. “This doesn’t change anything as far as my goals. They’re going to have a heck of a time tak ing me away from that. This just slowed me down a little.” COLEMAN SHALLBETTER

FEBRUARY 2026 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE 51