The ProRodeo Sports News - April 19, 2019

“Both situations are such an extreme, but they’re high-tense situations,” McFarland said. “Most people might not think deep into a rodeo clown, but you’re the guy when the show goes off course and they’re trying to get it on track. You make it entertaining and take a high-stress situation and come up with a plan, and it’s the same in the operating room. It’s a tense situation, and you’re able to take that high stress and focus on what you’re doing and eliminating the nonessential stuff.” A FAMILY AFFAIR McFarland has been a professional rodeo clown since he was 15. At 38, he loves it as much as ever. “It’s my passion in life, and nursing is a good side job,” McFarland said. “Patch Adams and I have a lot in common. I break the mold, I cut off with the patients and have them not focusing on their fears.” For McFarland, it’s a combination of the family trade. His dad, Sid, was a rodeo clown, and his mom, Suzy, was a nurse. “I saw who had the fun job and who had the dependable job with benefits and sick leave, so I decided to follow in both their footsteps,” McFarland said. “Being a clown and an operating room nurse, an RNFA, goes great together. I’m telling them (the patients) jokes and easing up their fears. And when a cowboy is injured in the arena, I’m the first one to them and can assess it.” The family affair of clowning continues with the McFarlands, as his wife, Wendy, and their sons Cody, 4, and Ryder, 3, join him in the arena. The 2018 Cody (Wyo.) Stampede had three generations of McFarlands in the arena when Sid joined his son and grandsons. Barrett started out riding bulls in high school and got into bullfighting in college, and by then was familiar with nearby medical professionals. “I saw male nurses, and they were chill and

available. I had to open an airway on some guys and had to protect their spine so they’d breathe again.” One of the most intense wrecks Barrett was on hand for involved Brady Jandreau, which became the basis for the 2017 movie “The Rider.” “That was the gnarliest one,” Barrett said. “He got kicked in the head and there was a risk of him not breathing or being paralyzed. He wasn’t doing phenomenally and was seizing. It was handy to be an RN in the arena. Thank God, Josh (the other bullfighter) was there with me. I’m not saying we saved his life, but we were the first ones there.” McFarland has had similar experiences in the arena. “Unfortunately, it happens where you don’t have the Justin Sportsmedicine guys, and they are the best of the best,” McFarland said. “There are rodeos that don’t have them, and at those venues you see the cowboy get knocked out or you’re suspicious of a fracture, and cowboys are the worst about, ‘Let me up and let me walk out.’ But if it’s serious, I can walk in and be an intermediate to the medics and explain the injury, or if a cowboy is fighting, I can talk to them and they will listen to me.” At their hospitals, patients are surprised when they find out their nurse is a rodeo clown or bullfighter. “With patients, the last thing they expect is for the person they trust in surgery as being a clown, but it works out pretty good,” McFarland said. “There’s the crossover of scared patients, and I’ll get them laughing, and when cowboys are injured, I’m a huge asset.” The same holds true for Barrett. “Patients in our region really get a big kick out of it,” Barrett said. “A lot of them are blown away. But when I’m at work I’m a nurse, and when I’m fighting bulls, I’m fighting bulls. I carry both with me, they’re part of me.”

giving me a hard time,” Barrett said. “It got my mind off being scared of what was happening. I’d hurt my neck bad at a Missoula college rodeo, and they got my mind off my neck being broken.” Barrett is the first in his family to participate in rodeo, and he’s helping others get their start by teaching bullfighting every year in Minot, N.D. “I wanted to be a bull rider from the time I remember watching rodeo on TV with my dad and seeing Donny Gay announcing,” Barrett said. “He had funny phrases like, ‘He was hornin’ in on his business,’ or, ‘He landed like a yard dart.’” It’s when those harmless spills take a turn for the worst that

Barrett and McFarland’s medical backgrounds become an asset in the arena. “It’s handy because I’m the first person to the crash when there are major injuries,” Barrett said. “I want to be there for my brothers and sisters who are out there. I see rodeo as

David Rosenfield photo Alabama cowboy Trent McFarland followed in the footsteps of both his parents. His dad, Sid, was a rodeo clown and his mom, Suzy, was a nurse.

a family, and it helps to have knowledge to help. I step to the side when the EMTs get there, but I’m

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