Clown puts body on line for rider

KIRK HARGREAVES/The Press

NO RHINESTONE COWBOYS: Rodeo rider Jeremy Starr recovering after being thrown from his bull and trampled at the Methven Rodeo. He was saved by further injury by rodeo clown Shane Bird, who threw himself on top of Starr.

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A rodeo clown says it was second nature to throw himself on top of an injured contestant to protect him from a rampaging bull.

Thirty-year-old Hawaiian rider Jeremy Starr was thrown from his bull, Extreme, at the Methven Rodeo on Sunday and became trapped underneath its pounding hooves.

Starr lost consciousness after a blow to the head and was protected on the ground by rodeo clown Shane Bird.

Bird, a 28-year-old rodeo professional from Feilding, threw himself over the fallen rider while other clowns managed to lure the animal away.

Starr received lacerations to the back of his head, cracked vertebrae and cuts and bruises.

Bird escaped injury.

Bird said the bull Starr was riding was known for circling on the spot whether the rider was on it or not.

His job was to protect the cowboys, so it was second nature to dive on top of Starr to shield him from the bull, he said.

"I just put my body on top of his to take any more of the hits that were going to come his way," he said.

"I was thinking, 'This is going to hurt'.

"It's just all luck that he (the bull) stepped all around me, but not on me," he said.

Starr lost consciousness during the incident and woke up in the medical tent still trying to fight off the bull.

"I remember him bucking up backwards and losing my footing and hitting the ground and seeing one foot come close and that was it," Starr said.

"I don't think I was as scared as everybody around me because I have been hauled off in the ambulance plenty of times. You can't really help that."

Starr, who started riding calves at the age of seven, is no stranger to action.

His left eye seemed to have taken most hits over the years, but his array of scars were hidden beneath his puffy purple skin.

Sunday's ride was only his second after five years on the sidelines with a back injury.

Starr competed at Methven with a 16-strong rodeo contingent from Hawaii which is touring the country.

"It makes it more adventurous and me a little more stubborn," he said.

The cowboy was planning to stay in New Zealand another two months performing in rodeos.

"Getting back on the bull for the first time is a bit freaky, but I have learned over the years to be more calm. You don't have any control over what's going to happen so you just let it happen."

Starr said he hoped to get out of Christchurch Hospital before Friday, but was being held for observation because of his head injuries.

"But they don't know how hard my head is. I feel pretty lucky. I got hit in a good spot."

- © Fairfax NZ News