Payne Doesn't Stop: Steer Wrestler Makes NFR Debut
Steer wrestler, Don Payne, qualified in the 15th position for his debut National Finals Rodeo this year.
Payne grew up rodeoing alongside his younger brother Grady Payne, in the North Texas High School Rodeo Association. He did not begin his career steer wrestling but got his start when a bareback rigging ended up at one of his dad's pawn shops.
Payne rode both bareback and saddle broncs all through high school prior to his senior year, then had the realization he was growing too fast to ride broncs. Borrowing a buddy's horse, Payne attempted steer wrestling and ended up making the high school finals that year.
Becoming enamored with the sport, Payne dove head first into training his own horses. His National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association career was short but then went straight into his rookie year in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association.
In Payne's very first pro rodeo he landed only one position out of the money, this lit a fire in him and he won his second ever pro rodeo.
"I was thinking, this is a lot easier than it seems or I just have an outstanding horse," Payne said. "A few months later I figured out it was a lot tougher than that."
Little did Payne know he was just starting on a rollercoaster of trials for the next few years.
"Every time something would be going right, a horse would die, or I would get seriously injured, it was always something."
With the loss of his outstanding horse, Payne had to move on to another equine partner.
Payne had just made the amateur rodeo finals and his horse contracted Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis or EPM, a serious neurological disease that can be fatal. Being out a horse yet again, Payne borrowed his brother's retired one but he "had a bad go" and ended up breaking his leg.
Not just breaking his leg, Payne also broke his tibial plateau which supports 80-percent of one's body weight, located where the tibia meets the knee.
Knees are vital to everyday movement but extremely so in steer wrestling. From riding and jumping off of a horse at full run, on to a steer then in turn planting their legs to wrestle it. The knees are absorbing a ton of force, more so than the average person.
Doctors said with physical therapy he might be able to jog again, changing the trajectory on how Payne trained his body.
Prior to his injury Payne only steer wrestled and kept his horses in shape, not himself.
Physical therapy was ordered by the doctors but Payne only lasted a day because prior to that he hit the gym hard. Rehabbing his knee and building up muscle on his own, he was already leaps and bounds ahead of the prescribed therapy.
Healing up and hitting the road again he qualified for the Ram Circuit Finals, just to be delivered another blow and breaking his hand.
"I asked God a lot if this was what I was supposed to do."
Don Payne at the Days of 76 Rodeo in South Dakota with his younger brother Grady hazing for him.
Kristen Schurr Photography
Going out on the rodeo road this year Payne was not initially aiming to make the NFR.
"I went up north this summer and told myself if I don't win $15,000 I am headed back home to train horses. I ended up winning $25,000."
The last month Payne was on the edge of making the NFR but the horse he had been competing on got an abscess and could not continue. Thankfully he called his brother Grady, who loaded up and headed north.
With his brother hazing steers the last month of the season, Payne ended up finishing the year solidifying his debut at the NFR.
Being no stranger to injuries, Payne was working with a young horse to get prepared for the NFR and got hung up in the fence. Fearful that he seriously injured his ankle and again his knee, he rushed to the doctors who gave him the all clear.
"I'm going to stay off the young horses until after Las Vegas," said Payne.
The doctors might've cleared that injury but did discover that the cartilage in one of his knees was all but deteriorated, so in a couple years Payne will be looking at a knee replacement.
Not slowing down at all, Payne continues to train himself along with his horses to be in peak physical condition headed into his first NFR.
Since his brother has been so involved we asked if the family was going to be joining him in Las Vegas.
"Well that's the plan. My wife, Shaina, is due with our second baby literally day two of the NFR but she's still going."
Make sure to keep up with Payne and his exciting month in Las Vegas Dec. 6-16 with the rest of the NFR qualifiers.
