Eight Seconds The Life and Death of a Cowboy

Published November 7, 2017

When Canadian bull rider Ty Pozzobon killed himself in January he turned a spotlight on the world’s most dangerous sport. Only 25 years old, he was a son and brother, a newlywed, and a star on the rise. He would also become bull riding’s first confirmed case of CTE. Among the factors that led to his suicide: concussions too numerous to count, stubbornness among cowboys to acknowledge the dangers of head trauma, and lack of consistent and fitting medical oversight to protect bull riders from themselves and the near-ton animals they compete against

Marty Klinkenberg spent the summer with Pozzobon’s closest colleagues on the professional bull-riding tour to explain how a way of life in the West threatens the health and safety of men who do it for love, and how the young cowboy from Merritt, B.C., could be the catalyst for change the sport desperately needs

MARTY KLINKENBERG
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 7, 2017
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TODD KOROL

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Credits: Reporting and writing by Marty Klinkenberg; Photography and video by Todd Korol; Design and development by Jeremy Agius; Graphics by Trish McAlaster; Editing by Shawna Richer and Phil King; Photo editing by Moe Doiron; Video editing by Deborah Baic; Multimedia editing by Laura Blenkinsop