National Finals Rodeo barrel racer Dona Kay Rule is sitting No. 3 in the WPRA World Standings right now and at the ripe age of 64, she has no intentions of hanging up her hat. However, for the past five weeks, Rule has quietly been recovering from hip surgery.
After toughing it out through last year and the winter rodeos this year, it came time for Rule to get a new hip.
“Honestly, last summer was awful. I did everything I possibly could to stay together… I finally went and got a shot in my hip in October to try and get through the NFR and I did through about the sixth perf,” she said.
Rule got some medicine and went on to finish the NFR before she hit the winter rodeos where at Fort Worth, she had to have help warming her horse up before she finally made the call to have surgery after she won San Angelo.
Now, Rule says she is feeling amazing and threw the walker away after four days. Her plan for the summer is to head to Canada with her two-time horse of the year, Valor.