* The Split-Second Bronc Riding Accident That Changed Braxten Nielsen’s Life
* How Self-Belief and Faith Can Turn Challenges into Miracles
* The Key to Success: How Belief and Action Create Life-Changing Results
Shane Jacob
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this episode of The Horsemanship Journey Podcast. My name is Shane Jacob, your host, and I thankyou for taking your time to be here with me today.
Today's episode is brought to us by Cowboy Cuffs. Elevate your style, elevate your life. Appreciate Cowboy Cuffs.
Well, people's stories have power. They have the power to enrich and add value to our lives. And today, we have a special story. On August 31st, 2017, Braxton Nielsen's life changed forever. He attended a rodeo that day just like any other day, except that day was different. And today, we're going to hear the story of bareback rider, team roper, and odds-beater, Braxton Nielsen. Braxton, hey man, thanks for being here today and joining us. Appreciate you.
Braxten Nielsen
I'm excited to be on here, Shane, with you guys. I think what you guys have to offer is amazing. And an opportunity to jump on here is always a reward for me. So thank you.
Shane Jacob
You betcha. For those of you who missed it, Braxton was apart of our— or for current members of The Horsemanship Journey or Stable Living, you will recognize Braxton. He was on The Horsemanship Journey Show in an episode, and that was a great episode. So we're excited to have you back on, or for the first time on the podcast here today.
For those out in the world who haven't yet heard your story, Braxton, could you just begin and give us a little background about you? And then lead right up to that day in August—tell us the story of what happened.
Braxten Nielsen
Yeah. For those that don't know me, I'm from a small town—Roosevelt, Utah. Grew up ranching, farming, loving the outdoors. Grew up playing basketball, football, baseball, honestly, all through high school.
Then, kind of going through this fast, when I was right out of high school, I ended up getting a job working for Shad Field, who helped, you know, mentor me a lot. And then, actually, he introduced me to Casey Field at about age 20.
I met Casey Field, and he kind of introduced me into the bareback riding scene. I was friends with Joe Frost growing up—the Frost family. You know, I tried getting on a couple of bulls in high school. Didn't like doing that. They scared me. Them bulls, they scared me. So I didn't want to do anything that way.
Stuck to basketball, stuck to football. Then I got out of high school and kind of rubbed shoulders with Shad Field. He introduced me to Casey, and Casey kind of took me under his wing the first couple of years of my bareback riding career at 22. Man, it was a launching pad of adrenaline, a fun time of chasing a dream that was amazing. And I'm very grateful for the mentors in my life at that time.
I ended up getting a scholarship at Weber State University, where I went to the College National Finals in 2016. Didn't finish very good. Came back in 2017 at College National Finals while I was still pro rodeoing and ended up eighth in the nation at the college finals.
And that kind of was a launching board into my rodeo career. I was really going to hit the road hard in 2018. But August 31st, 2017—yeah, things changed a little bit for me. I was up in Filer, Idaho. I was sitting sixth in the Wilderness Circuit.
Finally, I took enough butt-kickings, learned how to ride bucking horses, that I finally felt like I was starting to ride really good. I won Rock Springs Pro Rodeo a couple of weeks before that. And so, I mean, my mindset—I finally feltlike I got my butt kicked enough that I was starting to really ride good.
And my dream was starting to become a reality. Then, August 31st, up in Filer, Idaho, I drew an awesome horse—Sozo. Sozo and me—we kind of reared out of the chute as the gate opened up and pinned my shoulder blades underneath the back of the chute. What it did is it taco'd me. In that setting, it totally destroyed the L1 vertebrae when she, you know, smashed me against the back of that chute. And then it caused my T12 to dislocate as the gate opened up.
She was able to get to her feet and left the chute, and it left me paralyzed right there in the arena. I kind of came off sideways and, you know, hit the dirt. When I hit the dirt—yep—yeah. Everything from my belly button down was shut down. There was nothing. No muscles firing, nothing working. Had a spinal cord injury from that rodeo accident. Really has changed my life forever.
Shane Jacob
Braxten, just in those moments, I've heard you talk before about—I think you might've said that it sounded like a shotgun went off, and then there was the flight for life.
Just wondering if you could kind of walk us through the next few things. I mean, I can't imagine you coming to realize that, you know, that you couldn't move—that you were, in fact, paralyzed at that moment, right?
Braxten Nielsen
No. Looking, you know—like, looking back now at it too, it was almost surreal. It's still like a dream. Like, can't believe it—that really happened to me. I do. I remember it like it was yesterday. Climbing over the chute, being excited, you know—you nod your head like you have a hundred times.
And as it was—was, I think, from the bone—you know, sound travels through bone. I think that's when that bone broke in my back—when she pinned me against the back of the chute.
I did. I heard it—like a crack go off in my ears. And, you know, her mane kind of hit me in the face, and it was like—I broke my back. Knew as soon as it happened. I mean, heard the crack, felt it obviously. But it was weird. It didn't really necessarily hurt. Like, I wasn't in a lot of pain. I got my hand out of the rigging handle, kind of about two jumps out in the arena. And when I hit, I kind of went to stand up.
She kind of lit me on my right side, and I went to stand up. And that's when—nothing moved. That's when kind of panic mode set in. And again, I wasn't necessarily in much pain at that time. It was just like panic mode.
I remember waving at Joe Frost. There were a couple of other buddies there. My rodeo coach was there. The CSI—so I was rodeoing for CSI at the time, and we helped run the rodeo, you know—we ran the out gates. But where I was riding that night, I had a lot of teammates, my rodeo coaches, a lot of support there. And obviously, my traveling partners were there. They all kind of came out.
And that's when I was sitting there talking to Joe Frost at the time, like, hey, something's wrong. They went to take off my boots, my chaps. And when they moved my chaps and my boots, it must've twisted a nerve or something in my spine.
That's when it really started hurting. It felt like a lightning strike hit me in the back of the neck, went to the middle of my back, you know, and it just kind of felt like a lightning bolt kept hitting me. That's when it really hurt.
They took me to the U of U hospital. Went under a five-and-a-half-hour surgery. After coming out of surgery, that's when I guess the realization of how bad this accident was. The surgeon talked to my dad and my mom—gave me a 5% chance to ever walk again at that time.
And that's when it was like—okay, this is real. I've broken a lot of bones, right? Been bucked off a lot. But we all learned how to fight through them broken bones and things. And this one kind of hit a little different.
Shane Jacob
Tell us about that. Tell us about when you first found out about this. I mean, did your dad tell you, or did the doctor tell you, your mom? How did you come to know that the surgeon, after that initial surgery, had said that you were going to have a 5% chance to walk?
Braxten Nielsen
It was my dad, actually, that told me. I was in the room at the time. Mom and Dad were sitting in the waiting room, waiting for the surgery to get done and to be able to come see me. So as they're waiting, I mean, it's like two o'clock in the morning—five and a half hours of surgery—and they showed up there.
The rodeo started that night at seven o’clock. By the time they flew me to the U of U hospital, started surgery, and everything, my mom and dad drove about two and a half hours to Salt Lake. They were sitting in this waiting room, and they tell me the story now. I wasn’t there, obviously, but I guess the surgeon walked out to them and said, “Hey, Mr. Nielsen, Mrs. Nielsen, we did an amazing job on your son’s back. I don’t know exactly—somebody told us it was a horse accident—and it was bad.
"We did a great job. Put in two rods, eight screws. We fused five of his vertebrae. But I want to be real with you guys. I don’t want to give you any false hope. Your son has less than a 5% chance to walk.” At first, she just said that I was going to be a paraplegic and that they really needed to stick by my side, especially the first week. She kept telling my dad and my mom, “This first week is very important. You guys watch Braxten to make sure that he’s in a good mental state. Try to keep him there because his life—he’s going to be in a wheelchair. His life has changed.”
And my dad is the one who kept thinking, Is the spinal cord severed? The surgeon said, “No, it’s not severed. It’s pinched severely. Where the bones broke and dislocated, it pinched the spinal cord, and we can’t get any signal past the spinal cord.” He said, “Well, if it’s not severed, then he’s got a chance.”
She kept telling him, “Mr. Nielsen, I just don’t want to give you false hope. Your son… your son… he’s going to be wheelchair-bound.” “Well, if it’s not severed, he’s got to have a chance.” And finally, she said, “Sir, your son has less than a 5% chance to walk again. Yes, we’re going to do our very best to get him there, but I just don’t want to give you any false hope or any false expectations that your son is going to walk again.”
So my dad, knowing this, his first initial thoughts were, I’m going to be positive. I’m going to let Braxten know that, hey, you do have a chance. And if it’s going to be possible, we need to get to work. That first morning, as I came out of the anesthesia, I started waking up in this hospital bed. I went to sit up, but I couldn’t. I was panicked. I had a neck brace on, and because of the medicine, the anesthesia, I was sitting there thinking ,Okay, what happened? I was at the rodeo. Yeah, I broke my back. Okay, I remember breaking my back, but man, I think the doctors cut my legs off.
I started panicking because, I mean, I could feel my legs, but I couldn’t feel them. I don’t know how to explain it in words. Like, they were there, but I couldn’t necessarily feel them. And I thought the doctors cut my legs off. I thought I had a blood clot somehow. I don’t know. I mean, that’s why we don’t do drugs, right? It made my mind kind of go crazy.
I started panicking, yelling for my dad, and he came over. The first thing my dad did was throw a joke at me. My dad and I have a really close relationship, but as I was panicking, yelling, “Dad, did they cut my legs off? Did they cut them off?” he finally said, “Hey, buddy, yeah, the doctors took your legs. They took your legs.” And I started crying. I mean, I was really thinking the doctors took my legs. Then my mom picked up my ankle. I saw her at the end of my bed. She picked up my leg, and she was crying. She said, “No, they didn’t, Rick! Knock it off!”
I mean, they were kind of—my dad’s laughing, I’m crying, my mom’s crying. And he finally said, “No. Hey, buddy, your legs are there. You’re good. You’re in a good place. We’re here for you. Hey, things are going to be a little different, okay? I need you to listen to me.” Then he got serious. He said, “Braxten, you’ve got arms. You can feel this.” And he squeezed my arms. “You’re talking to me. You’re alive, son. You feel that?”
And then, I know it’s kind of cheesy, but he put my hand right on my heart, and his hand was on mine. We were sitting there, and I could feel that sucker. He said, “Do you feel that? Can you feel that?” “Yeah, Dad, I can feel that.” And it felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest. He said, “You’re alive. Son, you can still be the very best. Yes, things are going to be different.”
That’s when he proceeded to tell me what happened at the rodeo, because I couldn’t really remember. I was pretty drugged up. He said, “The horse smashed you. Broke your T12. Totally destroyed your T12. Dislocated—totally destroyed—the T1, L1. Dislocated the T12. You have a spinal cord injury, son, and your chances of walking aren’t very good. But you do have a chance.” So we needed to get to work.
We started, I mean, right then. “We need to get you off pain medication.” The doctors told him that the sooner I could get off pain meds and stuff, the quicker my body might try to fire again. Because if you’re on pain medication and muscle relaxers, right, you put your muscles to sleep.
So in a short period of time, I wanted to get off that stuff as fast as I could to allow my body to start working, functioning normal. It was hard. There was a lot of pain. But I thought, If I can feel a little pain, it means I’m alive. It means my body is trying to do what it’s supposed to do.
Shane Jacob
Right on. So, from that moment, were you just focused on, Let’s see if I can walk? Or did you have a lot of negative thoughts going on—My dream’s over, my life’s over—and all the things that go with that? What was going through your mind?
Braxten Nielsen
Not at first. It was a negative thing. I won't lie; there were a lot of negative thoughts. Of course, I think anybody in these circumstances asks themselves, "Why me?" Like, why did this have to happen to me? I was pretty upset at God at the time, to be honest.
I've been raised by my mom and dad to always involve God in my life. I feel like I have a very strong relationship with my Heavenly Father. At this point, I was mad, thinking, "Why would You do this? I've tried living right." Of course, I wasn't perfect. I'm not perfect at all. But why would You take my dream, something I’ve worked so hard for, and allow this to happen?
It really was negative. I would try to fake it, though. People would come in to see me, and I’d put a smile on, saying, "It’s good. It’s going to be all right. We’re going to beat this." But deep down, I was hurting quite a bit.
What changed that for me? One was having good friends—friends who showed up and truly believed in me. Community members reached out. Family members came to see me. Thinking back on it, it was pretty neat. The doctors actually had to start turning people away because they said, "Braxten needs his rest. His body really needs to recover." My traveling partner left school and came back. They all stayed the night with me for the first few nights. My mom and dad were there. Joe and Josh would come in.
Friend after friend came in to see me, and it changed my perspective. If these people believe in me, if they support me, then I better dang well believe in myself.
Braxten Nielsen
I’m going to share one really spiritual experience that I haven’t shared very often. There was one night I was struggling pretty bad. I was actually praying out loud, asking Heavenly Father, "Why would You do this to me? What did I do to deserve this?" I was having a pity party and feeling really upset.
I was praying out loud, sitting in my bed. I actually thought my dad had snuck back into the room because I felt like somebody hugged me in that hospital bed. You know that feeling when you’re praying out loud, and someone walks in, and you suddenly start praying in your mind instead? That’s what I did. I thought, "Oh, my dad’s just hugging me. He’s crying with me." So I quit praying out loud and just continued in my mind, thinking my dad was there.
Then I opened my eyes—nobody was in the room. There was no one there. That’s when I really felt like Heavenly Father was with me. He knows what we’re going through. He’s aware of our circumstances. That moment changed my "Why me?" to "Why me?"—as in, why do I get to have this? Why do I have all these friends who love and support me? Why do I have all these family members who believe in me? I felt pretty blessed. That night changed my perspective.
I haven’t really shared that experience a lot because it’s deeply spiritual to me. But I’m grateful for the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father.
Shane Jacob
Braxten, that’s something. I appreciate you sharing that. That’s really a lot, so thank you for that. You talk about the idea of 1%, though. Could you go into how you eventually came up with that concept?
Braxten Nielsen
Yeah, that was actually my dad. He helped me with this. I struggled. The first time I went down to physical therapy, about five days after the accident, a physical therapist came into my room to help me out of bed. I remember grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and saying, "Hey, listen, I’m walking out of here, okay? I need you to believe in me. If you don’t believe in me, then get out. Bring in the next therapist who does."
That’s something about life—you have to pull people into your life who will help you be better. Be that 1% better. Believe in you. And get rid of the ones who don’t. It’s hard. I’ve had to let go of some friends, and it’s been a really tough choice. But honestly, it’s been one of the best things I’ve done—removing negative people and negative energy from my life.
One therapist, Ms. Emily, was amazing right from the start. When I first went down to the therapy room, she handed me a one-pound bar. That was my exercise. Just curling a one-pound bar. At first, I had to practice sitting up. From right above my belly button down, no muscles were working. Sitting up is all core and back muscles, and without them, I would slump over and almost fall off. I had to use my shoulder blades and arms just to learn how to sit upright.
Once I figured that out, she gave me the one-pound bar. That’s when the 1% mindset really started. My dad watched me struggle to curl it, and I almost fell off the platform trying. It defeated me. I went back to my room, frustrated, throwing another pity party. Then my dad walked in and said, "Hey, you need to change your mindset. That one-pound bar whooped you, but that’s all right. You can go back and try again tomorrow." I said, "No, Dad, you don’t understand. I rode a 1,200-pound animal a week ago, and now I can’t even curl a one-pound bar."
He replied, "Okay, let’s change this, Braxten. If you could wake up tomorrow and walk, what would you do?" I told him, "I’d be ready to enter a rodeo. I’d get back on a bareback horse." He said, "Perfect. Let’s work toward that vision. What are some goals you can actually accomplish?" One goal was walking again—walking out of the hospital. They wanted me there for three months. I told myself, "Okay, in these three months, I’m walking out of here."
Then he asked, "On a day-to-day basis, what’s something you can focus on to get to that goal?" I gave some answers, and then he said, "That one-pound bar defeated you today. What if you focused on getting just 1% better every day? What if, instead of overwhelming yourself, you worked on small steps?" That hit me. The small steps matter. Because if you’re not stepping forward, you’re not going anywhere. That’s where the 1% mindset comes from—getting just a little bit better every day.
Shane Jacob
Right on. Right on. Tell us more about how you progressed and what happened when you took a step. Just kind of go on with how it went there in the hospital as you were progressing.
Braxten Nielsen
Oh, you know what? It's hard. Like that was, I'd have to say, the first week was hard. Probably the hardest. The first two weeks were the hardest for me. After that experience that I shared with you—the spiritual experience—things really started to click, and being able to do that 1%, it was like, I'm going to give it my very best effort, and whatever I get back, I'm grateful for. I’m still going to be successful in life.
Even if I never hit that vision again, I’m going to be successful. I think because of the positivity, really positivity just rolled day in and day out. I built relationships with other patients that we'd push each other. We had fun in the hospital. Every day was fun.
We’d mess with the nurses. I mean, I know this is kind of going off a little bit, but we toilet-papered the hospital. You should have seen the chaos with handicapped people in wheelchairs trying to—after hours—I told the physical therapy team that I wanted to do some extra stretches. We put a pencil on the back door and went down there that night. Me and one other buddy, actually two of us, toilet-papered the place. We didn’t think about it, but it was hard to move around in our wheelchairs.
Probably the best physical therapy I ever had. I mean, we just made it fun and enjoyed the process. So, I guess, getting to it is: You have to enjoy the process of whatever it is you're going through. And so I enjoyed the process of learning how to walk again, learning new ways to get my body to function, new ways of getting my body to learn.
Little by little, you know, I had to practice standing. Once I was able to stand, I still had to use support. It’s hard to even put in words. I wish I had some videos to show you, but it was, it was hard. It wasn’t easy. There was a lot of pain. The same deal. I mean, I thought pain was a good thing. I always had a basketball coach growing up who said, "It’s discomfort, not pain. What you’re feeling is discomfort, and that discomfort is growth."
So, I felt a lot of discomfort. Little by little, being that 1%, honestly, I learned how to open my gait pattern, how to walk off of pressure in my hips, and eventually that pressure was able to fill in my knees.
I still today can’t feel the ground, you know, but I walk off of pressure. A lot of it’s moved off of pressure. I do have some feeling nowadays. It’s gotten a lot better. But learning new ways for my body to work, I guess. I don’t know if that hopefully answers your question as far as going through that physical therapy—just enjoying the process of that two months being there.
Shane Jacob
Yeah, yeah, it does. So, did you make the goal? Did you walk out of there? Tell us about it.
Braxten Nielsen
Yes, sir. Well, it was pretty neat. It was really neat. Actually, the day I was supposed to leave. See, you're supposed to walk 50 meters like I was supposed to walk around the hallways, and I never really could do it on my own. I couldn't do it on my own. My muscle capacity would give out.
Because of my physical therapist, my dad, the team there that I had, they helped me accomplish that 50 meters, which allowed me to actually—Ms. Emily, the day I left on a Wednesday, she came up to my room and was like, "Hey, it's time for you to leave. Let's go down. I'll help you. We’re going to walk out of this hospital together."
She got me a walker, and I said, okay. So, we came down the elevator. I get out of my wheelchair onto my walker, and I came around the corner of the hallway to go out the doors. You know, I had to kind of walk down the hallway and then out the doors. Well, I came around the corner, and the hallway was lined with the nurses, the therapists, patients, friends—it was the neatest deal. I was able to walk, you know, with the walker and assistance from my therapist.
I walked out of the hallway, and they had sliding doors. The sliding doors came open, and I was able to walk out of the hospital, which was one of the goals that I set out to do. And honestly, I wasn’t leaving the hospital any other way. Like, I don’t care if I had to crawl out of it—I wasn’t going to leave in that wheelchair because of God and the opportunities that allowed that.
That hard work paid off that day, and what it did was, it created a sense of accomplishment. Okay, I accomplished one of my goals. Now that I’m out of the hospital, I still had to use my wheelchair here and there, but it set up my next chapter and the next vision. It wasn’t just, "I walked out of the hospital, we’re done." It was on to the next goal.
We ended up going to physical therapy at Neuro Works where I did a lot of training again there. But it was hard in a sense because I didn’t have necessarily the support. I mean, I had support from people, but it was hard to take a step because I thought, if I fall, if I end up breaking my back again, this whole process restarts. And they would push me a lot. And it was hard mentally to trust myself in order to take a step, to trust the support, like the vests and the equipment. I mean, you really had to trust in that stuff in order to take a step and learn how to really walk on my own. It was hard.
Shane Jacob
Braxten, I love your story. I love the way that you tell it. You've touched on so many key principles. I mean, you've talked about having support and seeking support when you're in a trial. You've talked about eliminating people from your life that are negative influences. You've talked about the real-life benefit of having faith in God. You've discussed focus, focusing on progress instead of what you call a pity party. You've also discussed accepting the idea of small changes over time to achieve big things.
I haven't even covered all the things that you've talked about so far. I absolutely love your story and the wisdom you share within it. There's so much for us to reflect on and learn from—it’s truly an inspiration. But the biggest thing that stands out when I think about you, Braxten, is that you Were Born To Succeed. Can you tell us about that?
Braxten Nielsen
I've been able to start public speaking a little bit, and that is my platform. You say that word—“to succeed”—man, right? Shane, I’ve got to tell you, it lights me up, gives me butterflies because we are, as human beings, put on this earth to succeed. I feel like anyone you talk to, we all have a story. We all have something in common, and that is life and the obstacles we go through. I truly believe that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father, and we are born here on this earth to succeed.
Yes, we're going to go through hard times, but you can do it. You can do it because of our talents and abilities, surrounding yourself with the right people. There are so many little nuggets that will help us be successful. But you, as an individual—you are born to succeed. You can do great things. It may not be easy. It’s going to be hard, but you can do it. You can be successful. And that’s where “born to succeed” comes from. We are amazing people. We are truly amazing.
Shane Jacob
Thanks, Braxten. Right on. I appreciate that. What’s going on with you now? Tell us where you’re at today. I saw you not so long ago in Las Vegas at the World Series team roping. You mentioned public speaking—what else are you up to?
Braxten Nielsen
So, as of right now, I’m actually working at the school district overseeing the CT (Career and Technical) program. I get to work with the youth, the students—it’s a lot of fun. I love doing that, helping them find their career platforms. With that, I also get to speak often. I’ve been able to travel and share my story, share my message. That’s been really rewarding.
In addition to that, I’ve been working with team roping. It helps fill that hole of rodeo a little bit. I’m not as good at team roping as I was riding bareback horses, but I really enjoy it. I was able to go to the World Series, buy my car, and try to rodeo a little bit. Honestly, my chance of getting back on a bucking horse is probably better than entering a team roping competition, but it’s been a blast.
Three years ago, about three and a half years after my accident, I got back on a bareback horse at an amateur rodeo in Santaquin, Utah. It was amazing to get back on. My wife never saw me ride before. I met her after my accident, so it was really cool to have that experience with her and my little girl, who was there too.
I’m also a father now—married to my wife for five years. We have a beautiful daughter, Jada, who turns four this week, and a little boy, Rickson, who’s nine months old. They are the joy of my life right now. It’s been really fun to watch them grow and develop their talents and abilities.
That’s kind of where I’m headed right now—supporting my family while still chasing some big goals for 2025. I’ve got some exciting things coming up in the next year, and I’m really looking forward to it.
Shane Jacob
How can people find you and keep track of your speaking events and everything else you’re up to?
Braxten Nielsen
You can find me on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Just look up Braxten Nielsen—B-R-A-X-T-E-N, and Nielsen, N-I-E-L-S-E-N.
Also, we recently launched a "Born to Succeed" website. It’s still in the works, but soon, it’ll have updates on where I’ll be speaking, along with some upcoming calendar dates.
Shane Jacob
Alright, very good! Hey, Braxten, thank you so much for your time. I know you’ve got to get going. We always appreciate you. Your story is incredible, and I think the message you share really resonates with people. You’re an excellent public speaker because you truly feel what you say. We all appreciate that.
Thanks again for taking the time to be with us today. We wish you continued success, and to everyone else, remember—you cannot fail as long as you Don’t Ever Stop Chasing It.
Braxten Nielsen
Thank you, Shane. See you guys!
Each week I release a free video message with tips on creating and maintaining healthy parent/child relationships. I call my weekly video - "You Are Destined For Greatness" because I have full faith that you my friend, were born to be extraordinary!
So sign up, kick back, and get ready to wrangle some wisdom!
Sign up for
You Are Destined For Greatness here
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Country Code is more than words—it’s a way forward. A guide to inspire, uplift, and empower you when life feels overwhelming.
Print it. Frame it. Live It. Love It.
Live by the Country Code.
It’s time to Thrive!
