News Story - Idaho State Journal

POCATELLO - Everyone at this week's Idaho State Finals Rodeo knows about the girl who wears a hockey mask when she rides a horse.

Every time she competes, people notice. Such headgear is normally only used in bull riding, and never by young ladies. By all measures, she is a bizarre sight.

But few know that her name is Kaycie Smith or that the story of how she came to wear a protective mask is as gruesome as her quick recovery back into competition was remarkable.

Only five weeks ago, her face was shattered.

After riding one of her horses around her home in Jerome, the steed accidentally turned around, reared back with its hind legs and kicked her square in the right eye.

The mishap left her with broken cheek bones, a shattered nose, a broken frontal bone and several other injuries she doesn't know how to describe. Obviously, she was in quite a bit of pain.

''I've been smashed before, but nothing like this,'' Smith said. ''It hurt really, really bad. I remember going to the hospital with my mom. She was driving fast and even ran a stop light because I kept yelling at her, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry.'''

Smith ended up arriving at the Twin Falls hospital so quickly that a police officer told her mother someone had called in a reckless driving complaint against her. But because of the emergency, no one got in trouble.

From there, Smith said a helicopter rushed her to a Salt Lake City hospital, where she rested and awaited reconstructive surgery.

''I wasn't very nice at that point,'' she said. ''I don't remember much, but I remember saying a lot of swear words and yelling at the nurses to get out.''

With her cheeks and nose smashed in almost two inches, such emotions were understandable.

But she's over it now. After a medical team installed 26 screws and four plates into her damaged face, she looks almost the same as she did before the injury.

The only one who seems to notice the changes, aside from a lingering scar around her right eye, is Smith.

''All week, all I've heard is 'Wow, you don't look any different,''' she said. ''But I feel different.''

The biggest difference, Smith says, is that her nose used to be straight and now it curves.

''I hate my nose,'' she said. ''It's not my nose.''

Good thing she got back into rodeo quickly, where her nose is hard to spot through that hockey mask.

Only two days after being life-flighted to Salt Lake City, she was back in the ring for districts. That's where she says her horse ''apologized really well,'' and helped her record a barrel racing time of 16.757.

''That was the fastest district time anyone had had in two years,'' she said.

This week she's competed in barrel racing, pole bending and cow cutting, but she hasn't fared quite as while. Her first go in barrel racing ended with a time of 18.086, and 28.118 during her first go in pole bending.

She's hoping to rebound and earn a top 10 finish before she leaves. But simply being here like every other average soon-to-be CSI freshman is enough to make her happy.

She doesn't mind wearing a hockey mask, showing off her new-look face or taking extra precautions when it comes to grooming her horses. Her only regret is that she doesn't have a more exciting story to tell when strangers ask what happened to her.

''There are some crazy rumors out there, like I got hurt in a rodeo because a rattle snake scared my horse and I was thrown off,'' she said. ''Nope. It was nothing exciting at all. I was at home just playing around with my horse, and I got kicked in the face.''

This document was originally published online on Friday, June 13, 2008

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