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VERNAL — They spend more than 30 weekends a year together, traveling to rodeo arenas around Utah where they bond like family as they cheer for each other's kids in events that can get pretty rough.
"Yeah, the sport itself has its own dangers," said Misty Taylor, whose son competes in roping and reining events for the Uintah Basin High School Rodeo Club.
Taylor admits it can be fairly easy to believe the danger is over after the final horn sounds, and the buckles and saddles are awarded.
"I guess we can get a false sense of security that we can all get in our truck and we're OK now, we're heading home," she said.
That belief was shattered on Aug. 15 in Spanish Fork Canyon as four members of an Emery County family drove home from a high school rodeo in Oakley.
Troopers say a car turned in front of Landon Jacobson's pickup truck as he approached the junction of U.S. 6 and U.S. 89. Jacobson, who was pulling a large horse trailer with three horses inside, tried to avoid the car but ended up hitting its front corner panel, according to investigators.
I broke up into tears because my family was home safe and there was a part of our (rodeo) family that wasn't.
–Niki Priest
The impact sent the pickup 100 feet down a ravine. When it hit the bottom of the ravine, the horse trailer slammed into and crushed the back of the pickup, troopers said.
Jacobson, 38, and his 15-year-old son, Bowdie, were critically injured, as was the driver of the car. Heather Jacobson, 38, and Broc Jacobson, 7, were killed.
Niki Priest, whose daughter is a member of the Uintah Basin High School Rodeo Club, said word of the crash spread quickly through the tight-knit rodeo community.
"Something silly, like pulling the horses out of the trailer when we got home (on Aug. 15)," Priest said, struggling to maintain her composure. "I broke up into tears because my family was home safe and there was a part of our (rodeo) family that wasn't."
Less than 24 hours after the crash, Taylor and Priest were planning a fundraiser for Saturday's high school rodeo in Vernal.
"It's an amazing thing to be part of," said Jackie Boren, secretary of the Uintah Basin High School Rodeo Club. "To feel the response and feel the way that the community and the rodeo family have come together to support one of our own."
So far, the women have raised more than $9,000. They hope to raise more during a raffle and silent auction that will offer everything from breeding fees for prized livestock to fine jewelry.
"It's been overwhelming," Priest said. "We've had donations come in from Colorado, California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico. We have blankets coming from Germany."
Jesse Ward, Heather Jacobson's brother, said the family is grateful for the constant support they've received. He said Bowdie Jacobson was welcomed home by "hundreds of people" after he was released from the hospital Wednesday.
"People never know what to say when something like this happens," Ward said, "but people's help and support, that's saying enough."
Landon Jacobson is still hospitalized in critical but stable condition, according to Ward, who said his brother-in-law continues to show signs of improvement every day.
A spokeswoman for Utah Valley Regional Medical Center said 25-year-old Amelia Allen of Provo, the driver of the car involved in the crash, was in fair condition Thursday. Ward said his family wants Allen and her family to know they hold no grudges.
"We'd like to tell them we're grieving for them, too," he said.
It's an amazing thing to be part of. To feel the response and feel the way that the community and the rodeo family have come together to support one of our own.
–Jackie Boren
Ward described his nephew, Broc, as "a kid with a mind of his own," who nevertheless looked up to his oldest brother and followed him everywhere. "Anywhere Bowdie would go, Broc would be there," he said.
As for his sister, Ward said Heather Jacobson "would do anything for anybody." Taylor, whose son has competed against Bowdie in rodeos around the state, said she knows that to be true.
"I have no doubt that, if I was the mother who left with her young son, that she would stand up in (my) place and do what needed to be done," Taylor said.
A donation account has been set up at Utah Power Credit Union in the names of Bowdie and his siblings, according to Ward.
