Pro dirt bike racer from St. George makes comeback 2 months after colliding with horse

ST. GEORGE — Professional dirt bike racer Kadin Guard of St. George, who has been recovering from devastating injuries sustained in a collision with a wild horse in Mexico, was able to make it back onto a bike and compete in another race in the same area just eight weeks later.

Guard, 24, recently spoke to St. George News about the collision and subsequent recovery.

On the morning of Sept. 17, Guard was racing in the SCORE Baja 400 event, which follows a nearly 400-mile loop through and around Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

Guard said it's not uncommon for racers to see wildlife and livestock along the course.

"It's not super common, but I have had friends or competitors hit animals down there and either pass away or get seriously hurt," he said. "It's one of those things, where as professional racers, we know that that's a risk that we're taking. We're kind of rolling the dice and hoping that it doesn't happen, because there's not a lot that we can do."

"We're going at such high speeds through the desert," he added. "These animals, they hide in tall shrubs, bushes and trees."

Sometimes, he said, the noise of the passing bike will spook an animal and cause it to jump out onto or across the trail.

"They just come towards the noise," he said.

Guard said he believes that's what happened on Sept. 17 at approximately 8 a.m., when he was approaching a competitor who was on the trail in front of him in the Valle de la Trinidad area, about 66 miles into the race.

"The racer in front of me that I was gonna pass went by where the horse was in the bushes, and his bike is what spooked the horse," Guard said. "I was right behind him and the horse came out right in front of me. There was really nothing I could do. I kind of flinched up and tried to, I guess, mitigate what was going to happen the best that I could."

Guard said he struck the horse's rear end at approximately 65 mph. The impact deflected him off into the bushes, which he noted was much better than a direct, full-on hit.

"The doctors told me if I would have hit the horse and stopped, I probably wouldn't have lived through that," he said.

As for the horse, Guard said it sustained a broken femur in the collision and did not survive.

Read the full article at St. George News.

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