Laminitis-Surviving Rodeo Star "Vegas" Is Back: Turtle Powell's AQHA Roping Horse of the Year Returns to National Finals Rodeo

Back at it: 2010 AQHA Team Roping Header Horse of the Year RA Sonoita Silver (a.k.a. "Vegas"), was back in his namesake town last week for the comeback of a lifetime. The horse survived severe laminitis and was helped back to the arena by Lubbock, Texas farrier Blane Chapman. (Photo © Molly Morrow Photography, used with permission.)

World Champion Team Roper Turtle Powell was back in the saddle of his favorite horse last week. And no one at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) even noticed.

In the world of rodeo, bad news travels fast. When the ropers on the circuit heard that Turtle's outstanding horse "Vegas" had spent three months in vet hospitals in Montana and Washington because of fever and, eventually, severe laminitis, they shook their heads and said, "Too bad." They knew they'd never see the horse again.