Winnemucca cowboy Trenten Montero died Thursday, 20 days after suffering catastrophic injuries following a ride August 10 at the Owyhee County Rodeo in Homedale, Idaho. He was 31.
Following a 79-point ride on Macza Pro Rodeo’s Half Crow in Homedale, Montero’s horse rolled on him, resulting in life-ending injuries.
“There are no words,” Montero’s wife, Maria, said in an Instagram post Wednesday night. “Heaven took my best friend and made him an angel. Trenten kept his promise and fought until the very end. Strongest cowboy and greatest man.”
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Who was Trenten Montero?
Montero, a Lowry High alumnus, was being treated at the Saint Alphonsus Trauma Centre in Boise, Idaho, and had undergone several operations to try and save his life. Noah, Montero’s kid, was born on July 26 and had just been a parent for 15 days when he was in an accident. Family members were residing in Jerome, Idaho. Noah attended his father’s competition for the first time at the Owyhee County Rodeo.
“Trenten was the toughest human being I’ve been around my whole life,” lifelong friend Joe Harper, a PRCA saddle bronc rider, told ProRodeo.com. “We traveled together to all the rodeos. He had big faith and a big heart for everybody. If you called and asked him for anything, he was always the first guy there, even if it meant driving 12 hours across the country to come help you. He had a way of making a guy laugh when you didn’t want to. He was a real goofball, but one we all loved dearly.
“He didn’t just go through the motions and act like your friend, he really invested into you. He wanted to make life good for the people around him. He also was so dang proud of his son.”
With $58,300 in earnings this season, Montero, who acquired his PRCA card in 2011, was ranked 24th in the PRCA|RAM World Standings. His finest year was in 2019, when Montero earned a spot in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and earned $170,296 to place 10th overall. At the 2019 NFR, he placed third and took home $89,538. The winning ride in Round 2 with a score of 90.5 points, which broke the Round 2 Wrangler NFR record, was the highlight of that competition.
At the Owyhee County Rodeo, Montero’s horse rolled on him, so Montero left the arena and went to a neighbouring hospital to get treated. He suffered multiple pelvic fractures, a collapsed lung, a lacerated spleen, a pancreas, three broken ribs, a fractured sternum, and damage to his aorta. It was impossible to recover from those wounds.
