Toowoomba bull rider Clay Hall reveals shocking injury as he prepares for Bikes and Bulls show

A Toowoomba bull rider described a shocking injury which nearly cost him an eye as he prepares to headline the upcoming adrenaline-filled Bikes and Bulls arena shows.

Toowoomba cowboy Clay Hall has asserted himself as one of the rising stars of bull riding in Australia and is set to star in the upcoming Bikes and Bulls arena tour.

However, as he prepares for some of the most chaotic events in his career - a show combining the thrills of stunt motocross riding and the adrenaline of bull riding - Hall needs no reminder of the risks he faces when he enters the rodeo arena.

While he may be one of Australia’s top bull riders, even he isn’t immune to the dangers of one of the most extreme sports in the world.

“With bull riding it’s probably not the matter of if you get hurt, it’s a matter of when you get hurt and how bad,” Hall said.

“Over my years I have definitely come across a lot of broken bones, a lot of concussions.”

Throughout his countless injuries and scares, a near-miss this year sticks out the most.

“This was only halfway through this year, I was practising at home with just a couple of our bulls at home with my brother and a friend and I went to go get off one of our bulls,” Hall said.

“I rode him and as I got off right next to him and he threw his head back and his horn hit me right in between the eyes.

Toowoomba Bull rider Clay Hall is set to take part in the Bikes and Bulls arena tour. Picture: Supplied

“So as he did that he split half my face open on my forehead between the eyes and I had to go to hospital to see a plastic surgeon to stitch it all up.

“An inch either side and I probably would have lost an eye.”

Despite this and several other injuries, Hall remains unfazed when it is time to ride and revealed the importance of maintaining a strong mentality.

“Don Gay, one of the best bull riders in the world once said ‘it’s 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical for bull riding’,” Hall said.

“You have definitely got to be on your best for it mentally whereas if you’re not thinking that you want to do this, then it’s probably not the right sport that you want to be doing.

“It’s a very dangerous sport, you’ve definitely got to have the right mindset to understand that you’re probably going to get hurt.

“You just got to have the love for it that if you do get hurt, you got to overcome it and tell yourself why you’re there and come back.

“Every bull rider wants to be the best and that’s what you’re there for.”

The Bikes and Bulls show that will come to Brisbane next month. Picture: Supplied.

Hall is set to be one of the headline acts for the Bikes and Bulls arena tour, taking place in Sydney on January 4 at Qudos Bank Arena and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on January 11.

“Bikes and Bulls started in 2015 and I started with them when they started it - I was 15 years old when they started,” he said.

“I’ve missed a few years or what not as I’ve gone to America and competed over in America for a couple of years.

“The highlights of these shows is that they are not the same as your normal rodeo or your normal bull riding.

“These shows are next level because they’ve got two of the most action packed sports coming together to make one absolutely outstanding show.

“The atmosphere that you are around when all this is going, it’s not just your own sport that you’re doing.

Toowoomba Bull rider Clay Hall is set to take part in the Bikes and Bulls arena tour. Picture: Supplied

“You’ve got the freestyle motocross guys there with us and they’re revving their bikes and they’re doing some of the craziest tricks and stunts above us and while we’re riding bulls at the exact same time, they’re jumping.

“You’ve got both sides of the crowds, the freestyle motocross guys and then the country bull riding fans that come together so it just makes the crowd electric.

“The atmosphere that you can be around in those Bikes and Bulls shows is outstanding.

“You’re still doing the same thing as you would if you were riding bulls anywhere else but it’s just the atmosphere I reckon that's next level.

“It’s built so high that the crowd is going that more crazy - you’re just pumped, the adrenaline, it’s just awesome to be there.”

Jason, Wade and Clay Hall at the SWQ Thunder FC Bucking Bull Ride community event hosted by Thunder and NRA at Gatton Showgrounds, Saturday, January 21, 2023. Picture: DSL Photography

Hall’s bull riding obsession began at a young age as he was heavily influenced by his father and grandfather.

“I’m a third generation cowboy, my father was a rodeo cowboy, my grandfather also rode at rodeos - he was a bull rider and a bronc rider and a roper,” he said.

“My grandfather started raising his own bucking horses and bucking bulls in the (19)60s.

“So we’ve grown up running rodeos and taking bulls all over Australia.

“So once I was born I started on young poddy calves, I started going to a few rodeos with my father and just grew my passion from there.

“I as got older I learned a lot more, got better and I as I got bigger, you start getting on bigger stock and I got to where I am now.”

The Toowoomba cowboy said his time in the USA was one of the major highlights of his career and hopes he can one day return to the American rodeo scene.

Clay Hall, Bull Riding. Photo: DSL photography

“Bull riding’s biggest stage is probably in America so getting the opportunity to go to America and get a scholarship to ride at college was unbelievable,” Hall said.

“I got to go there and ride with some of the best guys in the world.

“Got to go to some of the best rodeos in the world and the experience of what it was like to be in America, it was unreal.

“I went to a lot of college rodeos and there’s seven regions in the college rodeo and I was the North West college champion for the two years I was there.

“After winning that they have the college national rodeo finals which is for all the colleges in America and that was unreal to be there.

“They’re my biggest highlights being over in America and winning those titles but I’ve also won a lot of junior titles and that in the National Rodeo Association in Australia.”