Rodeo rider gored to death

Bull rider Jeremy Ives died Sunday after he was gored during Saturday’s Tonasket Founders Day Rodeo in Tonasket, Wash., said rodeo chairman Paul Vickers.

“The bull came out, he went two jumps, went back to the right,” Vickers said. “Jeremy lost his feet and went down in the well (the area within the bull’s spin). As the bull was turning, he hit him in the side of his head with his horn.”

Ives, 20, was airlifted to Deaconess Medical Center, where he died at 2 a.m. Sunday, a spokesman said. He was from Omak, Wash., just south of Tonasket.

“He was riding tough, he was doing really good. He’s a class kid.” Vickers said. “He’s the kind of kid who’d do anything in the world for you. And he had talent.”

The bull’s name was Psycho, Vickers said, but the animal was “not bad,” almost a pet.

Vickers said the rodeo had a service for Ives in the rodeo arena just before Sunday’s show.

“A cowboy minister said a prayer for him and his family,” Vickers said. “All of us were friends. I’ve known Jeremy for years. Jeremy was a friend of mine. I flanked the bull he was on. It’s hard to handle. … Our family, the rodeo community, feels a great loss with him passing.”