Nevada governor breaks pelvis in horse accident, in fair condition after surgery

Nev. governor has pelvis surgery after horse fall

RENO, Nev. — Gov. Jim Gibbons was recuperating in fair condition after surgery Wednesday to repair the pelvis he broke when he was bucked off a horse at a northern Nevada ranch.

The governor’s pelvis was broken in “several” places, requiring about two hours of surgery at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, said Daniel Burns, Gibbons’ communications director.

The 65-year-old was expected to make a full recovery but will be hospitalized at least until Friday, and he’ll likely be slowed during rehabilitation lasting up to three months, Burns said.

“The doctor who performed the surgery says the operation went very well and the governor’s prognosis is excellent,” Burns said, adding that the surgeon described the injuries as “very serious but very fixable.”

Gibbons had been in a great deal of pain since he was bucked off the horse late Tuesday afternoon at a private ranch about 45 miles north of Reno.

Burns initially indicated after speaking with the governor briefly Wednesday morning that he had broken his hip, but he later confirmed the pelvis was fractured.

“He is coherent. He is laughing, though not a lot because it hurts to laugh,” Burns told The Associated Press before the surgery. “He is looking forward to a full recovery.”

Sen. Michael Schneider, the Democratic president pro tempore of the Senate, was standing by to perform any duties while the Republican governor was in surgery because Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is out of the country. Nothing arose that required Schneider’s action, his office said.

The injury means Gibbons will be on the mend through the end of his term. The former five-term congressman was elected governor in 2006 but was defeated by former federal judge Brian Sandoval in June’s Republican primary.

In July, Gibbons became the first sitting governor in Nevada history to get divorced after 23 years of marriage to Dawn Gibbons, a former state assemblywoman who lost the GOP primary for her husband’s congressional seat in 2006.

Burns said the governor was with his brother when he was bucked off the horse north of Pyramid Lake around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The rugged, high desert hills and mountains around the lake served as the backdrop for part of the 1961 film “The Misfits,” starring Marilyn Monroe in her last movie.

A former Air Force pilot and state lawmaker with a degree in geology, Gibbons frequently rides horses and regularly attends local rodeos.

“He was getting on the horse and throwing his other leg over it when the horse spooked and took off,” Burns said. His foot was briefly caught in the stirrup, and the governor was kicked in the chest as he fell.

Gibbons was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Reno.

Burns said Gibbons was “looking forward to riding horses again, including that one.”

Associated Press Writer Sandra Chereb in Carson City contributed to this report.