The Rider

Synopsis

Brady Blackburn (Brady Jandreau), a rising star on the rodeo circuit and a gifted horse trainer, is left shattered after a near-fatal head injury. Back home on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, he is forced to live with the physical and psychological scars of his accident—including a metal plate in his head and seizures that cause his hand to lock in a permanent grip.

Doctors warn that another fall could be fatal, but in a community where a man’s identity is tied to his saddle, Brady struggles to imagine a life without riding. As he watches his best friend, Lane Scott, navigate life in a rehabilitation center after a similar tragedy, Brady must reconcile his "cowboy up" upbringing with the reality of his new limitations. The film follows his quiet, internal battle as he searches for a new sense of purpose in the vast, beautiful, and unforgiving American heartland.