ProRodeo Sports News - May 15, 2020

PSN: We know you broke your ankle and strained some ligaments in the first round out in Las Vegas. How are you feeling now? Jesse: It’s a lot better than it was. Some days it still hurts like crazy, and some days it feels good. It took me about a week after I got home before I could walk on it. They told me to stay off of it for two or three weeks, but you can’t do too much on crutches. PSN: Not as many people know about the injury you were still recovering from when you got to Las Vegas. What happened? Jesse: I got smashed twice in the chute at Omaha. I broke the seventh vertebrae in my back, but I didn’t know that at the time. I needed to win something that last week to make it (to the Finals), so I went ahead and flew out to California to a couple of rodeos, but it didn’t go too well. My back kept hurting when I got home, so I went and had it checked out. The next bronc I got on was the first one in Las Vegas a couple months later. Then I broke my ankle, and it hurt worse than my back, so I kind of forgot about that. PSN: Can you describe the range of emotions of finishing 16 th in the world standings and then getting the call that Rod Hay wouldn’t be recovered in time from his injury? Jesse: I was bummed out about finishing 16 th . It looked like my chances were good late in the summer, and then I was having heck with my saddle, then I wasn’t drawing very well, and then I hurt my back. When I got that call, I was pumped. I’d already taken about five or six weeks off, so my back was feeling better, but that made it feel a whole lot better fast. I was kind of worried about replacing Rod. Those are big shoes to fill. I was worried I might not do as well as he would have and disappoint some of the fans. Hopefully, I did him proud in the end. He helped me out in the chute on a couple of my horses early in the week before he went home. He’s a great guy and one of the best bronc riders ever. PSN: How was your first Finals experience? Jesse: I was on cloud nine. It was everything I hoped for and more. I wish I hadn’t hurt my ankle the first night, because even though I was happy with the way it all turned out, I think you can always ride a little better if you’re 100-percent healthy. PSN: We saw you spending a lot of time in the Justin Sportsmedicine room. What kind of treatment were you getting to ride every night? Jesse: They were awesome. I couldn’t have done it without them. They had a heat pad I’d put on it to get loosened up before the performance, and then they iced it and put the stim machine on it afterward. They taped me up every night. I couldn’t get my boot on with all the tape and the swelling. I didn’t want to cut my boot up. Cody (Wright) said, ‘We’re at the NFR. You can buy new boots.’ PSN: I guess with the $92,000-plus in loot you hauled out of Las Vegas, you could afford them. What did you spend some of that cash on? Jesse: I paid off my 2011 Dodge Ram truck I had just bought, and bought a new Capri camper to put on it. I’m going to build a little place to put my Xbox in it. I can stay up all night playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare . PSN: You travel with your brothers, Cody, Jake and Alex. Who takes care of the entering and the business stuff? Jesse: That’s Cody. He does all the entering and trading. Last year, we started putting all the plane tickets, gas and expenses on one credit card and splitting it four ways. It makes it easier to keep track of. PSN: It must help out to have a two-time world champion older brother leading the way. What are you going to do if he stays home someday? Jesse: Yeah, he’s handy. He knows a lot more than we do about how to enter and get around. Hopefully he doesn’t spoil us and we learn some stuff before he’s done. Alex will probably take over then. PSN: What do you guys travel in? Jesse: A truck with a camper. It’s nice to have the room, and we all get along. That shower in the camper is worth a million bucks when you’re out there traveling. PSN: Back in the 1990s, we saw three Etbauer brothers in the saddle bronc riding at the Finals, the only set of three brothers to qualify in the same event in the same year until last year, when the Coopers and Tryans did it. What are the chances we’ll see three – or even more – Wright brothers there together riding broncs? Jesse: Well, we’ve only been to a couple rodeos so far this year, but everybody’s been doing pretty good. I’d say there’s a good chance. Now that would be a rippin’ good time.

JESSE WRIGHT Jesse Wright, the 2009 Saddle Bronc Riding Rookie of the Year, finished the 2010 regular season in 16 th place, one spot short of making his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. But when 20-time qualifier Rod Hay couldn’t compete because of an injury, Wright got the call to pack his gear for Las Vegas. He capitalized on the opportunity despite suffering a broken ankle and badly strained ligaments in the first round. The 21-year-old took $92,926 in Wrangler NFR winnings back to Millford, Utah, and jumped all the way to fifth in the final 2010 world standings, proving he was more than ready for his first Thomas & Mack experience.

–PRCA ProRodeo photo by Mike Copeman

Cody Wright

ProRodeo Sports News 5/15/2020 SN 2/18/2011

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