Keenan Hayes is a 20-year-old cowboy from Hayden, Colorado. He's early in his career as a professional rodeo cowboy, but he's already proving his chops, hitting the top of the bareback rankings, just five months into the season.
Hayes, who describes himself as “just (a) Colorado cowboy,” is now the No. 1 bareback rodeo cowboy in the world. He ascended to the top on Saturday, February 25 at the San Antonio Stock Show.
“It's just a big confidence boost coming into the rest of the year,” Hayes said. “Having that much won this early takes a big weight off the shoulders.”
While 2023 is Haye’s first season as a professional rodeo cowboy, his horseback expertise didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. He’s been riding since he was nine-years-old.
”I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” Hayes recalled. “I grew up on mutton-busting and got on calves and steers and junior bulls.”
Tanner Barth, a media coordinator with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, said Hayes’ rise in the rankings has been fun to watch.
“You don't see rookies leading the world standings,” Barth said.
Hayes isn’t the only young gun at the highest levels of the sport. Two other rookies are also in the top six.
“There's a youth movement right now in bareback riding,” Barth said. “Keenan Hayes seems to be leading it.”
That place at the top shouldn't be taken for granted, though. Rodeo rankings, which are based on cumulative earnings throughout the season, are notoriously shifty.
Hayes is at No. 1 with almost $48,000 in prize money. But “the guy behind him is only a couple hundred dollars back,” Barth said. “The crazy thing is, he has it right now and he can lose it in two days.”
Hayes must remain among the 15 top-earning bareback cowboys through the end of the season, which runs through September, to secure his spot at the championship in December, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. That means he won’t have much time to bask in the glory of being No. 1 before getting back up on the horse to defend that position.
“It's awesome to feel being the No. 1 guy in the world right now,” Hayes said. “It's always been a goal of mine, so I’ll just keep working at it and don't let the foot off the gas.”
