With Mini Bull Riders in his Corner, Jesus hopes to Lead by Example

By: Darci Miller
January 19, 2019

PUEBLO, Colo. – While bull riders are not known for being the most physically imposing athletes, when Cody Jesus set up in the locker room of Madison Square Garden, his neighbors were more diminutive than normal.

The season-opening Monster Energy Buck Off at The Garden, presented by Ariat, was featuring an exhibition by the Mini Bull Riders during intermission. The organization features up-and-coming talent between the ages of 8-14, and under the bright lights of New York City, the young boys gravitated to Jesus.

At just 20 years old himself, the baby-faced bull rider made some new friends in Hagen Braswell, Ethan Winkler and Ryder Carpenetti.

“We just talked, you know?” Jesus said. “I’m real good buddies with them, I like hanging around the kids.

“It’s awesome. They were kind of teaching me how to use my Instagram and all that. They’re real good at it! So they taught me how to do all that, and we just hung out.”

After his Instagram lesson, Jesus would go on to ride Rojo in Round 2 for 84 points, good enough to tie for 10^th place in the round. But on his dismount he landed awkwardly on his arm.

“The whole ride I was just leaning on my arm and letting my arm do the work,” Jesus said. “When I got off it just kind of yanked me around and slammed me hard to the ground.”

Leaving the dirt, Jesus went behind the chutes and doubled over in pain, clutching his arm, unable to remove any of his gear.

But luckily for him, two of his new friends were nearby. One picked up his bull rope, the other took Jesus’ helmet when he was able to get it off and both hovered close to help while Jesus recovered and the pain subsided.

“It just means a lot to have kids like that not only look up to me, but help me when I need it,” he said.

That’s not to say the relationship is one-sided. Jesus made sure he was on the chutes when the mini bull riders took their turn in Madison Square Garden, there to help out the kids he’s grown so fond of.

Should we expect to see some of them in the PBR in the next few years? Jesus answered in the affirmative.

“They’re good,” he said, impressed.

Jesus finished seventh in New York, going 3-for-4. He rode Heavy D for 83 points in Round 1 and tied with Chase Outlaw for the Round 3 win with 87 points on Sugar Boom Boom. He bucked off Lil 2 Train in 2.19 seconds in the championship round.

His ride on Heavy D was a nice moment of vindication after Heavy D bucked him off at the 2018 Velocity Tour Finals in just 1.9 seconds.

 
“He just jerked me down real fast out of there last year,” Jesus said. “I found out I had him again at the beginning of the week, Tuesday, and my brother said, ‘Let him jerk you down.’ If he’s going to jerk you down, he said, let him jerk you down. Just don’t touch him, sit back up and finish your ride.

“He tried to jerk me down, and I was thinking, ‘Just don’t touch him. He can jerk me down but as long as I don’t slap him, I still have a chance to ride him.’ And he came right into my hand and just felt good.”

While Jesus was unable to notch a qualified ride at the Velocity Finals, he fared much better making his first World Finals appearance, going 2-for-4.

The rookie, who was so green in 2018 that he needed Keyshawn Whitehorse’s help to figure out the logistics of his ascent to the premier series, is still having trouble digesting his World Finals experience.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in,” Jesus said. “I go back almost every day and keep watching it on TV. It’s just like, man, everything I dreamed of ever since I started riding when I was 13, 14. Everything I wanted to do, ride bulls in the Professional Bull Riders, it was there. I was there, not only at an event, but at the World Finals. It just means a lot to me.”

Jesus and Whitehorse will compete as teammates at the 2019 WinStar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA on Feb. 9-10 in Arlington, Texas, as members of the all-Native American Team USA-Wolves.

They will be joined by Ryan Dirteater, Stetson Lawrence, Cannon Cravens, Justin Granger, Colten Jesse and Dakota Louis under head coach Wiley Petersen and take on teams from Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico, plus another U.S. squad, Team USA-Eagles.

“It’s an honor. An absolute blessing for them to pick me as one of them,” Jesus said. “And we have a good team that’ll represent the Native Americans real good.”

Before he heads to Texas for the Global Cup, Jesus will next compete at the Ak-Chin Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, in Glendale, Arizona. The Window Rock, Arizona, native has drawn Easy Living in Round 1.

Also competing in Glendale are the Mini Bull Riders, who will take center stage during intermission. Jesus will again have the opportunity to be a hands-on role model for the kids that look up to him.

“I don’t really know what it’s like,” Jesus said of being a role model. “I’m just being myself for the kids, showing them to have fun whether it’s a buckoff or a ride. If it’s a buckoff, you look on the positive side of things.

“I always try to stay positive around them and that’s what helps my bull riding, because when I’m positive around them behind the chute, it carries over to my bull riding a lot.”

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