Jesse Wright, Aaron Williams Sidelined With Injuries
Jesse Wright, the 2012 PRCA world champion saddle bronc rider, is out of action while recovering from arthroscopic right knee surgery.
Wright is joined on the sidelines by bull rider Aaron Williams, who has a dislocated left shoulder.
Wright suffered the injury July 24 when he was bucked off Frontier Rodeo’s Big Rocket at the Spanish Fork (Utah) Fiesta Days Rodeo. Wright underwent surgery July 30.
“I landed back down on my stirrup and my knee hyperextended and popped,” said Wright, 31. “I could’ve made the whistle, but it was hurting so bad I jumped off. I didn’t tear my ACL or MCL, which is a plus. I tore my meniscus. It could’ve been a lot worse.”
Wright is hopeful he can return to competition at the end of August.
As of Aug. 4, Wright was 26th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $19,144. Wright has qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo eight times (2010-14, 2016-17 and 2019).
“This is just part of rodeo,” Wright said.
Wright’s biggest payday this season came when he won La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 23, earning $6,373.
Last year, Wright finished 11th in the world standings with $155,159. He won Round 2 of the 2019 NFR with an 89.5-point ride on United Pro Rodeo’s Awesome Sauce. It was the 10th NFR round win of his career.
Meanwhile, Williams dislocated his shoulder July 21. He broke his left arm Sept. 14 last year.
The Apple Valley, Calif., cowboy suffered the dislocated shoulder when he was bucked off Frontier Rodeo’s Bootlegger at the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo.
“That was a good bull, but a smaller-built bull,” Williams said. “He dropped me in the well away from my hand. He threw his head back, and being as small built as he was, it wasn’t a far distance for him to whack me. He hit me with the length of his horn under and on the back side of my left shoulder as I was breaking over to the front and my shoulder popped right out.”
Williams is planning on coming back at the Cassia County Fair & Rodeo in Burley, Idaho, Aug. 20-22.
“I’m going through (physical) therapy every day, and I just had a shoulder brace ordered,” said Williams, 24, “I will get on one or two practice bulls before Burley, and I will know from there how I feel. If I don’t feel good, then I will stay out. The way my shoulder came out there was no extensive damage. Rick Foster (the program director for the Justin Sportsmedicine Team) told me to take time off and let my shoulder get stronger.
“If I jumped right back out there and it popped out again, I would have to get surgery. This is my career and it’s nothing to push. I want to be healthy when I get back on.”
Williams is outside the top 50 in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. A year ago, he finished 26th in the world standings with $67,066.
Courtesy of PRCA