With a right elbow injury, Sans Protection jockey Caleb Bennett, a nine-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier, will be sidelined for six weeks.
Bennett underwent a medical procedure on the elbow of his riding arm on April 18 in Austin, Texas.
Overall, I haven’t liked the elbow, and it blew up pretty bad (around March 1), the 33-year-old Bennett said. He had a lot of bone chips and stuff. He was trying to ride with the (injury) as long as possible. My goal was to try to get through the end of April. May is slower, as are the big open doors for cash, and that would be my best chance to get off the ground.
They gave me an elbow endoscope. They removed far more splinters, and pieces of bone than they naturally suspected were there. They removed like 17 bone chips. I have no idea how I was driving like this. However, this is how I make ends meet, and I need this to happen. They say I’ll be gone from four to a month and a half.
Bennett is 10th in the PRCA | RAM World Ranking at $38,923. Through the end of the week, he won $6,622 at the San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo (April 15) and the Red Bluff (California) Round-Up (April 17).
Bennett wants to return to activity at the Darby (Mont.) Riggin Rally event on June 4.
The money I made in San Angelo and Red Bluff made getting much-needed rest that much simpler, Bennett said. That boosted the rankings, and I felt like I had a pretty decent winter and spring, so I’m not too stressed about endlessly venturing out, and there’s plenty of cash to be won starting in June. I want to go back and win that finishing touch.
Bennett qualified for the NFR eight in a row for a long time between 2012 and 2019 and then again in 2021. He completed the best calling fourth in the 2016 world rankings and was 10th the year before.
In the 2021 Wrangler NFR Presented by Teton Ridge in Las Vegas, Bennett contested two rounds, highlighting his Round 9 victory with an 88-point ride at the Rafter H Rodeo Livestock Medicine Show.