Bareback rider Caleb Bennett sidelined with elbow injury
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’m not a fan of the elbow, and it blew up fairly badly (around March 1), according to Bennett, 33. He possessed a lot of bone chips and other knickknacks. He was trying to bike as long as he could with the (injury). My objective was to make it until the end of April. May is a quiet month, as are the major cash openings, and it would be my best chance to get started.
They gave me an endoscopy for my elbow. They retrieved significantly more splinters and bone fragments than they had expected to find. They took out about 17 bone chips. I’m not sure how I managed to drive like this. This is, however, how I make ends meet, and I require it. They estimate that I’ll be gone for four to six months.
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.