Rodeo’s end means more miles to go for Ashland bronc rider Jesse Kirby

Saddle bronc rider Jesse James Kirby (with a rodeo name like that, it becomes imperative to use his middle name) left the 2008 Dodge City Roundup Rodeo without picking up a check.
    The Ashland native's 76-point ride aboard Cactus Flower on Thursday was only good enough for fourth on the day, and he finished four points out of the top 12 riders who returned to Roundup Arena for Sunday's short go-round.
    "I thought I rode pretty good Thursday, but I just didn't have enough horse," Kirby said in an interview Sunday. "That's just how rodeo is."
    Early Monday morning, Kirby and his traveling partners, Casey Sisk of Corona, N.M. and Shank Stephens of Hinton, Okla. left for Colorado to rodeo in Loveland and Yuma before hitting three more rodeos in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma this week.
    "You've got to have four or five guys in a vehicle to travel anymore to cut the costs down," Kirby said. "Fuel prices are really shutting a lot of people down and if you're not winning, you've got to go home and work."
    He added that the rising costs of being in the rodeo business have indirectly led to something that he particularly enjoys about the rodeo lifestyle, though.
    "It's all the camaraderie," Kirby said. "That's cool — it's what makes [rodeo] fun."
    He continued: "Rodeoing, you get to know a lot of people in different places, and you never know when you'll need to call them up and say, 'Hey, can I take a shower at your house?' It doesn't matter if he's from Texas or New Zealand. If they come over and need a ride to another rodeo, they jump in. We're all here to help each other."
    In an individual sport where travel costs reach so deeply into each contestant's pockets, that type of fellowship may seem to run counter to a cowboy's ambitions. But then, rodeo men have always been unique people.
    "We're competing against each other, but everybody's friends," Kirby said.
    Kirby was born into his circle of friends, which extends to more than 90 saddle bronc riders whom he said "go hard every week." He said he is rapidly approaching his 50th rodeo of the year (rodeo years begin and end in September or October, depending on where a cowboy stands in his circuit and in the National Rodeo Finals standings).
    His grandfather was Floyd Kirby, a Roundup Rodeo Hall of Famer for whom an annual team roping event in Dodge City is named.
    "He did a lot for this rodeo here, and I'm proud of that," Jesse said. "I hope to keep his name going."
    Both Jesse's father, Jim, and his uncle rodeoed and taught Jesse the basics, first of bull riding. Jesse began riding calves at the age of 3.
    "Pretty much, I was born and I went to a rodeo," Kirby said. "I was the type of kid I didn't care if I got bucked off. I was 'Dad, run another one in there, I'm ready to get on another one.' That's how I got started."
    Earlier in his rodeo career, Kirby competed in every event except bronc riding. He routinely tried for all-around titles, but after a groin injury in June 2007 that sidelined him for four months, he decided that focusing on saddle bronc riding would be best for his health.
    That decision has appeared to be a sound one.
    "He's a hell of a saddle bronc rider," Dodge steer wrestler Shawn Downey said of the current saddle bronc rider, who is currently ranked fifth on the Wrangler Pro Rodeo Prairie Circuit.
    "It's one of the toughest ones to learn," Kirby said of the event he started competing in 10 years ago at the age of 16. "It took me probably two years to get it figured out, but after that first [ride] I was hooked."
    His addiction to the rush he gets from saddling up on a mean horse is clear, even through his measured demeanor and his unassuming outlook. The thoughtful and collected cowboy, who claims no enemy, will continue to ride all over the prairie in search of his first National Rodeo Finals berth.
    "It's going good this year - everybody's winning a little bit here and there," Kirby said. "One of these days we'll be at the NRF. That's the game plan; that's the total goal."