story by Michele Toberer
Jesse Keysaer has capitalized on every opportunity his parents have provided him and is grateful to have a bright future in rodeo ahead of him. The 18-year-old all-around cowboy recently graduated from Culleoka Unit School in Culleoka, Tennessee and although he’s currently preparing for his final NHSFR competition while steer wrestling at IPRA rodeos and working full-time as a warehouse worker at Wiremasters; he’ll soon join the college rodeo ranks while attending Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas to study Kinesiology. Jesse has looked to his parents, Blain and Carolyn Keysaer, for direction on his rodeo path. Both parents were once heavily involved in rodeo; Blain competed in all the timed events through college, narrowing to team roping after a bad steer wrestling accident. “My mom was a really great team roper also, but once I started competing my parents focused on my rodeo dreams. My dad is a high school ag teacher and my mom teaches middle school English, so it wasn’t feasible for all of us to rodeo on teachers’ salaries. I am so blessed to have parents that decided to focus on my goals and give me every opportunity that they could.”
Competing in Tennessee Junior High School Rodeo Association, Jesse qualified for national finals in both 7th and 8th grade. In 2015, he qualified for nationals in team roping as a freshman, and in 2016 he qualified in steer wrestling, finishing in the top 20 in the world. Jesse’s junior year he represented THSRA at nationals in team roping, steer wrestling, and calf roping, and brought back the gold, with the 2018 NHSFR Champion Steer Wrestler title. Jesse’s team roping partner since 5th grade, Zane White, loans him a head horse and calf horse to compete on, and Jesse shares his steer wrestling and haze horses with Zane in exchange. Jesse bought his bulldogging mare, Money, from Justin Shaffer in 2017, and he fondly refers to the 12-year-old sorrel as ‘Mare.’ His haze horse is a 14-year-old sorrel gelding named Skeet, that used to be his rope horse before he transitioned him into a hazing machine.
Coming home with a national title in July, Jesse was grateful that he handled the intense pressure the NHSFR competitors are under when battling it out for world titles. However, this past March, Jesse found himself in an even higher-pressure competition at the AT&T stadium while competing at the RFD-TV Junior American rodeo. “At nationals you have mostly high school competitors and families there watching as you make your runs. It was the most nerve-induced thing I’ve ever done at the American. I knew it was being televised so there were a lot more eyes on me, and there were some of my professional rodeo heroes there watching me make my runs. Once I was in the box, I could focus on what I was doing, but leading up to that I was pretty nervous.” Jesse proved once again that he could handle the spotlight and wrestled his way to the 2019 Junior American Champion Steer Wrestler title.
Jesse bought his rookie card with the International Professional Rodeo Association this season, and although he’s entered some local IPRA rodeos the past couple years, this is his first season he is making a run for the IFR in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Currently he’s sitting 2nd in the rookie standings and 8th in the world standings. He appreciates the start in steer wrestling that Tom Carney of Steer Wrestling 101 gave him and tries to keep the techniques Tom coached him on. On a regular basis he practices at home with Jordan Thresher, Hunter Lewis, Troy Orr, and TJ Kremling, and is grateful for their support. He looks up to bulldoggers like Tyler Waguespack, Tyler Pearson, and Will Lummis, “They are all so good both in and out of the arena.” Jesse hopes to add an IPRA World Champion title to his list of accomplishments one day soon, but they say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; and with teaching in his blood, Jesse’s ultimate goal is to become a college rodeo coach.
Tyler is grateful for his sponsors’ support, American Hat Company, Cactus Rope, Cactus Gear, and Kinetic Bits.
