PUEBLO, Colo. – Leading Rookie of the Year contender Keyshawn Whitehorse will now have to battle more than just a growing field of strong opponents in his pursuit of the PBR’s top accolade for a first-year rider.
Whitehorse revealed during the two-week 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast break that an MRI discovered a cyst on his riding wrist that will need to be removed via surgery at the end of the year.
The No. 15 rider in the world standings is hopeful he can fight through the pain and delay surgery until after the PBR World Finals on Nov. 7-11.
“This is my goliath and I am going to have overcome it one way or another,” Whitehorse said. “That is just what is going to happen.”
Whitehorse was hopeful he could just have the cyst drained, but that was not an option.
“Originally, I thought that would be the process,” Whitehorse added. “But the location of the cyst is on the main artery so it will need surgery because it would be too dangerous to drain with a needle. And surgery recovery time takes too long. So I elected to skip surgery and find a way to handle the pain.”
The No. 15 rider in the world standings has not competed since July 19 at the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo.
He first began to feel pain in his riding hand back on June 29 in Rocksprings, Texas.
Whitehorse then aggravated the injury attempting a practice bull the day before the Music City Knockout. It was then that the 21-year-old had an MRI done to find out the cause of the pain in his wrist.
“I was doing really great and my body was feeling great,” Whitehorse said. “I wasn’t really sore. I wasn’t really hurting. The only thing was my hand was just a little bit before prior. I didn’t really realize it. I didn’t think it was anything.”
The McCracken Springs, Utah, native said he would not be in jeopardy of missing the 2019 WinStar World Casino & Resort Global Cup USA on Feb. 9-10 in Arlington, Texas.
Whitehorse expects to miss eight to 10 weeks following the 2018 season.
Whitehorse and Cody Jesus were named to the Team USA Wolves on Tuesday night by coach Wiley Petersen at the Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour PBR Bucking On The Rez, presented by Najavo Parks and Recreation Department.
“This opportunity means quite a lot to me,” Whitehorse told PBR.com. “It is very important. This has been a part of the game plan from the start. Without even having a Global Cup team, I have always wanted to represent my nation, my tribe, my people. I wanted to represent them very well. Bring some pride to them and let them know we are strong and we can do great things in our lives.”
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The Navajo bull rider joins Jesus, Stetson Lawrence and Ryan Dirteater on The Team USA Wolves. There are three remaining roster spots and one alternate left for Petersen to fill.
“The four riders I have were no brainers. They have the proven track record,” Petersen said. “Keyshawn is a good kid. He is very solid and mature sounding. He isn’t very old, but he has his head on straight and that is an asset for a team competition like this.”
For the first time in Global Cup history, Team USA will be fielding two different teams inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, as the host country.
Previously, the host country received an advantage by fielding more riders whose qualified ride scores contributed to the overall team aggregate. Now the host country will feature two teams competing against each other and the rest of the world.
Whitehorse, who was an alternate for Team USA in Sydney, is a strong addition to an ever-evolving roster.
He is a career-best 12-for-33 (36.36 percent) with five Top-10 finishes in 11 premier series events.
Whitehorse has a slim 23.33-point lead on rising rookie Colten Jesse in the Rookie of the Year standings.
He expects to return to competition this weekend at the PFIWestern.com Invitational, presented by Bass Pro Shops, in Springfield, Missouri.
Whitehorse has drawn Cochise (42-8, PBR UTB) for the 15/15 Bucking Battle on Saturday night. Fans can watch the 15/15 Bucking Battle exclusively on CBS national television Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
Whitehorse is going to tape up his wrist and he also received an injection to numb the pain some last week.
“Other than taping it up real good and then getting an injection of something to numb it is about it,” Whitehorse said. “I am not going to take any risks, per se. The doctor says it’s going to be fine and it is not going to injure it any more than it is injured now.”
Whitehorse said his recent injury taught him an important lesson: it is much better to err on the side of caution instead of just trying to rest.
“Stopping all of a sudden and thinking over the time that it would heal by giving it a few weeks and not going to the doctors was a big wrong call on my side,” Whitehorse said. “For future reference, if anything hurts to a certain extent where I have to stop riding, no matter how simple it seems, I might as well go visit a doctor to find out sooner the better.
“This is a learning experience.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko