Keenan Hayes Stacks a $10,000 Weekend as He Climbs Back Toward the Top 15

We have been focusing on the major rodeos like Fort Worth and San Antonio, but the 2026 season is well underway at some of the smaller rodeos across the country as well. Many guys didn't qualify for the big building rodeos, but they are still chipping away elsewhere.

The 2023 World Champion Bareback rider, Keenan Hayes is one of them. 

His wins lately have not come under the brightest lights in rodeo this weekend. There may not of been a million dollar purse on the line, but for Keenan Hayes, they might matter just as much. 

The 23 year old bareback rider from Hayden, Colorado pieced together one of the strongest weekends of the young season, sweeping three rodeos in three days and banking roughly $10,000 in the process. 

For a cowboy currently sitting just outside the Top 15 in the PRCA World Standings, that kind of weekend is exactly what you build a season on.

Hayes’ winning run started at the 155th Silver Spurs Rodeo in Kissimmee, Florida, where he matched up with Generations Pro Rodeo’s Doughboy for 87 points. The score topped the field and set the tone.

He followed it up in Okeechobee at the Brighton Field Day Festival & Rodeo, riding Painted Pony Championship Rodeo’s Landons Lover for 84 points, for another win.

Then he closed the weekend in Perry, Georgia, at the Georgia National Rodeo, marking 86 points aboard Barnes PRCA Rodeo’s Deacon Blues to complete the sweep.

Three rodeos and three wins in the same weekend. This is not unlike Hayes, who set many records in his gold buckle year of 2023. 

While the rodeos were geographically close enough to make the travel manageable, the execution of three wins in a row is still impressive. These rodeos draw a lot of the best athletes. Bareback riding is unforgiving, and the draw really matters. 

After capturing a world title and the NFR Average that season, injuries slowed his momentum in following years. The climb back hasn’t been easy but in 2026, and still in his prime, the results are beginning to stack again for Keenan. 

Keenan started 2026 off real strong too with a back to back win at the very beginning. At the very beginning of the new season in November, he won the Brawley Cattle Call Rodeo in Brawley California with 85.5 points on Rosser Rodeo's 101's Dream. 

That same weekend, he was in the drivers seat of the Helldarado Days in Las Vegas as well. He was another 85.5 points, this time on Big Bucks Rodeo's Eruption. He got both wins that weekend. 

Between then and now, Hayes has also gotten some money out of the National Western Stockshow and the Cinch Worlds Toughest Rodeo. He continues to climb in the standings. 

Hayes currently sits inside the Top 20 in the world standings, but the gap to the Top 15 and a return trip to Las Vegas is well within striking distance with so much of the year remaining. Weekends like this are how that ground gets made up.

For a former world champion, the expectation is always there. The spotlight doesn’t dim just because the rodeos get smaller or the payouts are a little less. Keenan is finding his rhythm at the top again. 

The bareback riding field is deep and full of talent. Veterans are rolling strong, talented young guns are coming up, and the Top 15 is anything but secure any year. Hayes understands that. He’s been on both sides of that bubble, fighting in and fighting out. 

What separates champions is often the ability to build momentum in the margins of the schedule, not just on the biggest stages. He might have to play his cards differently without those big winter rodeos, but it is very possible. 

A $10,000 weekend in Florida and Georgia won’t crown a champion in February, but it can reposition one. The world title he earned in 2023 proved he is among the best. They don't give away those gold buckles easily. 

If the trajectory holds, the bareback riding standings may look very different by the time the summer run begins, and Keenan Hayes may very well be a name seen at the top.