🤠This Week in the West

📢 Episode Summary:

As Kesler’s career evolved, he recognized that rodeo was becoming more organized and professional. He saw the need for consistent, high-quality livestock that would challenge riders and thrill audiences. Transitioning from competitor to stock contractor, he began breeding and raising his own line of broncs and bulls—animals selected for strength, stamina, and the instinct to buck. By the 1950s and ’60s, his operation was supplying stock to major rodeos across North America, helping transform rodeo into the sport fans know today.

Kesler’s influence endures through the professional standards he helped establish for stock contracting—an essential, yet often overlooked, part of rodeo. His legacy stands alongside industry greats like Cotton Rosser and the Beutler family, and his induction into both the ProRodeo and National Rodeo Halls of Fame cements his place as one of rodeo’s founding fathers. As announcer Bob Tallman put it, Kesler embodied what rodeo is all about: grit, honesty, and excellence earned the hard way.

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