UNBREAKABLES

Continued from 8 horsemanship to add to their leadership team at the club. Within 30 seconds of speaking with Alejos they knew they had found their match.

“My brother and I looked at each other, and we were like, ‘This is the guy we were searching for for 10 years,’” Cody Hyde said. “Holy smokes, he’s got a gift.” They were stunned by Alejos’ ability to train virtually any horse, no matter how unwieldy, and he became a keystone at the Bronze Buffalo Club about four years ago. Beyond Western equestrian breeding, the mission of the club refreshed at the time to include “saving last-chance horses and kids.”

While the club had more than 60 horses on its property in Afton this spring, Alejos has trained hundreds of “unbreakables” in his years with the club, which have been sent back to their homes. By sensing the potential of any rescue, Alejos trains the horses he receives in classical, dressage, roping, ranch or jumping specialties, among others, to give them new purpose.

Similarly, the club works with many “troubled kids that may not have been very good at where their parents wanted to put them,” Alejos said. He explained that the club “molds them to do what they were born to do,” equipping them with skills, achievements and purpose in horsemanship and rodeo events.

“Anyone can buy a professional cowboy,” the club’s owner said. “We want to make them.”

That’s proven true for Alejos’ son, Joe, who is now a professional bull rider and reigning champion of the Jackson Hole Rodeo.

The boy

Joe Alejos has “always wanted to ride bulls,” though his dad tried to shield him from that career path because of the danger of the sport. While a gifted horse trainer himself, Alejos Jr. was offered the opportunity to hop on his first competition bull in Afton when he was 16. From the moment he was bucked off his first bull, he knew that wouldn’t be his last.

That summer of 2020 he rode bulls in the Jackson Hole Rodeo, and the next year he won second place reserve champion for bull riding. Since then he’s been a reliable rider, winning the entire season last year.

“I think Jackson Hole helped me a lot to give me that next step,” Joe Alejos said. “It’s a pleasure to keep the family thing going and follow in my dad’s footsteps.”

He started riding professionally this year with PBR and dreams of making it to the world finals someday. His dad is certain that’s in the cards. With calloused hands and cultivated humility, he will return to the Jackson Hole Rodeo this summer for round four.

Jose Alejos’ commitment to clean living has enabled him not only to go pro as a bull fighter, but to rescue hundreds of kids and horses — and to be the best dad he can be.

“In my life I did everything I wanted to after I got sober,” he said.

While he was too old to bull ride professionally by the time he quit alcohol, Alejos is thrilled his 20-year-old son can.

“Joe has the quality to be a world champion,” Alejos said. “I feel very proud of the kid.”

Contact Miranda de Moraes at 732-7063 or mdm@jhnewsandguide.com.