KEEPING IT WESTERN IN EASTERN COLORADO
A sign marks the entrance to the Agate, Colorado, Jolly Ranch. It reads, “Working Ranch Cowboys Association World Championship Ranch Rodeo Champion Team 2014.” Technically, and despite its modern, laser-cut steel aesthetic—unlike the well-weathered wood and painted “No Trespassing” sign wired to the fence at the cattle guard—this sign is old compared to the even newer, unhung signs for 2016 and 2019. This is the home of Jesse Jolly—three-time Working Ranch Cowboys Association World Champion, four-time Colorado Pro Rodeo Association All-Around Champion and multi-year Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale money earner.
Exiting the highway, the seemingly endless and sagebrush-less flats of Eastern Colorado’s shortgrass prairie reach for the horizon, fenceline after fenceline. Until you reach the sign. There, the flats give way to the occasional low and wind-whipped evergreen, rocky red outcroppings and yucca-studded, cattle-strewn draws.
The ranch itself is nestled in a wide draw. Jesse’s parents, Kent and Maggie, built the house that sits atop a central rise, overlooking the barn that houses Kent’s father’s 1932 saddle, as well as
