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The Calgary Stampede’s Commitment to Rodeo
When cowboys settle themselves in the chutes at the Calgary Stampede, they prepare to ride horses that have been raised to express natural equine behaviours such as bucking and kicking. Horses destined to perform are comfortable with humans, and the very best offer cowboys the opportunity to participate in a partnership – the horse showing his athleticism and the cowboy answering with his own.
The horses in the Stampede’s string have been born to buck. From the moment their sires and dams are selected, the Stampede’s interest is to produce healthy animals that will enjoy their work. From the moment they are born they are provided the very best in nutrition and veterinary care.
When you see the Stampede’s brand on a horse’s left shoulder, it signals the dedication of the Stampede organization to contribute to the development of the sport of rodeo so that the heritage of the west will be preserved for future generations.
Let’s take a look at the history and success of the Stampede’s Born to Buck program.
Keith Marrington has been employed with the Calgary Stampede for the last 25 years. His current responsibilities are rodeo – both on-site and off-site, their chuck-wagon program, and he oversees the Stampede Ranch.
At the ranch, they have 23,000 acres. They have an extensive breeding program, where they breed a hundred mares a year. In the early ’60s, the directors of Stampede had a vision to create this ranch, this opportunity, for the purpose of supplying quality supply of bucking horses for their show. Ever since the small operation in the ’60s, it evolved into a comprehensive breeding program, where they breed bucking horses for competition, not only in Calgary but in North America.
There’s quality staff out there that oversee the day-to-day operations but it falls under Keith’s area of responsibility.
Stampede Ranch provides ideal conditions for the young stock to mature in natural surroundings – there are 23,000 acres of grassland to graze and explore, so they get plenty of exercise and thrive on the prairie grass and clean water. Twice a year they’re handled – they’re given medications to prevent equine diseases and their feet are trimmed.
Keith expresses that animal welfare is very important to them. They are livelihood and an asset that they have to protect on a daily basis. The horses are like their kids and that’s the way they treat them. If they have a runny nose or sore foot, they bring them in, blow their nose, and they treat the foot.
Their animals have the proper foot care twice a year. They run every animal they own through the shoot, which is a four day process. Each animal’s foot is checked and trimmed so they can maintain proper soundness. They give their horses, every fall, the proper influenza shots to protect them against west nile or whatever diseases are out there.
They make sure they have good pasture to run in, good grass to eat, good supply of cold, fresh water, and Stampede Ranch conduce of that. It’s 23,000 acres and it takes a lot of land to support an animal so they’re constantly on the move so they get proper exercise, especially when they’re performing with their animals. They need a special diet and make sure their bowls are fed so they can conform to their abilities.
On the road, they have strict regulations of length of time traveled and air-right trailors, probably more comfortable than your car. They are very conscious of the health and welfare of their animals. They maintain their good records and they’re healthy, and that’s important to them.
During the Depression in the 1930s, many farmers and ranchers left the land when it could no longer support them. Their horses were turned loose and over the years interbred and foraged for themselves on the ranges. Early rodeos made use of these horses and a number of individuals and stock contractors provided them to the Stampede and other rodeos. Over time these horses disappeared from the ranges and stock contractors provided horses drawn from a variety of sources. From year to year the quality of the bucking horses couldn’t be guaranteed so in 1961 the Stampede’s board of directors founded Stampede Ranch, located east of Hanna, and dedicated it to producing outstanding bucking horses. Today, at any one time there can be as many as 500 horses at the ranch, from weanlings to retired stock.
They have three full-time employees at the Calgary Stampede Ranch. There’s a ranch manager, Raymond Goodman, that’s responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ranch. He’s been with them for six or seven years. Ken Rehill, whose the livestock superintendent, can be called the custodian of the road because they do a lot of off-site stuff. They have a fellow by the name of Trevor Chang, who is a day-hand and works very close with Raymond and the day-to-day operations.
They use numerous day-hands if they’re rounding up stock, hoof-trimming, vaccinating, or whatever projects they might want to use it. So they use day-hands from the community, who are the ranchers and farmers in the community that come over for a day and they hire them on a daily basis. There can be half a dozen of those at any given time but they have three full-time employees at the ranch.
When they’re nearly four years old, the young stock are tried out with gentle aids – sheepskin flank straps and light saddles – to introduce them to the idea of bucking under arena conditions. Then they’re left alone again to continue to build their confidence. Later in the year they’re saddled and ridden by novice riders so the bucking potential of each young horse can be assessed. Those who show character, ability and the desire to buck are further developed and become the athletes that cowboys and rodeo fans admire.
Colts are born in April or the first part of May. They wean those colts in October. In the process, they put a halter on them and tie them up so they get somewhat domestic. They’re all penned together and we give them time to build character, get acquainted with their buddies, and grow up a little bit. They don’t do anything in the performance world until they’re four years old.
Certainly, by a yearly basis, they’re inventoried, their feet are trimmed, they’re cared for, their teeth are looked after, we blow their noses if we have to. They make sure all that’s looked after but don’t do anything with them from a performance aspect until they’re just coming four years old. That’s a process you have to be very patient with. What they found in the bucking horses’ world, if the animal has confidence, he’s going to perform better. If he’s calm and cool and collected and has confidence, it makes it even better. They try to instil that in our animals.
So as they’re coming four years old, they introduce them to a shoot, a halter because they always put a halter on them, and they have a machine that’s like a dummy. It’s like a thirty pound weight that’s a saddle that goes on their back and you can attach the flying strap, which is a soft strap that goes around behind their back legs. The purpose of that is not to make them buck but to enhance the bucking style. So they put that on them and it’s automatically controlled with a sort of garage door opener. They actually try them and don’t put too much pressure on them. They give them two or three or four jumps to see if they got some potential and to see what kind of potential level they’re at. Then they leave them alone and don’t touch them again for a couple of months. They get some novice kids on them and see how they go and put them in a few novice events for the first year or two just to get their confidence up.
You can tell, as that process evolves, which ones are going to go here and which ones are going to fit there. It’s a process every year and I guess it’s not different than a dog if you’re training one. There are bigger ones and not so good ones. So they got different levels of our athletes, depending what rodeos they’re doing – if they’re doing novice events or the pros. They’ll sort themselves out in a year or two.
What characteristics do great bucking horses possess? They are calm and confident around people, have excellent conformation, straight legs and are free moving and athletic. The Stampede program ensures that horses with these characteristics will be raised right and given the opportunity to prove themselves in the rodeo arena.
Even though they’re bucking horses and they’re not tame, they are somewhat domestic. They do lots of work with the horses to make sure they’re quiet in the chutes and they trim their feet. It’s to their advantage that they’re quiet in the chutes because cowboys can not only get hurt when they’re riding the horse but they are very susceptible to injury when they’re in the chutes if the horses act up. So they take pride in making sure the horses are calm. From that perspective, they’re somewhat domestic.
They don’t consider their bucking horses wild. They don’t use that term. They’re bred to buck and they’re bucking horses. To Keith, a wild horse, you’ll see in Sundry or in that area, is running free and have no human influence at all, relative to the care and to the attention they get on a daily basis. To him, that’s a true wild horse.
Back to the early ’60s, there were mares bought that had been in the bucking horse world. They weren’t wild and the Stallions were the same thing. They’ve never went out the Foothills or the Rockies and rounded up a bunch of wild horses and threw them in the pan and tried to buck them. To his knowledge, there aren’t a lot of people who have done that. He thinks that’s inappropriate, to put those horses in that environment. You have to teach them to do the things you want to teach them. Wild horses would be intimidated and very afraid of that whole process.
