Rodeo life is more than an 8 second ride

Rodeo life is more than an 8 second ride
Released by the Calgary Stampede July 14, 2010
The Calgary Stampede Rodeo 2010 Pool B

The rodeo arena usually has a clown or two in the infield but they aren’t the only ones in the arena doing the juggling. Life as a professional rodeo contestant rarely is a solo job or ambition. Many cowboys and cowgirls try to balance time on the road with another career, a family, harvest schedules, calving schedules and time off due to injury repair. It’s not an easy life for everyone involved but would they change it? If they willingly strap themselves to a bucking animal – the answer is obvious – participating at the Calgary Stampede Rodeo is the cowboy dream.

Kyle Thomson, of Black Diamond, Alberta, has a championship buckle for every month of the year. Thomson has won championships from Novice Saddle Bronc at the Calgary Stampede in 1998 to the Canadian All-Around AND High Point Champion of 2009. Not bad for a guy splitting his time between ranching, carpentry and a career fit for a cowboy – stuntman! Thomson has five major pictures listed to his credit including: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and The Assassination of Jesse James. Do you suppose he taught Brad Pitt how to stay on for more than eight seconds? Thomson competes in both saddle bronc and steer wrestling but at this go-round he is in the hunt for the saddle bronc buckle.

Cody Wright of Milford, Utah, is one busy Saddle Bronc rider! He has been a pro rodeo rider since 1998, won the Calgary Stampede Saddle Bronc Championship twice, is a seven time qualifier in the National Final Rodeo and accumulated over $1.2 million in career earnings. How he found time to do that while raising five kids probably is a trick handed down from his parents. Wright has 12 siblings and most of the seven boys are bronc riders too.

Bareback Rider, Matt Lait, moved from Seven Persons, in southern Alberta, to centrally located Balzac, last year and says the time not wasted on the road and in hotels is a significant improvement on his take home pay. This five-time qualifier at the Canadian Finals Rodeo however, might be in for a tough ride at the Stampede. In May, a bucking horse fell over and rolled on the cowboy, breaking his wrist and he has been nursing it since. “The Calgary Stampede Rodeo is one I don’t want to miss. One ride worth $100,000 is worth waiting for,” says Lait. During the offseason, Lait is owner/operator of Rodeo Drive Limousine. Now that would be a comfy ride to a rodeo!

Ouch! Speaking of breaking things, watch for the local superstar Bareback Rider, Davey Shields Jr., of DeWinton, Alberta. Exactly a year ago, the three-time Canadian Champion and three-time Calgary Stampede Champion broke his leg when a bucking horse fell on him. Shields is Canada’s only bareback rider to break the million dollar mark in earnings and is known for his perfect precision when working the bronc. That’s why he has qualified for the CFR 13 times...so far. He is far from finishing his career.

If you want to meet an ambitious cowboy, find Bareback Rider, Justin McDaniel of Porum, Oklahoma, heading for the chutes. McDaniel joined the pro rodeo circuit in 2005 and promptly won the Rookie of the Year Award. 2008 saw McDaniel win the Bareback World Championship, as well as the National Rodeo Finals Aggregate (most points). Last year, he won 10 rodeos and has already amassed career earnings over $600,000. McDaniel says his goal is to win the All-Around gold buckle like his rodeo hero, Ty Murray. It might be tricky keeping up his sprinters pace; the cowboy had back surgery in February to repair two herniated discs. Winning the championship this week will sure help land that golden buckle.

Practise makes perfect and Bull Rider, Douglas Duncan, of Alvin, Texas, knows it. He keeps five bulls on his ranch to work on his techniques. This Rookie of the Year Champion of 2008, and two-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier is determined to be the best in the sport. “I have a motto that goes through my head all the time – winners never quit and quitters never win,” says Duncan.

July 14 will be J.W. Harris’ birthday and what better present would there be than taking home a Calgary Stampede Championship. The bull rider only started his professional career in 2005 and has already accumulated close to $800,000 in career earnings. When Don Gay, the eight-time world champion bull rider saw Harris for the first time a few years back he said, “If he keeps riding like he did tonight, he’s going to have a good future.” Gay is right: so far Harris qualified for the NFR four times, and won the World Championship in 2008 and 2009. Interestingly, he won the 2009 title at the NFR in Las Vegas last November without earning any money at the event due to broking a hand in the second round. The world champion is decided by money earned and since Harris won 21 events in 2009 prior to the NFR he was well in the lead. As Harris says “I gave myself a cushion in case something did happen.” Harris’ ambition is to beat Don Gay’s record. When he is not on the road, Harris raises – you guessed it – bucking bulls.

Talk about finding balance, ask Ladies Barrel Racer, Deb Renger, of Okotoks, Alberta, how barrel racers balance the accounting books. “Travel costs eat up a lot of your earnings in barrel racing. A good barrel horse is $60 - $70,000 and most of us don’t have just one,” says Renger. But the expense doesn’t seem to be slowing her down; Renger has qualified for the CFR 18-times and the NFR five times. She won the 2004 Calgary Stampede Barrel Racing Championship and is just as determined to do it again this week.

Who says you get too old to have a new career? Watch for Ladies Barrel Racer, Mary Burger, of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma - she will try to steal our hearts. This lady is in her early 60’s and only started her pro career in 1985. Since then she has accumulated over half a million dollars in earnings. Burger won the Ladies Barrel Racing World Championship in 2006.

There might be family rivalry in the Ladies Barrel Racing. PJ Burger, also of Pauls Valley Oklahoma, is entered in the Calgary Stampede. She will be competing against her mother-in-law Mary Burger.

Expect the crowds to be on their feet when two-time and current World Champion AND three-time Canadian Champion Steer Wrestler, Lee Graves, bursts into the infield. Graves is a Calgary boy and the city is proud of him. Over the course of his career, the steer-wrestler has been to the CFR 11 times and 10 times to the NFR earning close to $1.5 million. But this year has been a little slow due to tearing a bicep tendon in his left arm in March. He says some serious physio and training in the gym has him ready as he told the Calgary Herald, “I will not embarrass myself – or embarrass Calgary.” Graves was Calgary’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2005, the same year he was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

The competition in Tie-down Roping is going to be fast and furious. It is full of champions including Cody Ohl, of Hico, Texas, and Fred Whitfield, of Hockley, Texas. Between the two cowboys there is a total earnings of $5.4 million! Ohl, is the proud wearer of six world champion buckles and has been to the NFR 15 times, earning $2.6 million over his career. Interestingly, he raises bucking bulls on his ranch. Fred Whitfield, has been to the NFR a staggering 18 times and has eight World Champion buckles to choose from. Whitfield’s fireplace is already crowded with three bronze statue trophies from the Calgary Stampede but there is always room for more. Whitfield plans to toss his rope at 16 rodeos in July, from Oregon to Calgary and back to Wyoming.

So, what about those Rodeo Clowns? They may have clown in the title but they, along with the Bull Fighters, are the BFF’s of the infield. (BFF...best friend forever). Watch for the antics of eight-time World Champion Rodeo Clown, Flint Rasmussen, of Choteau, Montana. This crazy entertainer used to be a high school math teacher but falls back on his drama classes to get the crowd laughing. Who would even dare to think the man suffered a heart attack last year at the tender age of 41? Now, he’s not back in the saddle - but back in the barrel ready to keep the bull riders safe. With his pancake makeup cleaned off and back on the Montana range, Rasmussen and his wife Katie raise top-quality barrel-racing quarter horses.

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