Category Archives: Animal Care

Behind the scenes of a saddle bronc ride

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Its final Sunday – Rodeo’s Richest Afternoon – with over $1 million to be given away. The best rodeo athletes in the world will take home the 2012 Calgary Stampede Championship and $100,000. It’s a one shot, go-for-broke performance.

There is so much that happens behind the scenes during the Calgary Stampede Rodeo.  What the crowd sees is an exciting ride but it takes sometimes a dozen people behind the chutes and in the Infield to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Here’s  an example of exactly what happens behind the scenes during the saddle bronc:

What is steer wrestling?

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Steer wrestling is another event that we get questions about — questions like what happens, what are the rules etc. Here’s a post and video that hopefully helps explain what the sport is.

Timing, coordination and strength are prerequisites for a steer wrestler. The steer wrestler starts behind a barrier, which is a rope stretched across the front of the starting box that is tripped by the steer crossing the score line (the steer gets a head start). If the steer wrestler does not allow the steer a fair head start, a penalty of ten seconds is added to his time. The steer wrestler’s horse is trained to run by as the steer wrestler reaches for the steer while a “hazer” rides on the other side of the steer to make sure the steer runs in a straight line.

The steer wrestler must grab the steer’s left horn, taking the right horn in the crook of his right elbow and using the momentum of the running steer, the steer is rolled quickly to the ground. There are several penalty rules in place to protect the animal. This event is actually one of the more risky for the competitor - cowboys can face serious injury because of the speed and activity of the sport.

What is tie-down roping?

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We get lots of questions about tie-down roping so I thought I would shed some light on what it is exactly.

Tie-down roping is a classic  ranch chore and one of the most competitive rodeo events.  It is one of the most technical events in rodeo requiring a unique partnership with a working horse and excellent hand eye coordination on the part of the cowboy.

The calf is always given a head start and releases the barrier with a breakaway cord when it reaches the end of that head start. If the roper leaves the box too early, he breaks the barrier and will be assessed a ten second penalty.

Once the calf is roped, the contestant relies on his horse to stop as he dismounts on the run to reach the animal, flank and tie three legs. Any unnecessary roughness will result in disqualification. While the roper makes the tie his horse works independently to keep the rope taught. Time is called when the roper throws his hands into the air signaling he is finished.

The calf remains tied while the roper re-mounts his horse and the time becomes official; arena helpers immediately move in to free the calf.

This is a great video explaining exactly what tie-down roping involves featuring two of the world’s top tie-down ropers Stran Smith and Trevor Brazile.

The role of an outrider

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For chuckwagon drivers, a successful race has a lot to do with their outriders. The outriders’ most visible role is loading the stove as the race begins. Their unseen job is to steady and gentle the horses before the horn sounds, and to be extra eyes for the driver during the race to be sure the driving horses are not having problems.

The outriders ride horses belonging to the chuckwagon driver so although the horses are trained to work with either the stove man or the lead man, they do not train with any specific rider. It takes a good horseman to be able to work with a variety of horses, each of which has its own personality, traits and temperament.

The lead man is responsible for making sure the lead team is aligned with the wheel team, and has to be sure the whole outfit is pointed in exactly the right direction for an optimal start. If the lead horses are a bit edgy, he must be able to talk to them and try and calm them. The stove man throws the stove into the back of the chuckwagon as soon as the horn sounds. Failure to get the stove loaded means a penalty of two seconds – enough to drop a team far out of the running for a good finish on the night, and maybe even in the ten-day aggregate.

Once the race starts, the outriders must pay close attention to all the chuckwagons, since the wagons always have the right of way. Outriders don’t have to ride right with their wagon, but they can only be 150 feet behind.

Just like the chuckwagon drivers, outriders have to be able to sense and understand what the horses are experiencing. It’s a key factor in having a successful night at the Stampede.

A little Oops

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The barns for chuckwagon horses are similar to the locker rooms used by those who play human sports – full of handsome, husky and high-spirited athletes. Well, except for Oops.

Standing about 30 inches high, Oops is a toy miniature horse who travels with chuckwagon driver Troy Flad’s outfit. He may be little, but he’s an important part of the whole operation.

Several years ago, Troy’s son was at a horse auction with some friends and purchased Oops, on a whim, for $10.

The biggest, shiniest horse in the Flad operation is a wheeler named Friendly Nipper and he’s the boss of the barn. “If he wants to eat at a particular spot, the others move. They don’t want to fuss with him,” Flad explains. When Oops was turned out into the pasture in the fall, Friendly Nipper immediately took him under his wing.  The two animals became so close that they shared a stall and slept together.

The next year, when racing began, Flad noticed that Friendly Nipper was off his game. A quick trip home to fetch Oops, though, restored the big horse’s morale and his performance came back up to par.

As a result, Oops now travels with the Flad outfit to every event.  “It’s all about having these horses happy,” Flad says.

 

Road warriors – The life of the Calgary Stampede Ranch stock

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Every July, all eyes are on the Calgary Stampede Ranch stock as they give the cowboys a run for their money in the Stampede’s daily afternoon Rodeo. But what do these animals do the rest of the year? Travel all over North America like rock stars that’s what.  On average the Ranch staff travel 175,000 km a year with the stock to over 25 rodeos in both Canada and the United States. That’s a total of 125 rodeo performances a year.

With over 400 horses to choose from, only a select few go to each competition. The others stay back and graze in the lush green pastures at the Ranch, located two hours North of Calgary, east of Hanna. While each horse will only buck once or twice in a season the best might buck eight or nine times. This is to ensure that each animal is healthy, happy and safe.

Making stops in places like Denver, San Antonio and Huston, these animals are taken to some of the best rodeos in the world—like the NFR in Las Vegas or the CFR here in Canada. The Stampede Ranch staff who accompany the animals make sure that every stop along the way is planned in advance and that there are stalls, food and water for them when they roll up. Much like the cowboys, these four-legged athletes need their rest too. The Stampede Ranch animals are well respected amongst rodeo’s elite athletes and have earned a reputation for being the best of the best.

A life worth living

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In the spirit of dialogue, let’s continue our constructive conversation about animals.

First I’d like to let you know that the Calgary Stampede subscribes to the principle that animals should have “a life worth living” – in which the animal’s positive experiences outweigh the negative.  It’s a philosophy that became commonly talked about in 2009 in terms of farm animal care, , but many of us believe it should apply to all animals – whether they are pets, bucking stock, show horses, or cattle in a feed lot. It’s a philosophy that is espoused by many animal behaviorists, including Dr. Temple Grandin who visited the Stampede last year to participate in a scientific study. We believe this approach to animal participation is consistent with social expectations and the values of the large majority of our community.

So that’s why we enjoy the support of fans, employees, and volunteers. It’s why parents take their families to the rodeo, why a grandparent can reminisce with a grandchild about the farming practices of yore in the Ag-Tivity in the City tent or why 10,000 school kids descend on Stampede Park during spring-time Aggie Days.

It’s also why we have leading edge practices to ensure that during the relatively short time that the animals spend “working” at the Stampede they are well cared for and their risk of injury is reduced.  Since ancient times, in return for humans’ care, working domesticated animals have been in use all around the world providing humans with warmth, labour, food, clothing and transportation. For a great number of large animals in our society today, the reason for being here is to work or participate in some form.

Working animals helped build this part of the world and we celebrate them all year long though our agricultural programs and during the ten day Stampede. We know that in an urbanizing world that the average person’s connection to working animals is becoming more remote –a generational and geographic distance from food production/agriculture/working animals.  And that’s one of the things we do at the Stampede – provide a bridge between the urban and rural world.

Even though it may be uncomfortable to think about it, the truth and reality is that in addition to reasons of food production, working animals are given humane end of life for many reasons – including age, temperament and disease. Humane end of life services are provided by animal shelters, true humane societies, approved facilities, and others.

The ethical operators have great animal care practices and seek continuous improvement in animal care through science and research. That’s where we’re at.

Paul

Becoming a chuckwagon horse

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The GMC Rangeland Derby is a crowd favourite at the Stampede but not everyone knows that the thoroughbreds pulling the chuckwagons are often participating in their secondary career.

Thoroughbreds are born to race, they often start at the racetrack carrying jockeys and will race until they are about six years old.  After that, though, if they want to race it will be as a chuckwagon horse. Many of them enjoy many years racing as part of a chuckwagon team.

New horses are often acquired in late summer. It is a big change for an animal to go from running alone with a jockey on their back to pulling a wagon with three other horses, so much of the winter is spent slowly acclimatizing them to their new environment.

Older, more experienced horses are teamed with the newcomers as various combinations are tried. Good chemistry among teammates is just as important for a chuckwagon outfit as it is for any other team. Usually a new horse will start as a wheeler – one of the horses closest to the wagon. If they show leadership qualities, they usually find themselves moved up to the front row.

A thoroughbred might have spent only a couple of years wearing a saddle, but once on the chucks, there can be another dozen years of running in its future – and for a horse that will run on its own in a field just for the sake of running - that’s way better than retirement!

Here’s an awesome video on chuckwagon driver Obrey Motowylo and his horse Reno (who used to be a race horse):

Life of a stock contractor

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For Kelly Armstrong ranching is a way of life. He is a fourth generation cowboy who has close ties to the Calgary Stampede. His great grandfather competed in the very first Calgary Stampede in 1912 and Kelly’s grandfather was a stock contractor. Kelly started out as a bull rider and after a successful career, retired from the professional rodeo circuit and started doing what he knew second best - stock contracting.

Based out of Raymond, Alberta, Kelly’s business – Franklin Rodeo Company – provides stock to over 35 events a year all over North America. Depending on the size of the rodeo he may take upwards of 20 horses and bulls to an event. For example, he is providing 30 animals for this year’s Stampede Rodeo.

When you ask him why he loves stock contracting he’ll tell you it is because he “loves the history and preserving the western way of life”. His entire career has been centered on agriculture and rodeos. As Kelly explains, “Tiger Woods knows golf and I know bulls and horses.”

Kelly has spent many years nurturing his animals to be some of the best bucking stock in North America and they regularly make the finals in the United States and Canada. While they are on the road they are taken care as if they were at home. They rest every eight hours and  have prearranged stops with space for them to relax. They eat frequently and  receive vitamin and mineral supplements just like they do at home. Keeping the animals – especially the bulls – happy on the road is an art Kelly has come to perfect.  He loads his rig like he would a school bus, “you’re not going to put the grade 7’s with the grade 12’s. I know every animal’s personality and I put them beside those who they get along with best.”

Horse yoga at the Stampede

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Reo King doesn’t like to be called a horse whisperer, but there’s something about the Stampede outrider’s way of helping horses that sets him apart from anyone else in the world.

During the summer, Reo travels the chuckwagon circuit, outriding for drivers like Kelly and Mark Sutherland. During the rest of the year, the 34-year-old is making barn calls to help fellow horse lovers like George Strait and Tommy Lee Jones keep their horses healthy.

For Reo, equine therapy is simple, “The horse is your teacher, you just got to listen to them and they’ll tell you,” he says.

Reo calls his technique “King Kinetics” – a combination of yoga, stretching and range of motion exercises that do for the world’s animal athletes what top chiropractors and massage therapists do for elite runners with tense muscles and lactic acid build up.

Once Reo diagnoses the problem, he helps stretch the horse, moving slowly and gently, watching for any signs of pain. He feels for swelling and inflammation – using his hands as a temperature gage and watches for  subtle reactions in the horse’s face or body that tell him if the horse is hurting.

“It’s so crazy for people to see horses in those positions, but they dig it,” he says about the exercises – one of which resembles a yogi’s downward-facing dog. The key is never to adjust the horse, he cautions but to put the horse in a position where it can adjust itself.

“If you are in there motivating them every day; come in there with positive energy, they’re feelin’ it…they love it,” says Reo.

Watch Reo work his magic in this video:

The heart of a horse

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One of the best things anyone can say about an athlete is that ‘they have a lot of heart’. A new study of the GMC Rangeland Derby horses is going to find out a lot about the hearts of these equine athletes.

During the 2012 Stampede, nearly 100 horses will be fitted out with monitors to measure and record their heart rates and rhythms. Using wireless technology, this information is being gathered during warm-up, at maximum exertion and during recovery.

Chuckwagon horses are already examined as part of the Stampede’s ‘Fitness to Compete’ program and are not allowed to race more than four evenings in a row followed by two days of rest. By studying the cardiovascular health of the horses, the Stampede’s veterinarians hope to have another way of measuring whether current guidelines are good enough or if change is needed.

Conducted by the University of Calgary, the study should break some new ground in the understanding of the physiology of these high-performance equine athletes. Previous studies have centred on horses in other disciplines, but chuckwagon horses are different. First of all, they can be older than the horses in other forms of competition. The chuckwagon horses are, uniquely, part of a team of four. They train differently – and they race with three other outfits on the track at the same time.

This last factor is one reason that testing will not be restricted to practice days only. Every night of Stampede, at least a couple of teams will be wearing sensors during the heat races. Chuckwagon horses, like any other athlete, can perform differently on raceday in front of a cheering crowd.

Rodeo 101

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Tucked away behind the Military display, down Saddledome Lane and inside the Northern Lights Arena, members of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo committee go over the history and the how-to for all of the events in this year’s Stampede Rodeo at Rodeo 101. This is definitely a must-see if you are new to the rodeo world and are coming down to the Park to watch the action each day.

Historically, rodeos can be traced all the way back to the early 19th century with their roots tracing all the way back to the beginning of ranching altogether. Many of the events evolved out of necessity; for example roping calves to administer aide when they’d become ill or breaking in a new stallion that would help round up cattle during a move.

After watching this presentation you can head to the Rodeo and impress all your friends with your newfound cowboy knowledge. I know I certainly have a new appreciation and respect for the cowboys, cowgirls and animals that go out there day after day and compete for a spot on the final Sunday.

Rodeo 101 runs every day at 11 a.m. (with the exception of Wednesday, July 11 and Sunday, July 15) in the Northern Lights Arena.

A Dialogue on Animal Care

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It’s about this time of the year when people start asking more questions about animal care. It’s likely prompted by the media and social media campaigns of a few people. Most days folks are concerned about families, jobs, health care or the economy. But controversial headlines and  provocative  posts mentioning Calgary Stampede and animals, arouse curiosity to see who’s upset and why. Trouble is, the issue of humans’ relationships with animals is very complex, and in our 140 character Twitter world things tend to get shortened into an emotional sound bite without the benefit of the complete facts and background.

And to have a full understanding of the issues you need to move beyond the sound bite and don’t let your opinion get swayed by animal activists who may be just as interested in the fundraising possibilities that a campaign of this nature offers.

Accusations of abuse will soon start to fly from those with little to no understanding of large working animals and the specialized care and handling skills required to ensure these animals are cared for properly.  They might not have an appreciation for the positive working relationships the Calgary Stampede has with recognized animal care specialists like the Calgary Humane Society and the Alberta SPCA. By the way – there is quite a bit of confusion in North America surrounding the use of the words humane society – in fact, the term ‘humane confusion’ has been created to describe it. Many animal rights and lobby organizations use the words humane society even though they don’t offer any local animal welfare services and programs. There’s lots of information online if you’re interested in learning more.

We can all agree that there are divergent viewpoints on the participation of animals in exhibition, competition and education events; just as there are divergent opinions on the use of animals for food or consumer products.  Just like some people choose to eat steaks some don’t.  And each divergent group has varying levels of tolerance for others’ opinions.

The Calgary Stampede has always demonstrated respect for the views of others. It’s our belief that truth, dialogue and cooperation are a better path to explore diverging viewpoints than misinformation, direct action and confrontation.

Over the next week or so, we’ll be posting some of our thoughts to continue the dialogue and discussion.

Oh and if you stumble across this post in December , long after the July Stampede has come and gone, we’ll still be practicing strong animal care on our ranch and on Stampede Park.

Paul

Speaking out on the Born to Buck Program

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For years, I’ve had the privilege of overseeing one of the Calgary Stampede’s greatest assets, the Stampede Ranch near Hanna, AB. Every year, my ranch staff and I watch as nearly five dozen new foals make their way into this world through our Born to Buck program. We care and nurture these marvelous animals as they grow into the powerful bucking stock that takes them to rodeos all over North America. The Calgary Stampede Ranch is known as one of the top stock contractors in the world and it’s an investment we’re extremely proud of! I acknowledge that for non-agriculture people it can be difficult to hear about ending the life of an animal humanely but it’s a normal part of the agriculture world and breeding programs. But you need to know that nobody cares more about our horses than we do at the Calgary Stampede.

So, it concerns all of us at the Stampede, including our veterinary partners when a media writer criticizes the way we practice animal care on the ranch but only gets it partly right. I’m referring to an article that appears in the June edition of Alberta Views in which the writer uses some “gotcha” journalism techniques to claim we are sending young male horses to a meat rendering plant in Fort McLeod because they don’t buck. The claim is truly simplistic and it’s unfortunate the writer chose not to tell an informed and complete story. The story however, was fodder for the Vancouver Humane Society, who enthusiastically sent it to various media outlets, including CTV local and national, the only television news organization that picked up the story from Alberta Views and ran a comparable story on their evening news.

Let me give you the facts. On the 22,000 acres of the ranch, the Stampede manages a herd of about 600 horses; the vast majority of them remain semi-feral (wild) as part of the Born to Buck program. The remainder of the equine stock are saddle horses used by our ranch hands to work with the bucking stock – we don’t used motorized vehicles like quads to round-up our horses.

A normal part of any breeding program, whether it’s bucking horses, race horses, pigs, or cattle, is the process of managing the herd. Like any horse or cattle ranch, anywhere in the world, our animals suffer illnesses and injury. While our veterinary contractors work their hardest to help the animals recuperate, sometimes they just don’t. The herd needs to be managed and every year on the Stampede Ranch, about 20 horses, less than 5% of the entire herd, will require a humane end-of-life. They are humanely euthanized for variety reasons, including age, temperament, behavior or physiological conditions, not simply because they can’t buck.

You might find it interesting that the story which appeared in Alberta View had been previously rejected by a much larger national magazine over a year previously because the writer was too opinionated and was not objective. It’s a shame other media picked up on the story unchecked.

As the person who oversees the Calgary Stampede Ranch, and as part of The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, I am extremely proud of the care we provide to all our animals including the horses at the ranch and the 7,500 animals that make their way onto Stampede Park every year.

 

http://cs.calgarystampede.com/events/rodeo/ranch.html

What makes a good chuckwagon horse?

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Like most professional athletes, chuckwagon horses are happiest when they’re competing. And, just like the pros, they have specific skills, individual personalities, and unique traits that set each of them apart.

So what makes a good chuckwagon horse? It often depends on which driver you ask but they’ll often look at a horse’s size, stature, race records and bloodlines.

Because most chuckwagon horses are thoroughbreds from the racetrack, they already love to run. Sometimes they’ve had an winning career and retire by the age of six or seven.

While appearances vary, chuckwagon horses do sport a certain look. Most drivers agree that larger geldings are preferred. They usually range from 15’3 hands up to 17’2 hands, and they’ll come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Most of all they’re fit, healthy and happy.

The drivers can tell if the horses are better suited to running on the left or the right, as wheelers (closest to the wagon) or leaders, even if they’re matched with the right team mates. It’s a lot like building a hockey team. You could have two star players but if they don’t play well together then the line won’t work. On the flip side, sometimes one new horse will re-energize the entire outfit – the missing link to a championship team.

It takes time and patience for chuckwagon drivers to build a winning team. As for the horses, their job is natural – Thoroughbreds are happiest when they’re running; in fact you’d be hard pressed to get them to do anything else.

Here are two videos of excellent horses that will be running tonight, Jerry Bremner’s Big Shot and Kelly Sutherland’s Reggie: