Rodeo vet wheels into new phase
Walters ecstatic about earning a berth in 100th Calgary Stampede
You’d think a guy who had chased the rodeo trail for 20 years, who has six children and seven grandchildren, would have been ready to settle down and watch some cows mow his pasture.
But John Walters made a mistake one day and climbed into a chuckwagon and the bug bit him. Hard.
Just like it bit his father Wordon and his brother Ken.
“This is a lot of work,” admitted the third-year member of the World Pro group. “You earn your one minute and 20 seconds of glory, for sure, but I absolutely love it.
“We were raised on horses . . . dad ran anywhere from 200 to 400 head, so we were born and raised on horses, always in competition on horses throughout the years.
“I love being with them, being on a one-on-one basis with them. They’re like family, like kids now.”
The 49-year-old resident of Delburne, Alta., is only into his fourth year of driving a team of four thoroughbreds after starting with the Canadian Pro circuit in 2009, but has taken giant steps forward; the biggest when he soared from a first-year 35th to 23rd last season to clinch his first trip to the rich Calgary Stampede.
No matter what your age or how long you’ve been competing, Calgary is the place every driver aims for from Day 1. Some take years to land a ticket to riches, some never make it.
Walters set a lofty goal and achieved it.
“When I started this I said realistically if a guy could make Calgary in five years he’d done very well for himself, but my goal was to make Calgary for the 100th (anniversary) and we succeeded, so it’s a big step for us.
“I guess I look back to my abilities with the horses in rodeo . . . I think it’s a lot of luck being able to read them and be able to pick out what you want.”
Walters rode saddle broncs, did some steer wrestling and “got on the odd bull here and there when I was really crazy” in a rodeo career that spanned 20 years. He hung up his spurs in 1997, went back to ranching and then hopped in brother Ken’s Canadian prochuck wagon one morn- ing and was instantly hooked.
Now, Walters hauls 19 head down the highway from show to show and has another 10 near race ready at home.
Coincidentally, his top career finish occurred here last year when he placed fifth. That’s not going to happen in this trip after he saw his Becker Exploration outfit fall into the bottom third of the 36-wagon pack after ironing his bottom No. 1 barrel during Sunday’s second run of the five-day North American championship.
Taking over top spot in the aggregate after coming off his first career win at Medicine Hat last week was Evan Salmond. The 30-year-old posted a second-leading time of 1:15.88 to stop the two-day clock at 2:31.95.
Following Salmond with two more runs to qualify for next Sunday’s fourwagon championship dash are Kirk Sutherland, five-time champion Kelly Sutherland and Cody McCurroch. Salmond leads the tightly bunched trio by more than a second.
“The competition is really tough. There’s absolutely no room for any boo-boos at all. You hit a barrel, have a late outrider, whatever, it’s pretty hard to gain it back. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned,” said Walters.
“The horses are running hard and good right now, though, so I’m really happy with that and really looking forward to Calgary.”
The show resumes Friday at 8 p.m.