Events showcase agriculture and rural western way of life
Get your cowboy hats and belt buckles ready because there’s a full lineup of real rural-life competitions and agriculture shows scheduled for this year’s Western Events and Agriculture at the Calgary Stampede.
If this ain’t your first rodeo, you know all about the team cattle penning competition and the Cowboy Up challenge that have been around for years. But if you’re a city slicker looking to learn more about rural Alberta and to watch horses do amazing things, you’ll want to be a part of the action at the Nutrien Western Event Centre.
“The activities showcase and represent our western culture,” says Kynan Vine, the manager for rodeo and chuckwagons at the Stampede. “Most of, if not all, of the activities that we do here are reflective of what we would be doing on a daily basis in ranching and agriculture work.”
From the cattle shows to the displays used to educate visitors in agricultural production and the origin of food, these events showcase a community of multi-generational ranchers and farmers who have been involved in the Calgary Stampede for more than 100 years.
For the second year, westernstyle competitions will include the First Nations relay races where over the course of four days, five teams of four competitors will race.
For the relay, one teammate rides bareback around the track until reaching the exchange area in front of the Grandstand where the other teammates have two other horses ready. There, the rider jumps off of one horse before jumping on the next, and runs the track again, which happens twice. The first rider to finish three runs around the track is the winner.
Another crowd favourite competition is the Cowboy Up challenge, which brings in some of the best competitors from North America to race against the clock in the horseback obstacle course.
“They’re also judged based on their horse skills, so it’s a combination of western horsemanship as well as agility,” said Vine.
“It’s exciting in that way, but it’s also impressive with the training and the skills the animals have in order to accomplish the different obstacles.”
There are 10 competitors ready to take on the challenge this year.
Other competitions are based on practical ranching skills such as “cutting ” one cow from a herd or team cattle penning.
In cattle penning, a team on horseback has to sort a herd of cattle, finding three selected cows to “cut,” or separate, from the herd and into a pen.
These are bigger events with 68 people registered in the cutting competition and dozens of teams registered for cattle penning.
Some of the other western events include cattle shows and a heavy horse show, featuring the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
On the agriculture side, people can interact with animals including cattle, chickens and pigs.
This is also the inaugural year of sidesaddle racing.
Most of, if not all, of the activities that we do here are reflective of what we would be doing on a daily basis in ranching and agriculture work.