The Outriders

These guys are athletes. They hold 4 ramped up thoroughbreds just before the horn goes to start the race, at the same time hanging on to their own revved up outriding horse; then they follow the chuckwagon through the pattern and down the track. They have to finish within 200 feet of their wagon. They are often called upon to help out when things get a little sideways, as you saw in my last post with the horse/equipment problem- one of them actually went between the 2 lead horses to help untangle things; risky move! I watched one race years ago where the driver was thrown from the wagon and 2 outriders jumped onto the wagon to stop the runaway, only the lines were tangled around the team so one of them crawled up the pole and onto one of the horses to grab the lines and get the team stopped- all the while they were in full pounding flight. These are brave and athletic men.

Holding the team just before the horn goes. The second outrider is at the back of the wagon ready to throw the stove in.

Stove is in, team is under way. Going with them....

Now to get out of their way so they can turn the top barrel......

and jump on while the horse is in full stride....

Then around the barrel pattern following the wagon. Notice he is holding the short lead and a handful of mane, and no stirrups yet. Gather the reins, stick your feet in the stirrups and ride at Mach 3 with your hair on fire!

They were the winning wagon!

Both outriders made it to the finish line in time.

The Calgary Stampede 2016

Usually when we go to Stampede, we choose to watch the chuckwagon races instead of the rodeo. We spent the morning shopping- we both needed new boots; I got some Ariat lace ups and Ted got new black pull ons, and we each got jeans too. Got to take advantage when we go to Calgary to get stuff that we can't get here in little Creston.

The last little bit of blue sky ......

Late afternoon, we got nailed with a rockin' rollin' thunderstorm right over the Stampede grounds, got a little wet right through my Australian slicker! We were in the beer gardens for a beverage when the storm hit, and it was so crowded that since we were at the edge of the tent the rain was driving right in on us. Didn't dampen our spirits too badly, we headed out of there and two-stepped our way to the next building. slicker's flying as we danced!

So many food booths there, and all so expensive. We did NOT try any from this booth!
There are so many rides there, it's a thrill seeker's paradise.

Being suspended upside down a hundred feet in the air is just crazy to me!

Then it was time for the chucks! We spotted this guy working as one of the safety crew who position themselves around the track during the races.

See the fellow on the red roan tucked away? It's his job to get there in a hurry if things go wrong. Do you recognize him?
How about now?

Yes indeed, Terry Grant, aka Mantracker. 

The races were pretty good, one minor problem when a horse stepped over the pole coming in for the practice turn, but it was quickly sorted out.

No injuries, and they went on with the race.

If it looks like this next wagon was about to run over that barrel- you're right- they did! And got a 5 second penalty.

I love a close finish.

I plan on doing another post on what the outriders go through- boy they have a tough job and are real athletes.

When the sun goes down in Calgary and the wagons start to roll.....

Wow, the last week just flew by. I had full intentions of posting the Stampede Chuckwagons a week ago, but didn't have the time to edit photos. Got 'r' done now though! The evening show always starts with the National Anthem and a military helicopter flying the Canadian flag over the grandstand, and it was cool that I could get the moon in the photo too.

One of my favourite wagon drivers is Colt Cosgrave, and since we were able to stand near the fence I was able to get some close up shots. Here is his outfit:

The heat he was in had a wagon with an equipment failure during the practice turn, it looked like the pole came loose and the right wheeler stepped over it:

But in true wagon family style a bunch of people stepped in to help and got the team unhooked...

and another driver who was running in a later heat (Jamie Laboucaine) lent him his wagon and theey hooked up the team and ran the heat.
Anytime you work with horses, there can be mishaps as we all know. The next day after I took this photo of Tim Haroldson, he was injured in a morning practice run when the wagon he was riding in (not driving) caught a ridge in the barrel turn and flipped over, throwing him out. He was in the hospital for the duration of the Stampede but will be allright. He had actually planned on retiring at this Stampede, and auctioning off all his horses and gear, which they did although Tim wasn't able to leave the hospital to attend. They raised nearly $300,000; a nice retirement sum but not quite the way he wanted to go out- so this is probably a pic of his very last chuckwagon run.

There were a lot of good races, some exciting finishes and I just love the thunder of all those horse feet and the rattle of the wagons!

Kelly Sutherland turning the barrels:

A good clean turn off the 2 barrel with the outriders in perfect position:

Speaking of outriders....

I do like a grey horse, and there were a couple of them used by the outriders, as well of plenty of them on the wagons.
4 across coming out of the infield!

Jason Glass's lead team:

All in all it was a pretty good finish to a wonderful day at Stampede spent with my lovely daughter. The next morning I headed out and spent an hour or so at Anchor D Ranch, where Ted and I got married. But I'll save that for the next post! 

Calgary Stampede.... part one

Sunday I travelled to Calgary to spend time with my daughter who came all the way from Ontario- family stuff on her dad's side.  It was totally wonderful to get to spend Monday at the Stampede with her- more my thing than hers, but she is such a good sport!
One of the highlights of the day was the finals of the Cowboy Up Challenge, but before that we watched some other events like a demo of mini Chuckwagons- such cute little rascals!

 Some colourful teams too!

After that, there was Cowboy Mounted Shooting, and that interests me- I can see me doing that. Once I get Kai broke!
We headed over to watch Dan James (Double Dan Horsemanship). He had an interesting demo, explaining what cues he gives his horses for the liberty work- but it's a long video and I will have to edit it and upload it to You Tube at a later date, no time right now as I am working on painting my kitchen cupboards - a good thing to do to keep me out of the heat outside.
Watched a little bit of the cutting too, but I think it was boring for Jessi so we didn't stay long at that. I did really good not eating the junk food that abounded there- I did have a frozen fruit smoothie, roasted corn on the cob, and one of those foot long barbecued sausages. Mmmmm!
The Cowboy Up was a blast! I took lots of photos of the obstacles for our local club, who are putting on a competition in August. One of the unique ones was the suspension bridge..... I thought the horses would freak at the way it moved under them but they actually all did fairly well on it.

 I took a video of the last ride, which was the winning ride. Check out the most difficult obstacle; she did it in reverse order form the rest of the riders, which was a smart move; most riders did the tetter-totter, then the water obstacle and the narrow bridge. Kateri did the narrow bridge first which was smart, because most of the horses with wet feet slipped off the narrow bridge.
* It was a lot of fun to watch, and she was so cute when she realized she had won!

That's her brother, he competed too- his horse slipped and went down galloping around a corner, but they were both fine and continued on.

I guess he really did cowboy up!


Later on we went to watch the Chuckwagon Races, and I will save that post for tomorrow.

Stampede

Note to self- go during the week! There were so many people there for semi-finale Saturday! We went to visit my sister who lives in Calgary before we went to the Stampede grounds, then drove through downtown to the grounds. Parking: $20. Gate admission for two: $30.  Fifty bucks before we even did anything! Everything was pricey, especially the food. $6.75 for a beer, $5 for lemonade, $8 for a skinny hamburger. Take lots of money if you go, folks!
We didn't go to the rodeo, as we prefer the Chuckwagon racing.  But there were plenty of things to do to while away the afternoon, such as buying a ticket on this truck and fifth wheel trailer- that's Ted standing possessively beside it.

We walked through the horse barn, where we spotted this spotted mule (pun intended!)

It was stalled next to the two spotted horses that I featured in my Sunday Stills post.

Out in the midway, I thought of Mrs. Mom and GunDiva when we saw this tank- ladies, how'd you like to fire a round from this baby?

There were some very nice black Clydesdales in the barn, and they put in an appearance during a break in the Chuckwagon races that evening.

We headed to the infield, and got seats high up in the grandstand that allowed us to see the backstretch of the racetrack, and had a great view of the infield, facing the main grandstand. I had to use my zoom to the max to get photos, so the stop action isn't the greatest. During the National Anthem we were treated to a fly-by of a military helicopter and a huge Canadian flag. This was right behind us.

Then it was race time!  If you have never been there, you can't imagine the excitement when the klaxon sounds and there are 4 wagons who "cast their fate to the figure eight and the half a mile of hell" ;

From the start of the race :

to the finish, all you can hear is the roar of the crowd, the thunder of the hooves of 24 horses, and the rattle of the harness as they cross the finish line.
Yesterday, the big winner of the $100,000 showdown was Kelly Sutherland, with his record breaking 12th win. Here is an interview with him from the Association website.

As we left, we were treated to the copper skies of an Alberta sunset over the heart of Calgary- the Stampede grounds.