Rodeo, Chuckwagon Racing and the Inevitable Rise of the Teenager.

I'm choosing to make my first official post to this blog about the wonderful western tradition of rodeo and the little known (outside of Alberta) sport of chuckwagon racing. There are a number of issues I'd like to touch on in this post, and hopefully I can educate while I make my point. There are also a number of reasons why I chose to make this my first post. For one, the chuckwagon season started on May 27th, up in Grande Prairie, Alberta. I also have many friends within the rodeo community, and one incident over the weekend had me in an anxiety ridden state.

Lets start off with chuckwagon racing, shall we?

Chuckwagon racing can be found all over North America. You'll find it in small towns throughout the United States, but the most predominant area of racing is in Alberta, Canada. In fact, Alberta is THE place to be if you want to watch a chuckwagon race. It has been hailed Alberta's original extreme sport, and for good reason. Even the website of the WPCA (World Professional Chuckwagon Association) has been named http://www.halfmileofhell.com/. The half mile of hell is just that, a half mile (give or take... it's usually 3/8 - 5/8 of a mile) dirt track with more horses and men full out galloping than you would think would be safe. But as extreme and sometimes frightening as it is, it's a huge part of Alberta's history and it continues to be a major attraction throughout the summer.

The Dodge Pro Tour starts in Grande Prairie every year, and works its way through eleven (this year) towns and cities in Alberta and Northern British Columbia. The Ponoka Stampede is one stop that I frequent often. The Calgary Stampede brings chuckwagon racing to the world, through television and internet coverage on the CBC website http://www.cbc.ca/. These are by far the two biggest stops on the tour. Ponoka lasts six nights and Calgary, ten. Not only are they the longest, they are also located at the two biggest rodeo grounds in Canada. The stands are packed with fans each night, no matter the location, and people of all ages can be found cheering on their favourite drivers.

The WPCA is one of a handful of associations in Canada, including the Western Chuckwagon Association (WCA), and the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA). Despite the titles "World" and "Canadian", the majority of drivers are from Alberta. Some of the drivers, however, are from Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

The basics of chuckwagon racing, or rather, what you need to know about the chucks while you watch a race are as follows. Each race has a set number of wagons and outriders. Some races have three wagons per heat (race) while others have four... this is dependent on the size of the infield of the track in that particular town or city. Places such as Bonnyville have three wagons per heat, while Ponoka, Red Deer, and Calgary have four. Each wagon has one driver and four horses (lead team and wheel team). Each driver has two to four outriders. Outriders are guys who ride horses alongside (more often and appropriately behind) the wagon. They are essentially jockeys, though their job requires a bit more work. In a race with two outriders per wagon, one outrider holds the lead team on the wagon, while the other guy is behind the wagon, waiting to toss a rubber stove into the stove rack on the back of the wagon. When there are four outriders, those two guys do the same, while two others are in back with the stove guy, waiting to throw the tent pegs into the back of the wagon (and hopefully not hit the driver in the back of the head! heh). When the horn blows, each outrider does as they are supposed to, and the wagon takes off, completing a figure-eight around two barrels, then running the length of the track. The outriders are on the ground, running to the second barrel, then make the athletic jump onto a moving horse, complete the figure-eight as well, and burn down the track after their wagon. Outriders must finish within a certain distance from their wagon, or the driver incurs a penalty. Barrels must stay standing, stove and pegs must be in the wagon, wagons must stay on course, and drivers must not interfere with each other, or penalties will be given. Most races come down to hundredths of a second difference, so any penalty will hinder the driver's standings.

Now, people like me, who follow the chucks beyond just viewing, like to keep an eye on the standings. Drivers and outriders are given points according to race results. Obviously drivers who win races are given more points. That driver's outriders also recieve more points than the other driver's outriders. It's common for outriders to have very high points compared to drivers because they are riding more than one race each night. Some of the best can be riding in every race of the night. There is no limit on how many outriders there can be in the association, but there is a limit on drivers. There are always 36 drivers in the WPCA. They will race in every location, aside from the Calgary Stampede, for the season. The top 30 are safe for the next year, but the bottom 6 must compete against each other and other drivers in order to race in the association the following year. The Calgary Stampede sets the cut off different each year, and the remaining spots available at the CS are by invitation only.

If you watch long enough, you come to know who is the best of the best, whether it's outriders or drivers. I have to sing the praises of the Sutherland family http://www.sutherlandracing.ca/about.aspx (YES, chuckwagon racing is a family affair!), that has Kirk, Kelly (the King) and Kelly's son, Mark, all competing. Kelly has been dominating the standings for longer than I've been alive, and Mark is following closely in his footsteps, or, wheel tracks if you will. Mark uses a GPS on his wagon to clock his speed, and has been dubbed by long time race announcer, Les McIntire, the "High-tech Redneck". Another family worth noting is the Bensmiller family http://bensmillerracing.com/. Buddy Bensmiller has raised his three sons, David, Kurt, and Chance, into great drivers. The three sons do some outriding as well, but are better known for their driving. Also high on the list of great drivers, Troy Dorchester, Jerry Bremner, Jason Glass, Mike Vigen, brothers Luke and Leo Tournier, and Hugh Sinclair.

Outriders are a bit more varied, genetically and in background. Todd Goodley is from New Zealand. Chance Flad, at only 16 years of age last year was the top rookie outrider, even after missing out on the final few stops on tour after being kicked in the stomache by a horse. Reo King (also a great horse therapist) started outriding at 12 years of age and has consistently been one of the top outriders in the WPCA. Chanse Vigen (24, son of driver, Mike Vigen) has been world champion outrider three times in eight years, and came in second last year. Chad Cosgrave beat Chanse Vigen by only a few points to become world champion in 2008. Many outriders start out as barn hands for the drivers and eventually decided to try outriding. Logan James did this, as did the previously mentioned Chance Flad (whose cousins are drivers Troy and Darcy Flad).

There ARE accidents. The first race of the 2009 season saw one driver's horses refusing to turn, which led to the horses ramming into the side of another driver's wagon. The driver who was hit lost a wheel, but completed the race (probably because the horses were spooked and wouldn't stop) and ended up in second out of four because one of the two unharmed wagons knocked a barrel, recieving a five second penalty. The other driver didn't get to race. There were other glitches as well, but no one was injured. The safety of all involved, be they horses or humans comes first before the desire to race. There HAVE been injuries... to horse and human. One accident found Mark Sutherland under his wagon, holding on for dear life while outriders Reo King and Chanse Vigen came to the rescue and got the horses under control. Another accident, in 2007, had a driver ejected from his wagon, when another wagon hit his. A handful of horses had to be put down. Chanse Vigen risked his life by leaping off his horse and into the runaway wagon, then climbing onto the pole between the two wheel horses, to pull the team up, assisted (once again) by Reo King. Outriders are often the ones that save the day when things get nasty, and they take it as just being part of their jobs.

Do not think for one minute that this sport is barbaric because a horse is injured or a person is sent to hospital. And don't think that I don't care about the animal's welfare. I am a horse owner myself, and it breaks my heart to see a horse put down in a situation like this, but these thoroughbred horses are well taken care of, and are each a part of the drivers' families. Many people want this sport to be banned... just as there are people who believe that rodeo should never exist again. However, these people don't know enough to give a strong argument against the sport. People like to jump to conclusions (it is, after all, human nature... and more over, a serious lack of wisedom) and voice uneducated or ignorant opinions. Five minutes with any one driver in the association will tell you just how much they love these horses, and one day behind the scenes will easily show you the high level of safety and care that is taken in this sport.

Rodeo. Recently, I have attended rodeos to cheer on my friend's husband. He is a bull rider, and he's quite good. He started riding pro last year, and did well enough to make it to finals. He was within the top 20, if I remember correctly. I saw a lot of scary dismounts, but no one was seriously injured. The reason I brought up rodeo in the blog, is actually that same friend's 20 year old brother. he started riding saddle bronc at age 17. Everyone starts off terrible in saddle bronc, and as they get used to the event they get better. Little brother here got better very quickly. By the end of his first season (riding high school rodeo) he made it to SSIF in the USA. That's pretty impressive. He's been riding novice the past two summers, but this summer he moved up to semi-pro. You can stay in novice until you are 22, but he wasn't being challenged in novice, so he decided to move to semi-pro. Two or so months into the season (remember, his first year riding semi-pro), he was sitting 2nd overall. Yeah, he's that good. Unfortunately, he won't be in 2nd much longer. He can't ride for a month. Why? Because on Sunday, he was in an accident, or a wreck as he and his sister like to say, while competing. Accidents in saddle bronc are so very rare. This is the first time since he started bronc riding that he has been in an accident. The gist of what happened is that the horse somersaulted and my friend's brother was pinned under the horse, while it thrashed around trying to get up. He's suffering from a broken collarbone, bruised lung, and his entire body and face is bruised, including a wonderful black eye. Just hearing about it worried me, and when I saw the picture of him afterwards, I couldn't help but swear about it. Then I saw the pictures of the actual wreck. A photographer got frame by frame photos as the accident happened. It's worse than watching a video, it's slower than slow-motion. I was full of anxiety while I flipped through the photos.

Lucky for my friend's brother, he had been wearing a protective vest, or he would have been hurt much worse. It probably saved his life. He's quite upset that he's not going to be riding for a month, though. The horse, as far as anyone knows, trotted off and is fine.

These accidents are rare, but they do happen. And when they happen, the anti-rodeo folks come out in droves, protesting and writing letters. If the horse had been injured, you can bet they would have been out this week.


Now, I'd also like to mention my annual annoyance with the increase in teenage involvement on the internet. Yes, I spent a good portion of my teenage years (after I turned 14, since that's when we got our first compuer) on the internet, on forums and profile sites such as nexopia, facebook, bebo, hoverspot and myspace, but the way teenagers behave over the internet these days has me asking where their parents are. Each year, on a forum I'm a member of, around the months of May and June, we see this inevitable increase of members. Is it a coincidence that this rise occurs around the end of the school year? I think not, and we all know it. I wouldn't be bothered by this in the least, since even I joined as a teenager, if these kids were trying to be productive members of our forum community. However, they often pick fights with longstanding members and make threads that are intentionally meant to stir the pot. In other words, they joined with the sole intention of causing issues in our community. We call them trolls. They don't appreciate it. Most of these members leave on their own once they get bored of it all, others are banned. I prefer to be the bigger person (no pun intended... most of those kids are bigger than I am, physically) and ignore their threads and comments, however, some people lose patience with them... and they should. We have a limit on the forum, you must be 13 years of age or older to join. At thirteen, these kids should know better, so where oh where, are the parents? I know, you can't place the blame on the parents just because a teenager acts out. But, did they forget to teach their offspring how to be productive, polite members of society? If that generation is the future, I'm not sure I want to be around for it.

I promise, most of my posts will NOT be this long!