If these horses could talk they’d be saying, “Man, this is the life….”
Marni Soupcoff says the chuckwagon races at the Calgary Stampede should be cancelled because the latest accident, in which three horses died, prove that the sport is just too inherently risky to the horses involved to justify continuing the tradition.
I disagree.
All horse sport is risky, because for all their size and power, horses are actually quite fragile animals in crucial parts of their bodies — mainly in their feet and leg tendons and ligaments. Chuckwagon races may exhibit somewhat elevated risks, but there is no horse sport that has none (including Dressage, where overtraining can produce injuries, and where one could argue that horses’ natural need for liberty is so curtailed at the upper echelons of the sport in order to protect these valuable animals that it is a form of abuse).
My daughter was involved at a fairly high competitive level in the sport of Three-Day Eventing. Part of that discipline requires the horses to jump over huge, fixed jumps on a cross-country course. That is, unlike jumping in a stadium, where the rails fall down if the horse doesn’t clear the jump, three-day event horses meet an irresistible force. They often fall as a result and sometimes hurt themselves badly. Sometimes on hot days they get so dehydrated they “tie up” and experience great pain, or even die.
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Back when I was a kid I used to go out to Grampa’s ranch and ride his horses. Some were very well broke and some were just knotheads. One would run away with anyone less than an expert horseman and one was so docile she wouldn’t move with a kid on her back unless an adult was leading her. Some ran like the wind. Some were so rough to ride they made better plow horses than saddle ponies. I had my favorite. She was a little hot blooded Arab that could really move. She had a very soft mouth and readily yielded to every touch. However I was always mystified by the romance attached to horses. Somehow the image of the ‘noble beast’ never seemed to mesh with my own experience. One day I was listening to a former lady barrel racer. The ‘noble beast’ was brought up by someone talking to her and she replied, ‘horses are a dumb herd animal’. It matched my experience exactly. None of which says I want to see animals die. However animals die every day and the horses at the stampede are no different. Just as an example I was hiking in the foothills of Alberta not that many years ago and came across a horse carcass. It looked like a grizzly killed it but I didn’t hang around to do an autopsy. Grizzly are quite protective of their kills and I wasn’t about to get in an argument with something that killed a grown horse using only its claws and teeth.
The more anyone perceived as “liberal” rails against chuckwagon races, the more the rodeo faithful will boost and support it. The horses will remain a secondary concern, and the upcoming pissing match (read the differences between the comments in the Calgary Sun vs Toronto Star) will drive the regional wedge even further.
Well Cy out here in the West we have quite a few latte liberals who want to tell everyone else how to live as well. So it is really not a regional thing so much as it is one of life experience. Those of us who are all to familiar with horses, cattle, swine, sheep etc relate to the animals on a much different plane than those whose life experience has be shaped by movies like Bambi. Getting knocked over a 6′ high fence by the head of an angry bull certainly gives you different feelings about the animal than PETA’s rants. Getting stepped on, bitten, kicked, bucked off by a horse gives you a very different point of view on horses than reading about the Black Stallion. I used to go out to Grampa’s ranch to help with the birthing of the animals. I’ve seen pigs eat their newborn piglets. I’ve seen cows kill their newborn calves. I’ve seen sheep abandon their newborn lambs. I’ve been up to my armpit in cow trying to get the yet to be born calf to roll over in the womb. Being kicked in the process was not nearly as painful as being run over by the same cow while trying to get her restrained. I’ve used a one ton come-along attached to ten foot pipe as a lever to pull an oversized calf from its mother’s womb. So yeah I likely have a little different point of view than some city kid whose animal experience consists of a kindergarten trip to a petting zoo.
And what was your conclusion from all of those experiences?
My conclusion is simple. An animal is an animal and a human is a human. Those who do battle with the animals have my respect. Those who harness the animal into doing man’s bidding have even more of my respect. Those who challenge the instincts of an animal by mounting it and riding it while it does its best to off you …. Well lets just say I think you’re a little nuts but I have to give credit for the talent displayed.
Btw I am in awe of the calf ropers. Have you ever tried to do a Houlihan throw? It is truly an art form. Then to dismount, flank and hog tie the calf while your trained horse backs to keep the lariat taut. Wow!
As for the chucks. Anyone who has ever driven a team (pair) of horses knows how much trouble you can get into, now just double that and mix in the other rigs. You have to be a horseman’s horseman just to get around the track let alone the figure 8 to start off.
Yahoo … Dash for Cash … read all about it: http://bit.ly/LjYKOc it’s gonna be a good one!!