Out of the plumes of dust billowing in the air emerge a row of racing horses, their hooves pounding the track like thunder. The chariot and chuck wagons drivers furiously pump their arms as they whip around the barrels and around the track.
Out of the plumes of dust billowing in the air emerge a row of racing horses, their hooves pounding the track like thunder. The chariot and chuck wagons drivers furiously pump their arms as they whip around the barrels and around the track.
With his deep voice, announcer Emery Erickson announces the results as the drivers pull off the main track.
For local competitor Orville Memnook, who's also the president of Saddle Lake Indian Rodeo Club, there's nothing like this, nothing better than rodeo, or being at the 12th annual Saddle Lake Stampede, which was held over this past weekend.
At 37-years-old, Memnook is old for a bareback horse rider, which he calls “the most physically demanding&” of rodeo events.
“I'm one of the top five oldest riders,&” he said.
What, in the area? At this question, he and his wife chuckle, and both say together, “No, probably all over.&”
Most people only bareback ride up until about the age of 25. Not only is Memnook pushing that by more than a decade, he is also bucking expectations in other ways. More than two years ago, Memnook was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) but continues to compete.
“If you make your mind up in your head, and throw the MS issue out, and you really put your mind to it, you can do it. That's how I live life,&” he says.
Memnook first got started bareback riding after being inspired by watching Arthur Peterson compete at a rodeo in Kikino 20 years ago. The 14-year-old then decided to try out novice bareback for the first time himself, while at a rodeo in Tofield. Peterson grabbed him, brought him out some borrowed, too large equipment, and plunked him on a horse.
“He pulled me into the area, and said, ‘This is what you do.' Then he put up my spurs in (the horse's) neck while I was still in the chute,&” recalled Memnook, who blasted out of the gate but ended up holding on to ride through and win.
It was the kind of sweet success that everyone enjoys tasting.
When Peterson passed away soon after, Memnook explained he decided to carry on riding.
“I had the mentality of riding for him, and it got me through that year. It was a rough one, but that's when I got to like it, to love it.&”
Memnook rode for years following that, winning the season leader in the 2011 Indian Nationals Finals Rodeo (INFR) and continuing on after that with qualifying 13 times consecutively for the event, held annually in Las Vegas. That's when it all came crashing down.
During 2013, Memnook started feeling a sore back and flu-like symptoms but at first, didn't think much of it. He was driving to Edmonton for an appointment at the University of Alberta when he had an attack, with his legs seizing up. He was unable to slow down or brake from his speed of 130 km/hr.
“It was like someone had turned the car sideways,&” he said.
When he got to the hospital, and after they had done a battery of tests, Memnook was diagnosed with MS.
His first worry was that, even after qualifying for the INFR, he wouldn't be able to compete at the event.
“They told me, ‘You ain't going to the rodeo. You ain't going to be able to ride,'&” he recalled. “It kind of killed me to know I ain't going to be rodeoing.&”
When he pressed the doctors, they told him that whether or not he was going to be able to keep bareback riding in the future would be up to him.
“My family, my little girls, my wife - my family supported me too,&” he said, recalling his eight-year-old daughter told him, “If you love it that much, do it Daddy - we'll be there behind you.&”
After his diagnosis, he attended the 2013 INFR event in a wheelchair. But somehow, being there allowed him to get up and walk.
“It was almost like the energy of the rodeo family gave me the strength to get up again,&” he said, adding after that, he thought, “‘This ain't going to end my rodeo career. This ain't it. I'm going to carry on doing what I do.'&”
Memnook started changing the way he lived life, which included drinking a lot more water, exercising more, and eating less meat.
“It made me do things right. I was living life too fast. This is my cue to slow down now,&” he said.
In 2014, he found himself back in rodeo shape and qualified for the INFR yet again, keeping his 14-year streak going.
Last year, he qualified again, and this year could be looking equally good, as he is standing at number five in the rankings. Next year, he plans to officially retire from bareback, but he sounds reluctant to leave rodeoing completely.
“I couldn't see my life without rodeo, the opportunities it brings, the things and places you get to see,&” he says. “With the passion I have for this sport, it's going to have to take a lot more (for me to stop).&”
