The Centennial Arena in Lac La Biche was transformed from a hockey rink to a rodeo arena last weekend for the Lac La Biche Spring Classic Indoor Rodeo, with hundreds of fans packing the arena.
The rodeo attracted cowboys from across Alberta and Saskatchewan, including locals like Adam Cardinal and Jesse Mountain, who both competed in the bareback event.
“So far of all the arenas I’ve rode in, this has been the best,” said Cardinal. It’s longer than other arenas, and allows the bucking horses room to run, which is what the cowboys like.
In smaller arenas the horses spin, but the best scores come from a horse that bucks straight out of the gate and keeps going.
“The better they can perform, the better we can perform,” he said. The score is based partly on the horse’s performance, and partly on the cowboy’s riding.
The partnership, with its interaction between horse and rider, is comparable to another sport common in arenas like Centennial.
“It’s almost like pairs figure skating,” said Mountain of the interaction between horse and rider.
There’s a fair bit of teamwork involved to get a good ride, said Cardinal.
“You have to work together out there. If you work against your horse, it ain’t going to work for you,” he said.
And when it doesn’t work, the result can be a short flight through the air as the rider is bucked off.
It’s a sport that can be tough on the body, but Cardinal was born into it, having grown up on a ranch. He’s been around rodeos all his life, and his grandfather was a champion rider in his day.
“Rodeo is our life,” he said.
He learned by listening to the advice of more experienced riders, and practicing what he had been told.
Now, after years of riding, he can say he has his own style, and favours an upright saddle position. Mountain favours a more laid-back riding position. It all comes down to finding what works for each rider, said Cardinal.
“You take what everybody’s going to teach you, take a piece of it and put it together for yourself.”
No matter the riding style, a cowboy will find himself getting thrown off, and the constant battering their bodies take has given cowboys a different perspective on what “hurt” really is. “We probably ride with the average guy’s hurt every time we get on,” said the bareback rider.
He’s seen cowboys compete with broken arms, pulled groins, and other injuries. But if they can ride, they aren’t hurt. Hurt is not being able to get on a horse.
“Today, we probably got on busted up, sore, hurt. Most people probably wouldn’t even get out of bed the way we feel. But you just learn to get on with it.”
This isn’t professional rodeo, either, and most guys have jobs to return to after their weekend chasing money and thrills on the rodeo circuit.
While the possibility of earning some money is a draw, that’s not what keeps Cardinal on the road nearly every weekend through the summer months.
“Truthfully, it’s the excitement for me. It has nothing to do with the money or the fans. It’s the excitement, the rush. Some people say I’m an adrenalin seeker.”
