I've been to my fair share of rodeos. Growing up in a small town, surrounded by country music and town fairs, rodeos just fell into place.
I'm no expert. But I don't think you have to be an expert to say that the Bonnyville Pro Rodeo put on a great show.
When I interviewed Shane Franklin of Franklin Rodeo Company, who supplies the bucking horses and bulls to the Bonnyville rodeo, he told me he does his best to ensure his horses and bulls put on a great show.
He said he thinks the “wildness” should stay in rodeos, which includes, “When bulls are bumping clowns or running over people or horses jumping out of the arena.”
When he said that, I thought those things don't actually happen anymore. Right?
I was wrong. And I'm glad I was.
Franklin's horses and bulls (and the cowboys brave enough to ride them) put on the best rodeo I've seen yet.
Saturday's performance was my favourite. There were horses jumping out of their stalls and attempting to jump into the beer gardens on more than one occasion.
I can say it was entertaining because as the horse was whipping and jumping around with fury into the fence, making it stretch thin and bend in the middle, I was sitting safely at the top of the rodeo stands, far from the horse's bucking legs.
Bareback is my favourite competition in any rodeo and I don't think I've ever seen a cowboy get whipped around as much as Franklin's horses threw these cowboys.
After Saturday's performance, I ran into some pro rodeo cowboys I knew from Fort Vermilion before moving to Bonnyville: Jesse Flett, a bull rider, and Chad and Justin Randle, sons of Kenton Randle.
They too commented on how energetically Franklin's horses and bulls bucked.
It's no wonder why the BPRCA has asked Franklin to supply the bucking bulls and horses for the rodeo for 25 years. It's not just for the convenience, having his farm just around the corner outside of Kehewin; it's because he's got the best stock.
Franklin said a rodeo is supposed to give you something that you would otherwise miss out on, as well as leave you craving for more: “Because you're guaranteed to see something there…you'd never see again for the rest of the year,” were his words.
Well I'd say his horses and bulls, and the organizers of the 25th Bonnyville Pro Rodeo, did just that.
