Midnight (1915/16 -1936)
Midnight was born on the Cottonwood Ranch west of Fort MacLeod carrying Jim McNabb’s brand, the door key on his left shoulder. He was a cross between a Thoroughbred and a Percheron/Morgan; at maturity he was big and strong weighing 1300 pounds and measuring 15 hands (over 60 inches). (Most bucking horses are about 14 hands and 1200 pounds.)
At 3 years old Jim McNabb broke him and Midnight was his cowhorse especially for long cattle treks. Although he had a gentle disposition, McNabb got tired of his erratic behaviour and unpredictability, so entered him in local rodeos. At Fort MacLeod in 1924 Midnight was the champion bucking horse and two weeks later he was best bucking bronc in all of Canada at the Calgary Stampede. That’s when he was sold to rodeo promoter, Peter Welsh “for an astounding amount of money”, but Jim McNabb, even shortly thereafter, regretted parting with the horse he had come to love.
Midnight’s rodeo career began in Canada and took him all over North America. His fame as being unrideable went from Calgary, Pendleton and Cheyenne to Salt Lake City and Fort Worth and east to Madison Square Garden in New York. He was almost like a rock star drawing huge crowds to see this ‘infamous outlaw’. Midnight loved to buck and seemed to take delight in bucking circles around his would-be conqueror before heading for the exit gate. Some contestants would have done anything to be the first to ride this bucking monster. Other cowboys that drew Midnight in the rodeo tried to swap him for another less rank bronc. Champion bronc rider, Pete Knight, mounted him 5 times in his 20+ year career, and came close on his 4th and 5th try to stay on for the full 10 seconds (the time for a qualified bronc ride in those days, now it’s 8 seconds.)5 There’s a certain pride in having ridden (or even seen him buck), but after any ride on Midnight, cowboys say they feel like they’re been run over by a tank and that every bone and muscle in their body aches for weeks.1
Pete Knight Riding Midnight. Photo Credit to Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation
“Contrary to persistent myths, Midnight had been ridden in his career. The first was Pete Bruisedhead from the Blood Reserve at Standoff, AB, an outstanding rider and one of the first documented contestants to ever make a clean competition ride on Midnight at Fort Macleod in July, 1924.”2
Shortly after 1928 Midnight was ultimately sold to McCarthy and Elliot of Wyoming and Colorado. After being featured at all the major rodeos, he was retired in 1933. However, he came out of retirement in 1934 as a special draw for the rodeo expedition in England. After the rodeo (which was not a success) all the broncs were sold except Midnight and another black gelding, Five Minutes to Midnight (said to almost equal Midnight). Midnight died at the Denver Rodeo and was buried at the McCarthy-Elliott Ranch in Colorado. In 1995 his remains were moved to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City (as well as the other famous bucking horse, Five-Minutes to Midnight, also Elliot’s horse.)
Midnight was born in Fort MacLeod and spent the first 10+ years of his life and Alberta is where he became famous for being unrideable. In Fort MacLeod the Midnight Stadium was named in his honor, and it’s fitting that his first owner, Jim McNabb. officially opened it in 1967. In 1981 Midnight was inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame; he was the first animal admitted. 3
The cowboys who had ridden and were beaten by Midnight took up a collection and this is the epitaph on the monument at Oklahoma City:
Underneath this sod lies a great bucking hoss,
There never lived a cowboy he couldn’t toss,
His name was Midnight, his coat was black as coal,
If there’s a hoss heaven, please God rest his soul.44
Footnotes:
- The Fence Post, “Midnight: the World’s Greatest Bucking Horse” ↩︎
- Canadian Cowboy Country, “Midnight”, by Terri Mason ↩︎
- Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame, “Midnight” ↩︎
- Wikipedia, Midnight (horse) ↩︎
Additional information taken from:
- Alberta Was My Beat by Fred Kennedy
- Pete Knight: The Cowboy King by Darrell Knight
