Keeping You In The Loop — MHCP Newsletter September 2024 Edition

Howdy Y’All!

‘Tis the season — to hurry and harvest, to hustle telling everyone about our event and to celebrate school horses before no one remembers there was such a thing. (Kids weren’t supposed to race them, but they did.) We continue getting stories from Hall of Famers who had fast horses, barrel racers like Dee Butterfield and Monica Wilson. As we’re grateful for the memories of the season past, we say thanks for the chuckles Ol’ Ugly gave us with the characters he created to live in our midst. Some of us remember fondly (or not so fondly) the times and styles that were. Thanks to folks like the Forbes’ who wrote it all down (for younger folks to find almost unbelievable).

Enough of the past for a moment and a look at what’s up and coming, our Western Music and Cowboy Poetry event. The excitement is mounting. Poets and musicians are honing their skills and including topics about women when they’re on stage. The college culinary staff is excited about serving chuckwagon cuisine and the decorators can’t wait to make the place look western. I look forward to seeing you on the 4th and/or the 5th of October.

Upcoming Events

Medicine Hat Cowboy Poetry Presents:

Western Music & Cowboy Poetry Event

You don’t want to miss it!!
Western Music at it’s best,
With Cowboy Poetry you’ll be impressed.
To get in the mood, come western dressed.

It’ll be a hit with amazing talent at the Medicine Hat College where they have the best lighting and sound anywhere. We have singer/songwriters, amazing guitarists and folks with astonishing reciting talent.

There are 16 different entertainers in the afternoon program and the evening performance features 4 of the best. Vocalists/musicians include Charlie Ewing from Claresholm, Dusty Dee Litchfield from the Lethbridge area, Miles Tornberg and our own Greg Herman.

Renowned poets include Linda Nadon from Meadow Lake, SK and Phyllis Rathwell living here in Medicine Hat now.

You’ll recognize local folks like Harv Speers, Scott Reesor, Wally Garrioch and Noel Burles (well, he is on the MHCP board). Our Emcee for the evening will be Shelley Goldbeck.

Wait till you see the unique items donated on the silent auction table: horsehead shaped boot jacks, patchwork blanket with horses, an award-winning framed photo, the list goes on. Decorations will greet you at the college entrance with a “Howdy” and treat you to an ambiance of complete western dress. It’s a good opportunity to get your picture taken with the Medicine Hat Rodeo Queen and Princess. And don’t forget the jingle in your jeans to get your 50/50 tickets!

It all starts on Friday night at 7:00pm with Open Mic in the Centennial Hall (outside the Eresman Theater.) Come and see the talent that is up and coming! Open Mic is free. Parking is free after 6:00pm.

The Saturday show starts at Noon in the Eresman Theater at the Medicine Hat College. Tickets for the afternoon performance are just $10.00 and parking is free all day.

Chuckwagon supper is served at 5:30pm. Supper emulates the chuckwagon fare in the cattle trail days: biscuits and stew, pie and so much more. Pre-order your ticket for what’s sure to be some mighty fine grub.

Saturday evening rounds out the festivities at 7:30pm in the Eresman Theater with our three honoured guests in attendance: Canadian ProRodeo Hall of Famers, Dee Butterfield and Maxine Girlitz and Medicine Hat’s renowned artist, Gena LaCoste. We are especially proud to present this year’s line up of performers and poets.

TICKETS: on sale at Hale Hearing in the Co-op Mall (3030 13 Ave SE #103) or contact MHCPPresident@gmail.com

Past Events

The Chuckwagon as Cowboy Heritage
At the Towne Square Heritage C-Cans across from City Hall in Medicine Hat, we celebrated the chuckwagon, that being where the cowhands gathered after trailing cattle all day. Yes, to eat, but also to entertain each other and pass the time by sharing their stories with songs and poems. That’s where Cowboy Poetry and Western Music started. Louise Maier and Donna Moore used paint to remake a cow into an oxen. Traditionally it was horses or oxen that pulled the chuckwagon, the food wagon, the world’s first food truck. Our miniature chuckwagon (chuck is food in cowboy lingo) had a ‘tarp’ held up by hoops for shade and in case of rain. The camp cook was often called Cookie, or a number of other names depending on his ability or inability to cook (???? ) Jim Koch (pardon the pun) made a
‘chuck box’ for the back of the wagon to hold Cookie’s essentials and form a make-shift table on one leg. Inside Cookie’s chuck box (cupboard) was a display of his supplies in cowboy lingo. There were skunk eggs (onions), almost hen’s fruit (bird’s eggs found along the way), lick (molasses) etc. Shelley Goldbeck, a MHCP member from Innisfail and emcee at our October event, was the Cookie at our camp. She (but it was always a guy) carefully protected the everlasting yeast (sour dough) used to make biscuits to serve with the beans he served every day. Visitors perused the display telling all about Cookie. Children enjoyed riding the stick horses the cowboys had come into camp with. Visitors left with some hardtack (dried biscuits) to pocket in case stampeding cattle would have them being late for supper.

Western Music Celebrated
On August Medicine Hat celebrated music at the Towne Square C-Cans (or Pods as they’re called). We were there in Pod #2 where we scattered the wall with hats and chaps. Supplying the music: Noel Burles from Coalhurst as well as locals Conrad Sandberg, Jack Humeny and Greg Herman. Stools to look like tree stumps were available for audience members to sit on. When we moved outside, we even had green grass underfoot (artificial turf). Thanks to Jennifer, her volunteers and the City of Medicine Hat for arranging the celebrations this summer.

Trail’s End
The Alberta Cowboy Poetry Association held
its annual Cowboy Gathering at High River on September 6th, 7th and 8th. MHCP board member Noel Burles is the Secretary for it and MHCP President, Jen Zollner is also a member and put on a wonderful performance. In their organization you need to belong (have a membership) in order to perform. It took place in The Full Gospel Church, ended with Cowboy Church on the Sunday morning.

Farmer’s Market
MHCP was set up at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede Farmer’s Market on Saturday, September 14th and 21st.

Board members Harv Speers, Carol Eisenbarth, Donna Moor and Faye Fedrau (missing from the photo) handed out samples of hardtack that might not tide you over till supper … but it was free and so were the smiles!

New on the Website

Yarns by Ol’ Ugly — For your Tales, the Taller the Better, Thanks

Ol’ Ugly, aka John Glawson, is done knitting yarns for us. He’ll no longer be inventing unusual characters having hilarious exploits around the town he founded, Miniberries. Every month he concocted two stories for us; we’re proud to have them on our website as a permanent testament to his creativity and his sense of humor. Don’t worry about him though, he’s doing well. Yes, he’s had two heart operations but his heart is still in the right place. He says, “Laughter is the best medicine. I want to be the Pharmacist.”

Monica Wilson, Pioneer in Rodeo

Dr. Gizmo was the horse that made Monica Wilson famous. (We were at her induction into the ProRodeo Hall ofFame this Spring.) That came about because of her natural horsemanship coupled with her innate ability ‘to get inside Giz’s head’ and ultimately to heal him. She was able to accept him for who he was, and bring out the best in him. Two lines in Harold Sloan’s poem “The Old Kid Horse” say it well:
A horse to me is like a man, they’re both the same inside,
The qualities we like in men within the horse abide.

This is Monica telling her story:

GIZ IS THE BEST

    by Jen Zollner

When you're a mother, it's not wise to choose___
A favorite, the kid you like best,
But that's how it is with my barrel racing horses,
Dr. Gizmo topped all the rest.

By far he is not the only barrel horse___
That won me many-a first,
In fact, when it came to challenging times,
I think he'd be classed as the worst.

It was love at first sight when I tried him out,
When I rode him, he just floated,
Next day when I tried him round the barrels,
He ran-off like a bomb exploded.

Some folks were thinking he'd make good fox meat___
'Cause he'd run up the wall times galore.
But he could run faster than anything
I'd ever been on before,

I'd just smile when things went bad,
Tomorrow's another day,
The process to fix him was long and slow,
Later, the odd time, still had a misplay.

There's more to know 'bout this fiery sorrel,
You can't help but like the guy,
He's happy, except just before the race,
He loads good, don't kick and he's sly.

Sometimes he'd fool me, he'd take the left barrel___
When we usually take the right,
He understands English, he talks to you,
Though he's not good looking, he's bright.

One time I threatened Giz, told him if you___
Don't win the next two races,
I'm selling you to some big old bulldogger,
Our next two wins were first places.

Somebody gave me a blank cheque to buy him,
He'd pay any amount for that horse,
Their way wouldn't fix him, they'd not understand him,
And I'd never sell him, of course.

He is awarded "Horse with the Most Heart",
At a ripe old age Gizmo died,
And that's when my heart in barrel racing went,
I ran out of Giz by my side.

School Horses *** COMING SOON***

They were often the transportation to the one-room schools. Read about the horses that teachers and students used, ordeals that were part of the trip and the invaluable life lessons the horse provided. Members of MHCP also shared their recollections (if they were old enough to have had a school-horse). The women in rodeo we interviewed also had
schoolhorses.

Library Corner

What I’m reading is available at the Medicine Hat Public Library:

The Heart of a Horse: Life Lessons from Horses and Other Animals

by Candida Baker

636.1 BAK, 2021

Through a series of true stories, the author shares how each horse (and other animals) enhanced her sense of spiritual connection. She illustrates what she experienced as she  learned to “listen” using all her senses. She describes the magic that happens when we keep  an open mind about the world of silent communication from the animal world. “The greatest  lessons animals teach us is to get in touch with our intuition.”

A thought to leave you with:

A boy would make a better man who had a pal like him (a school horse) -Harold Sloan-

Take care,

Jen