Howdy !!!
November always comes as a sombre month. World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. I was born during WW II and unfortunately, conflicts continue to rage on. Horses have long ago been replaced with bomber planes, then drones and now warfare is aided by AI intelligence. But the horrors remain. There are no winners in war. It is heartening to see things the cowboy way. Yes, cowboys compete against each other for the winning purse (money), yet help their opponent make the best ride. They’ll travel together, coach him about how the animal bucks, help him get ready for the ride and cheer him on. Harry Vold is but an example of honesty and fairness when western business was done with handshake deals. You see champions in their own right being humble enough to talk to anyone, be they young or old, behind the chutes or in need of help to move bales even if it’s an after-hours dusty job. There is a genuine love and concern for the welfare of the animals, not just roping and barrel horses, but also the broncs and bucking bulls, treating them like family and honoring them the same way after their passing. Maybe it’s because these folks live and work close to nature. May we all strive for and find the peace that love, nature and animals can offer us.
Jen
Horses Were ‘Soldiers’ Too
Horses were absolutely essential in World War I (1914 -1918). It was the advent of motorized vehicles, but horses were needed to navigate the rough terrain that was often narrow, muddied and cratered. By this time in history horses were used less as cavalry, and more for transporting guns and ammunition. Horses were near the front lines carrying stretchers and evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefield. They pulled the field kitchen ensuring hot meals for the soldiers.
Millions of horses were shipped to Europe from the U.S. and Canada. R.D. Symons (in his book “Where the Wagon Led”) writes about officers of the French cavalry coming to Maple Creek to purchase horses. “This part of the West was famous for its good horseflesh…They paid a flat price per head and specified geldings only, from 5 to 8 years old; sound and of solid colour. All horses had to be halter-broke and ridden enough to be at least bridle-wise and not too apt to buck.” Symons helped bring in a bunch of about 80 wiry cayuses “who had never known bridle or spur.” (Other ranch hands did the same for other ranches.) Seventeen were chosen to “tame”.
Keeping the Peace
When countries have a fight, we call it war. Cowboys generally are more about keeping peace. They have many sayings like “never pick a fight with a porcupine” that tap on how humour can “cool the air” (don’t forget to catch the deeper and subtle meanings). Here are some western codes conducive to peace from “Don’t Dig for Water Under an Outhouse and Other Commandments” by Texas Bix Bender:
- if it ain’t right, don’t do it
- don’t get even, get over it
- don’t look for courage in a bottle
- don’t desire what you can’t acquire
- never take down another man’s fences
- know that the loser in a fight ain’t necessarily wrong
- it’s not so much what you call yourself that matters, it’s what you call others
Anger & Cowboy Idioms
We know how anger can be the prelude to a fight. Cowboys are bound to get frustrated with animals, the four-legged and the two-legged kind. Here’s picturing how these sayings might have originated.
- fit to be tied (being like a range horse or a dog’s reaction when they’ve always been free and had never been tied up)
- madder than a wet hen (how aggressively a hen reacts when doused with water)
- get your goat (goats were placed with racehorses to keep them calm. If some ne’er- do-well “got someone’s goat”, the horse would be unsettled and do badly in the race)
- raise one’s bristles (cats and dogs raise the hair on their back when provoked)
- all horns and rattles (referring to the cattle aggressively using their horns and rattlesnakes their rattles to protect themselves)
- mad as a hornet (hornets can launch a fierce attack when disturbed)
- git your dander (dander can mean the froth when yeast is brewing. It could convey the imagery of anger bubbling up)
- get your back up (like a cat arching it’s back when encountering a strange dog)
Williams Lake Named Canada’s Rodeo of the Year
This is the first ever award handed out by the CPRA, this year to the Williams Lake rodeo committee in British Columbia. (The Canadian Pro Rodeo Association sanctions over 60 rodeos every year.) Next year will be William Lake’s 98th annual rodeo. It has become a world famous rodeo with guests coming from across the globe. They host nearly 400 contestants over four days (June 27-30 in 2025.) The rodeo committee works hard year-round to make it the best it can every year (much like the MHCP event committee.) They say, “The biggest reward is when you see your grandstands are full.” MHCP is dreaming of the day we can say that.
(Note: the annual Ponoka Stampede has been running for 89 years.)
Interesting to note that Monica Wilson met her husband at a Williams Lake Rodeo many years ago. It’s also where Dee Butterfield took her high school and started her barrel racing career. I (Jen) wrote a research summary and poetry after interviewing both of them for the Women in Rodeo project. On October 20th and 21st, Cheryl was at the Wilson ranch at Cardston getting more video and B-Roll. Cheryl has completed a mini documentary on Dee and is in the midst of the time-consuming process of doing a mini-documentary on Monica. Cheryl Dust is a founding member of MHCP. She has served as Secretary and continues being our photo/videographer.
CFR (Canadian Finals Rodeo)
It was held October 1st to 4th at Roger’s Place in Edmonton, their 51st annual. If you’re like Don Thompson (one of our MHCP members), you watched the action on the Cowboy Channel. We celebrate the locals that competed there.
We’re proud of our Brooks barrel racer, Lynette Brodoway. She won the Canadian finals
Championship in 2023 and again qualified to compete at the 2025 CFR. She is daughter of
Ivan and Darlene Wigemyr from Medicine Hat. Ivan is a member of MHCP. See the
Hometown Tribute to her in the April, 2025 newsletter.
Congratulations to the 2025 CFR Champion Bull rider. Jared Parsonage of Maple Creek made remarkable rides on all five of his bulls. He also won the Bullriding Championship in 2021 and 2022. We can only imagine how hard it was for him to spend last year’s CFR in hospital watching the rodeo on TV (after sustaining a bull riding injury).
MHCP has researched the 15 ladies that were inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame (which included Monica Wilson). She was instrumental in having Ladies Barrel Racing get equality with the men’s events. Ladies Breakaway Roping was first recognized as an official rodeo event at the CFR in 2021 and was part of every CFR performance for the first time in 2024.
Miss Rodeo Canada Contest at the CFR
We congratulate Tenley Warburton on coming so close to being the 2026 Miss Rodeo Canada. She was the runner-up against nine contestants. In 2025 Tenley reigned as Miss Strathmore Stampede. Tenley, daughter of Jolene and Trevor, grew up a resident in Schuler and for six years was a student at Schuler School. She is great granddaughter of the late Evelyn and Bill Trieber and granddaughter of Delphine Rinehart, all having been long-time Schulerites. It was her grandma that told us, “She got first place awards in three out of 5 categories”. She is currently working towards her Bachelor of Education at Red Deer Polytechnic.
NFR (National Finals Rodeo)
It will again be 10 days of rodeo action at Las Vegas from December 4th to 13th in 2025, the 40th year it was held there. We’re proud of the nine Alberta cowboys that have qualified to compete at the NFR; 3 team ropers, 1 calf roper, 1 bull dogger and 4 saddle bronc riders. Canada has some of the best saddle bronc riders in the world, thanks to the Calgary Stampede that raises them. In 2024, twenty-two Calgary Stampede horses were selected to compete at the NFR. Tyler Kraft, who was a Medicine Hatter, is manager of the Calgary Stampede Ranch located south of Hanna. He has been pick-up man at the CFR for multiple years. He says it’s an honor to have been selected again to serve as a pick up man at this year’s National Finals.
Kirsten Retires Vold Rodeo This Year
For 28 years Harry Vold’s youngest daughter managed her dad’s stock contracting business, then officially took it over in 2017 following her dad’s passing. The National Finals at Las Vegas in December, 2025 will end the legendary Vold Rodeo Co, where for 66 years the Volds have supplied stock at every NFR. As a woman in the man’s world of rodeo, she has earned the respect of cowboys as well as other stock contractors. She has continued the Harry Vold legacy of producing champion rodeo stock.
Growing up, Kirsten has always worked for the company. She had a tutor until grade 9, so basically worked the rodeo circuit year-round and in high school during the summers. She has been rewarded with the success of “Painted Valley” who went to 6 NFRs, and who won the Bronc of the Year NFR award in 2009 and the PRCA in 2010. Yet he is very gentle. He is dear to her heart because she raised him in her backyard, in fact he was the first horse she put her very own brand on.
It has been a rewarding career for Kirsten. She’s been part of every stage of a horse’s life. She was there at their southeast Colorado Ranch when every one of those champions was born and she was there when they were good enough to be selected for the National Finals Rodeo. This year Vold Rodeo will send three saddle broncs to the NFR: Captain Hook, Breezy Fling and Talkin’ Smack, all of them raised by Kirsten. Frontier Rodeo Company, longtime partners in breeding bucking stock, is purchasing their PRCA membership card and most of its roughstock.
Kirsten Vold is looking back on a lifetime of raising legendary bucking stock and the cowboys who became champions riding them. And she isn’t done with the bucking world yet. She still has her two studs, several brood mares and the 2025 weanlings on the Pueblo Ranch that once was her dad’s and where she and her mom still live. Kristin has continued to build on the legacy that her father began more than 6 decades ago. Vold Rodeo may be coming to a close, but her legacy and her family’s will continue to shape rodeo for generations to come.
Harry Vold
This Rodeo Stock Legend got his start as a Canadian when there was a need for livery stables/ horse hotels. He spent the first 43 years of his life in Alberta leaving an auctioneer legacy. Working together with Reg Kesler, their broncs were at many-a Medicine Hat Stampede. He ended up stationed in the U.S. where he provided bucking stock for the most prestigious rodeos in North America. His dealings with Gene Autry, the country singer, was an interesting find. Harry Vold was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1994.
Visit By-Gone Greats
Harry Vold contracted stock, what more is there to know,
Besides that cowboys wanted to draw his champions at every show.
We hear he's not just cowboy, rancher, first-rate auctioneer,
His deep respect for the folks he met, and his animals is clear.
Just come to Colorado to his rolling-acre spread,
Where the native sandstone he restored was his belov'd homestead.
His ranch was run old-fashioned ways, four-wheelers non, no chutes,
Handshake deals and the code of the west were his best attributes.
He treated his stock like family, wanted nothing but their best,
Has gravestones for each special one, when nature put them to rest.
We read each champion's name inscribed and the years they made top rides,
Like walking down the memory lane of rodeo as we stride.
The old part of the house is a museum to behold,
Where the walls are full of photographs, their number a-hundred-fold,
Of cowboy champs, celebrities and many-an action shot,
Touched shoulders with them, and for each he held a tender spot.
Another room has silver mounted bridles, there are nine,
Won for bucking best that year, and the name of each equine.
Two famous bulls named Crooked Nose and 777,
Are mounted, hanging on the wall, though they're in bovine heaven.
Buggy wheels make tables holding buckles saucer size
That are gold engraved, “Man of the Year”, he deserved every prize.
So champion cowboys who thank their fame to Vold's amazing stock,
Or rodeo fans who cheered each time the animal beat the clock.
You should visit bygone greats at Harry's Ranch, Red Top,
Where man and beast are on display, the cream of the rodeo crop.
by J. Zollner
These are names of cowboys that won their world championships on the back of Harry’s stock:
- Ty Murray
- Marty Wood
- Harry Tompkins
- Larry Mahan
- Jim Shoulders
- Casey Tibbs.
You’ll recognize the names of this bucking stock that were announced in the rodeo arena:
- Angel Sings
- Rusty
- Wrangler Savvy
- Bobby Joe Skoal
- Sarcee Sorrel
- Necklace…
Parting quote
“A cowboy never takes unfair advantage -even of an enemy.” – Gene Autry-
Happy trails,
Jen
A note from the MHCP Webmaster:
Howdy, folks!
We’ve been burnin’ the midnight oil fixin’ up the MHCP website to make it better than a fresh cup of coffee at sunrise. But, like any good cattle drive, we’ve hit a few bumps along the trail.
If you spot somethin’ that ain’t quite right—maybe a picture’s gone missin’, a link’s as dead as a desert creek, a page loads wonky, or the whole dang site’s gone belly-up (heaven forbid!)—don’t be shy. Holler at us by sendin’ an email to penellazollner@gmail.com or leave us a comment.
Thank ya kindly for ridin’ with us and bearin’ with the dust. We sure do appreciate your patience!
Happy trails,
The MHCP Team
