Stettler’s first roughstock rodeo of the year brought a lot of family fun and equine action to town but not much luck to local cowboys with the exception of Chad Davidson.
As parents watched cowboys trying to hold on for eight seconds on top of the bucking horses and bulls, dozens of kids from toddlers to preschoolers enjoyed themselves running and rolling in the dirt around the bleachers.
The action began with the bareback riding, the category in which there was not any cowboy from the neighbouring areas in the competition. Cole Godine of Carbon, AB, Logan Hodson of Telkwa, BC, Mike Solberg of Cessford, AB and Dylan Bilton of Innisfail, AB made it to the short go after intense competition.
When it came to saddle bronc, there were quite a few area cowboys who were ready to put forward their claim to the top spot. Scott Laurence and Levi Harbin of Stettler, Josh Harden and Wyatt Thurston of Big Valley were among the riders with their eyes on the coveted first place. But Justin Meston of Tees was the most enthusiastically applauded cowboy among all when he scored 78 points in the long go.
He was followed by Layton Green of Meeting Creek, Jeremy Tennant of Provost and Lane Watt of Hardisty, all of whom went into the short go alongside Meston.
Big Valley’s Thurston was particularly unlucky in this event: In his first attempt, the Dare Devil failed to show any enthusiasm to move after the chute was opened, so the chute was closed, then came the second try and the chute was opened and the horse did try to buck the cowboy on top and did manage to beat its rider. Thurston was given a chance to re-ride, but his second attempt was not any better than the first.
Out of the 11 bull riders in the following category, only the local cowboy Chad Davidson and Wyatt Laughlyn were able to score any points and it was only thanks to those 83 points that Chad Davidson was declared the bull riding champion as none of the short go competitors could ride the bulls they selected to compete with in the short go.
Justin Meston won the short go in saddle bronc with 83 points and Cole Goodine was the champion of the bareback riding and they were each presented a jacket by ID Apparel as their championship reward.