This weekend won’t be Pincher Creek’s first rodeo, but rather the 29th annual event paying tribute to the agricultural past and present of the community.

Initially settled as a horse ranch for the Mounties, Pincher Creek’s historical background is present in the competitions of the rodeo and the event itself.

“The reason we have it is because we want to pay tribute to our roots and have a community gathering,” says Lynn Lievers, who co-chairs the rodeo committee.

For the last 28 years, the event has been put on with the community in mind, according to Lievers.

“This is an agricultural community, and this is an agriculture event,” she says.

Gord Tolton, historian and education co-ordinator at Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village, points to the event’s reference to classic skills that built the community during pioneer times. 

“Whether you were a cowboy or not, every pioneer had to be a horseman, had to be a horse expert,” he says.

Roping events, for example, demonstrate the talent that was required to control cattle, both back in the day and on ranches now.

“It’s a skills competition, of course, of things that generally win on a ranch,” says Tolton.

Saddle bronc comes from the tradition of cowboys who were using different horses every day and had to be able to work with horses of all dispositions. 

“When the cowboy would get on in the morning, he basically had to, you know, re-break or retrain his own horse,” Tolton says.

“When the Calgary Stampede started, there was no such thing as the eight-second rule. The idea of getting on a saddle bronc was to ride it out until it stopped bucking.”

He notes that the eight-second rule for rodeo riders today comes from logistics for entertainment and the desire to not fully tame a horse so it will buck again next time.

“Your rodeo stock basically never really gets used to the saddle, so it’s a different adventure every time,” he says. 

To make it back in the day, the agricultural settlers depended on skills like the ones shown in the rodeo for their livelihoods and functioning of their property.

“Harnessing an animal in the morning, it’s not much of a competition to watch, but it was a definite skill,” says Tolton. “Even driving was a skill, so when you see these wagons being driven in the parade you can just have some respect for the skill of the person doing that.”

Don’t miss the Pincher Creek Pro Rodeo and related events this weekend!

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