In a letter posted April 21 on the event website, Norm Gauthier, president of the Valley Agricultural Society, said, “it was clear the health of our sponsors, guests, performers, exhibitors and volunteers could not be guaranteed with the running of a major event” during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual event, which for 2020 had been scheduled for July 16-19 in Morris, typically draws 20,000 to 30,000 people on average and is one of the stops on the Canadian Rodeo Tour.

The not-for-profit Valley Ag Society, which dates back to 1895, has operated the stampede since 1964.

In his letter, Gauthier assured ag society volunteers their “efforts are not in vain” as the organization will continue to plan for the July 2021 event and “all that has been done up to now will carry over into the next year.”

The post Manitoba Stampede cancelled for 2020 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“As a community celebration, the cancellation of our annual event comes with our community and public health and safety front of mind,” Stampede president Dana Peers said on a conference call Thursday with reporters.

The provincial health department on Thursday confirmed the gathering restrictions it has in place due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic will also apply to the province’s various summer festivals, agricultural fairs, rodeos, sporting championships and industry conferences.

The Calgary Folk Music Festival, which had also been scheduled for July this year, announced its cancellation Thursday just shortly before the Stampede’s conference call.

The province’s current orders prohibit gatherings of 15 or more people, require two-metre social distancing at gatherings of fewer than 15 and “will continue to apply until evidence demonstrates that the spread is controlled.”

By clarifying those restrictions now, the province said, event organizers “will be able to provide advance notice of 60 days or more that may help them limit unrecoverable expenditures, and cancel contracts in a timely manner.”

The Stampede had been scheduled for July 3-12 this year. The annual event, which dates back to 1912, is billed as a celebration of “the people, the animals, the land, the traditions and the values that make up the unique spirit of the West.”

A showcase and networking event for the province’s farming and livestock sectors, the Stampede’s attractions typically include “world-class” agricultural competitions and displays and the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, which combined involve over 7,500 animals, including cattle, horses, swine, donkeys and sheep.

The event, and others held in any other given year at its host site Stampede Park, are estimated to contribute about $700 million annually to the Canadian economy, including about $540 million to Alberta’s economy alone, Peers said.

Asked whether the Stampede — which previously has survived calamities such as the city’s June 2013 flood — has any insurance coverage that might help it recover some of the costs of such a cancellation, he replied it does not.

The not-for-profit Stampede organization’s focus will now shift to fall, winter and spring events at Stampede Park, and to planning for the 2021 Stampede, scheduled for July 9-18 that year, he said.

“To stand here and say there’ll be no Stampede for the first time in 97 years, that’s very, very, very tough,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said on Thursday’s call, adding the city government stands “in full support” of the Stampede’s decision.

“For the last five weeks it has felt to many of us like more and more and more things are getting taken away — and you know what, it is OK to feel sad and angry and frustrated about some of these things,” he said.

He described the situation as “a test of our collective resolve,” and said that eventually, “the rodeo will come back, the rides will come back, the music will come back and what will never, ever go away is our community spirit.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Video also circulated online of clean up following the death of a heifer during a team penning competition on Saturday.

Activist organization Manitoba Animal Save shared the video, which shows a tractor hauling away a large form covered with a tarp. The person filming is told it’s a cow beneath the tarp.

About a dozen members of Manitoba Animal Save protested outside the main gate on Friday evening.

“Six horses have been murdered at the Calgary Stampede due to the Chuckwagon races, which also take place at the Morris Stampede and Rodeo,” the organization said on its Facebook page, prior to the protest. “This is a peaceful protest and educational opportunity to create dialogue with the public.”

Manitoba Animal Save did not respond to a request for comment.

Why it matters: Animal rights activists and rodeos have been at odds for years, but social media allows for scrutiny to spread. Rodeo organizers and competitors may need to examine how they communicate with those outside the community in order to promote mutual understanding.

This is not the first time the stampede in Morris has seen protestors. Rodeo chairman Mike Bellisle said in years past they’ve seen peaceful protestors from time to time. A protester once also chained themselves in a “very dangerous position” in the arena years ago.

Animal rights groups and rodeos have had a rocky relationship for many years. This year’s Calgary Stampede saw six horses die, most in the chuckwagon races according to media reports. This ties it for the second-deadliest year of the decade according to records kept by the Vancouver Humane Society.

The Manitoba Co-operator was not able to independently verify these numbers.

Local rodeo safety

In an interview prior to the Stampede, Bellisle said that to his knowledge no horses have died due to competition at the Manitoba Stampede. The chuckwagon races at the Manitoba Stampede are “pony chuckwagon” races, which feature smaller horses and wagons than those at the Calgary event.

The animals receive daily vet checks and aren’t allowed to compete if they’re found to be sick, sore or lame, said Bellisle. He said these rules have been in place “from day one.”

Events may be cancelled if arena conditions become unsafe — too muddy, for instance, Bellisle said.

“I bubble wrap my horse as much as I can,” said Karyssa Hiebert, a barrel racer on the Heartland Rodeo circuit in Manitoba. She said when she travels, she wraps the horse’s legs and covers it with a therapeutic blanket that promotes blood circulation. The horse also receives regular massages and chiropractic treatment.

“They’re athletes. They’re just like us,” she said. They have to be in good shape and feel good to compete.

Still, she said, horses get hurt. Some of these injuries happen in the pasture while the horse is running and playing with the other animals.

Good people at odds

“We want to do what’s right,” said Bellisle. He added that activists (a term he said he avoids due to negative connotations) and rodeo competitors share many of the same values and might find common ground “if people from all sides would simply sit down and talk.”

However, for animal activists, simply keeping the animals from injury may not be enough.

“We are opposed to all forms of animal exploitation,” said Vicki Van Linden, a director of animal activist organization Animal Alliance of Canada. She said that ultimately she’d like to see rodeos phased out entirely as rodeo animals can’t choose if they will compete, and would not naturally engage in these types of activities.

“It’s reasonable to ask people to recognize that practices that cause injury and death on a regular basis cannot be seen as ethical,” she said.

However, Van Linden said she recognizes the deep tradition of rodeo and sees the conflict as “good people being at odds with each other.”

“All people really value our own traditions, but traditions can change and adapt,” said Van Linden.

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The 103-year-old Stampede is a 10-day festival of rodeo, street parties and corporate entertainment held in Canada’s oil capital every July.

Nightly chuckwagon races are among its headline events. Drivers, supported by outriders, race chuckwagons emblazoned with the logos of sponsors and pulled by a team of four horses in front of a cheering crowd of thousands.

The rights to advertise on top riders’ chuckwagon canvases are sold off each spring in an auction that many in Calgary consider a barometer of economic sentiment.

This year, total bids fell 21 per cent from 2014 to $2,782,000, reflecting the mood in a city where layoffs among oil producers are mounting.

Benchmark oil prices have plunged more than half since last June due to a global supply glut, with U.S. crude last trading at just over $45 a barrel.

Despite the slide in bids, the 2015 total was still well above the $1,692,000 bid in 2009 following the last major oil price crash. The record auction year was 2012, the Stampede’s 100th birthday, when sponsors bid $4,015,000.

“We are pretty ecstatic that our numbers are up above where they were in 2009,” said Paul Rosenberg, chief operating officer at the Calgary Stampede. “About a 20 per cent drop is to be expected in challenging times.”

— Nia Williams is a Reuters correspondent covering the energy sector from Calgary.

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Infrared thermography — or IRT — can tell a lot of stories by measuring body heat in a specific area. Using a device that looks like a radar gun, it’s a non-invasive way to learn what animals are going through. And it’s giving scientists like Drs. Christy Goldhawk and Ed Pajor of the University of Calgary a window on what animals are experiencing.

Goldhawk is conducting post-doctoral research through a fellowship position partnership between the university’s faculty of veterinary medicine and the Calgary Stampede. So she spends half her time in and around the Stampede facilities and events. In July, that meant using her IRT tool behind the chutes during the Stampede rodeo.

“Specifically, what we have been looking at, at the Stampede is the idea behind, ‘Are the animals aroused and stressed?’” said Goldhawk.

“When they do react, it takes energy — both mental energy as well as physical energy. So infrared measures that heat response.”

• More from the Manitoba Co-operator: How the Stampede gets horses to buck

Heat response

Having a way to physically measure stress would bring measurable evidence to what has been a matter of opinion — with critics claiming rodeo animals are mishandled, and those from the rodeo world insisting they like to perform, said Pajor, an animal welfare expert.

Their work initially focused on rodeo animals in the chutes.

“We started with wanting to describe what the animals are experiencing prior to their performance in the rodeo,” said Pajor. “So the first couple of years we looked at the behaviour of the animals in the chutes just before they started bucking: Were there fear behaviours being shown?”

Their studies then expanded to include IRT, and also to look at the behaviour of the animals in the back pens and the loading area.

“We had to do it in a non-invasive manner because this is a real rodeo with real timelines, rather than a controlled setting for an experiment,” he said. “But that’s the beauty of IRT as an indicator of physiological response.”

The reading is taken off the eyes, so it’s a lot easier to do than other response indicators, such as blood tests or heart rate monitoring. Plus it doesn’t add any additional stress for the animals.

So what has the Stampede study found?

Calm in the chute

The behavioural study found experienced animals were calm in the chute setting, while the novices had more of a response. The IRT results found the same thing, which is evidence it is a credible method to measure stress.

Pajor is now using IRT in another study on castration in cattle to see whether the age of the animal impacts the stress it experiences.

“IRT is one of a number of measures, but it allows us to look at the animal’s immediate response to the procedure, whether it be surgical or banding. It also allows us to look at how things progress in terms of the healing rate.”

The next phase of the project will examine the effect of using some pain mitigation along with the procedures, and again IRT will be one of the measurement tools. It’s a key to developing a whole picture of what’s happening with the animal, he said.

Both Pajor and Goldhawk said being able to accurately and easily measure stress could affect a wide range of animal management practices, from how to best move show animals in and out of buildings to developing recommendations for animal care codes of practice.

Not always negative

Goldhawk has a cowgirl background, and adheres to the teachings of legendary natural horseman Ray Hunt, who said when handling and working with animals you want to fly under their radar, so they don’t react as much. But she is also quick to say that just because an animal’s response is heightened, it’s not always a negative thing.

“As a researcher I get sticky on the term ‘stress’ because there’s good stress, especially when you’re thinking about learning,” she said. “It’s stressful to learn something you don’t know, and it’s a challenge, but it’s good to learn.

“If we use infrared as a stand-alone measurement, that’s not a great idea, because you have to put it in context of other parts of what the animal is doing, and what’s being done to the animal.”

That includes factoring in long-term implications, such as whether stress diminishes after the animal figures out the handling system, or becomes familiar with the new pasture, or, in the case of rodeo, knows what to expect when the chute gate opens.

Pajor agreed, calling it dangerous to take a single-minded approach to animal behaviour.

“The more technology, the more approaches we have to try to understand what’s going on, with behaviour or physiological response, the better we can understand whether this is good stress or bad stress.”

Good and bad stress

But if it’s the latter, the ‘it’s always been done that way’ defence isn’t good enough, said Pajor.

“In agriculture there’s an awful lot of tradition in terms of how things have been done,” he said. “Often, there’s not a lot of evidence for that. Sometimes what we’re doing with research is just finding evidence that demonstrates the ranchers are correct in terms of why they were doing things. But other times we find the evidence says maybe this is a technique or a process that could be done better.”

Infrared technology is also rapidly improving, said Goldhawk, an early adopter who has been using it for five years.

Used in everything from home inspection to military operations, the measuring tools are getting less cumbersome, the images better, and the software and editing functions easier to use.

However, it’s not useful on the ranch level just yet, she added.

“Don’t go buy one today or tomorrow, but get thinking about it,” said Goldhawk. “Because there are a lot of applications, and research is working on it. Like with the wireless technology we have in our smartphones now, a lot of it can come from ranchers’ own ingenuity about how (best) to apply it.”

Videos of Goldhawk’s work at the Calgary Stampede can be found on YouTube.

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Pierre Lemieux, the federal parliamentary secretary for agriculture, announced the funding for the creation of a new single system, Canadian Agri-Traceability Services (CATS) at the Calgary Stampede.

CATS will provide traceability data services for both the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency and Quebec’s provincial traceability agency, thereby cutting the two organizations’ costs and simplifying reporting, the government said.

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The two stamps, featuring a rodeo horse and a silver and gold anniversary belt buckle, are now available in post offices, online and via phone orders.

But for the first time, collectors who own a smartphone or tablet will be able to connect with more than the visuals. These stamps feature Augmented Reality, “an enhanced view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated virtual elements” such as sound, video, 3D graphics, web-based information or GPS data,” the agency says in a release.

Got that?

“By downloading the free Stamps Alive app, users will be able to hover their device over the stamp and access either a barrel race game or an interactive experience with a horse.”

Imagine, a horse experience that involves no shovels, sweat or hard landings.

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Nine years ago, Hanna Kristjanson enjoyed the company of her first pony, Miss Kitty, and started leisurely riding at the age of four. Prior to becoming an avid rodeo cowgirl, she could be found on the backs of hunter/jumper horses as a member of the Brandon Pony Club.

Crazy about horses, the 13-year-old daughter of David Kristjanson and Deb Anderson looked at the Manitoba High School Rodeo Association (MHSRA) as a great avenue to make new friends while still having the opportunity to cherish horsemanship. Joining in the fall of 2010, the junior high cowgirl competed solely in pole bending and barrel racing. However, it wasn’t long before she added goat tying and ribbon roping to her competitive skills and is aiming to add breakaway roping in the not too distant future.

“My favourite event is pole bending because I like weaving through the poles at a fast pace and I like the challenge of having to leave six objects standing rather than three in terms of barrels,” said Kristjanson. “Pole bending is also my horse Deuce’s best event, and that just adds to the fun.”

The MHSRA is not all about competition, as prior to a student having that opportunity to compete in various communities across the province, he or she must keep their grade averages up. Students can also be rewarded.

“I am very proud to be named to the Cinch All Star Team,” said Kristjanson. “This means I, along with other team members, had to be in the top 10 in the standings and a grade point average of 86 per cent.”

One of the stipulations of being on Team Cinch is that students must be in good standing in their state/province association and the National High School Rodeo Association. There is only one spot on the all-star team for each event. The academic selection is taken from the top 10 rodeo competitors who must have a minimum average mark of 86 per cent. A committee then looks over the report cards of the eligible students and makes a final selection (one boy, one girl) based on their academic standing.

Along with her parents, Kristjanson is very grateful to MHSRA president Andrea Graham of Carberry for her support in showing her the basics of rodeo and finding a couple great barrel horses in Deuce, a 13-year-old black quarter-horse and Bill, a 20-year-old grade buckskin, who makes for a great backup mount.

Support is one positive step in success. Another is a favourite rodeo competitor, who is a star in the eyes of a young life. For Kristjanson, her top female rodeo athlete is Alberta cowgirl, Sierra Stoney, a five-time Canadian Finals Rodeo qualifier, Calgary Stampede qualifier, and Canadian Professional Rodeo Association season leader in barrel racing. Stoney is a vivacious young woman with an inspiring set of dreams. Starting her barrel-racing career at a young age, her homegrown commitment to her goals has provided the foundation for an exciting, passionate career.

Having her own set of dreams as well, Kristjanson is finding that high school rodeo encourages dedication, teamwork, responsibility, determination and above all positive friendships.

Currently enrolled in Grade 7 at Rivers Collegiate, Kristjanson is active in many different sports and activities, along with rodeo. The avid athlete plays volleyball, basketball, hockey and baseball, as well as playing the piano.

Being involved in sports from a team or individual perspective comes challenges and acceptance. In any sport travelling is all part of the game, however, Kristjanson knows full well that each stretch of the road travelled can lead to bigger and better achievements.

After the first half of the 2011-12 season that wrapped up in October, Kristjanson sat in second place in pole bending, fourth in barrels and sixth in goat tying. With the second half kicking off in April, the Oak River native is aiming for an opportunity to experience Nationals in New Mexico and also the Canadian High School Rodeo Finals, once again being hosted by Manitoba in Virden, this summer.

Giving back to a non-profit organization that gives so much to each male or female student who is passionate about the sport of high school rodeo, Kristjanson and her best friend Baylee Graham of Carberry are there when needed.

“I think it’s important to be an event director, because there are many different jobs to get done at a high school rodeo,” said Kristjanson. “Myself, along with everybody else needs to do their share to present a positive image to hosting committees.”

With the tasks being shared since its incorporation in 1995, the MHSRA has steadily grown over the years, showcasing an avenue of roping and riding of a talented group of student athletes.

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Bennett, one of the premier saddle makers in North America, hasn’t taken on large orders in decades, preferring to produce his celebrated creations one at a time. But when folks from the Calgary Stampede’s Western Performance Horse Committee approached the sublime craftsman over the winter, with a certain centennial celebration in mind, well…you might say Bennett’s foot was already in the stirrup.

“That’s the tantalizing thing. It’s very hard to say no, when you’re selected to be involved in the Calgary Stampede’s 100-year anniversary,” says Bennett, whose company, Vic Bennett Saddles, is based just outside Sherwood Park, Alta. “It’s something to think about…an easy decision to make, really.”

With Bennett and his two-man crew taking up awls, rasps, and stamping tools for the next several months, the Stampede’s Western Performance Horse Committee is commissioning the production of up to 100 identical Vic Bennett Custom All-Round Saddles – handcrafted exclusively for the 2012 Calgary Stampede Centennial, and available for sale to the general public.

Never to be reproduced again, these so-called “century saddles” promise meticulous craftsmanship, right down to the Calgary Stampede brand lasered on the stirrup. The limited-edition saddles will be numbered, signed by Stampede President and Chairman of the Board Mike Casey and Bennett, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

They’ll be presented during a Centennial Saddle Celebration in July 2012.

“One of our (WPH) committee members, David Palmer, has said for a long time that we should have a special project that involves saddles. And when the Stampede started asking for ideas to be submitted for Centennial, everything just clicked,” says Karen Mix, a member of the Stampede’s Western Performance Horse Committee.

“Even to be part of this whole adventure, I’m just thrilled to death. We’ve got quite a few sold already…a couple of these saddles will also be auctioned off, as well, and we expect a huge response.

More than 20 of the century saddles have already been pre-purchased – sight unseen, and purely by word of mouth to this point.

“As soon as we explain the Centennial saddles program to people, the reaction has been amazing,” says Mix. “One lady ordered one for each of her children as an inheritance. A couple of energy companies have already bought them.

“And one fellow told us: ‘If I’m going to buy a saddle anyway, I’m going to buy a Centennial Saddle, because it’s a keepsake.’”

The Western Performance Horse Committee plans to use proceeds from the Centennial saddle program to reward various champions at the 2012 Stampede. Another 25 saddles, with a different design, are expected to be built and presented to the various division winners of the Stampede’s three Western Performance Horse events – the Team Cattle Penning Competition, the Cutting Horse Competition, and the Working Cow Horse Classic.

———

“Oneladyorderedoneforeach ofherchildrenasaninheritance. Acoupleofenergycompanies havealreadyboughtthem.

– karen mix, stampede’s western performance horse commitee member

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“You can have a

catastrophe happen to any horse at any time.”

– DR. KEN JOHNSON

The Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition, which celebrates its 47th anniversary in Morris this week, expects to avoid the controversy which annually dogs its larger counterpart in Calgary.

Unlike the Calgary Stampede, which regularly experiences dead and injured animals during its 10-day span, the Morris event rarely sees deaths and injuries, organizers say.

“I can’t recall the last fatality here in Morris. It’s been a number of years,” said Tim Lewis, the event’s director and past president.

Dr. Ken Johnson, head veterinarian at the Morris stampede since 1980, says the event has the “occasional injury and less-than-occasional fatality” among the 600 to 700 animals competing at the event.

Every year, Johnson is on-site all through the rodeo competition, as required by Canadian Professional Rodeo Association regulations, and also during the chuckwagon races, which isn’t mandatory.

The Morris fairgrounds also has an ambulance on hand for competitors.

But most of the time, it’s not necessary. Johnson said deaths are “exceedingly rare” in the rodeo event and “uncommon” in the chuckwagon races.

“We’re prepared for them every year and they don’t happen.”

Injuries to horses, if they do occur, are often fractures to legs, shoulders or hips. Johnson said a horse injured in this fashion usually has to be euthanized because it cannot stand.

“We can cast some fractures, we can fix some, but under most instances they are fractured beyond repair.”

Johnson rates the animal care and welfare at the Morris stampede as “good to excellent.”

The Morr is event, which runs July 22-25, ranks among

the top 15 rodeos in the country sanctioned by the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. Last year it drew over 25,000 people, pulled in gross revenues of $460,000 and had a total purse of $80,000.

The Morris show opened four days after the Calgary Stampede closed, following one of its worst records for dead and injured animals in recent years.

As of July 16, six horses had died of injuries or heart attacks. Four animals died in 2009. The record number of deaths was 12 in 1986.

Lewis called this year’s numbers very unusual.

“It’s so unusual to see that number of animals being hurt and particularly fatalities,” he said.

Calgary’s experience periodically draws calls from animal welfare groups to have rodeos banned on grounds of cruelty to animals.

Johnson said rodeos are no more cruel or dangerous than everyday life itself. He said horses on pastures can step into gopher holes, break legs and have to be euthanized.

“You can have a catastrophe happen to any horse at any time.”

But Bill McDonald, Winnipeg Humane Society CEO, called rodeos inherently inhumane.

“It’s just entertainment and animals are getting killed for entertainment.”

McDonald and other animal welfare officials are especially critical of calf roping, which they say exposes the animal to fear and stress.

“When you get a young calf bolting out of a chute into an arena with thousands of people about and being chased by a human on horseback, that is stressful and that calf is in fear,” McDonald said.

“For children to sit in a rodeo stand and watch a calf being chased down, lassoed, yanked off its feet, abruptly slammed into the ground and then its feet tied is not something we want to be teaching our young people in the way of treatment of animals.”

McDonald acknowledged roping calves on ranches is a standard management practice. But he called that “a working situation” and “totally different than doing it for entertainment.” ron@fbcpublishing.com

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