TRAILBLAZERS
PEOPLE WHO SHAPED THE WEST
Jerry Ambler Rodeo Legend Set the Standard By CAT NANTEL
R
///
Born in 1911 in Minburn, Alta., Ambler’s father raised horses and supplied rodeo bucking stock. By nine years old, Ambler was already training horses. For a school assignment, the children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up and Ambler wrote that he would someday like to be a “professional bucking horse rider like the great Pete Knight.” Against his father’s orders, he entered the Birch Lake Rodeo in 1927 and according to the November 1948 issue of Hoofs and Horns, won the saddle bronc day money against experienced cowboys. His father had supplied the stock for the show and Ambler drew a horse that had bucked him off three times before. That win set the stage for Ambler’s life. Ambler’s career took place during an important period in rodeo; a time when rules and regulations began to take root and it became possible for cowboys to make rodeo a career and not just a sideline. Joel Bernstein, author of Wild Ride: The History and Lore of the Rodeo writes: “After the war, rodeo grew at an unbroken pace (…) Towns that had not had rodeos before the war were trying to become part of the growing tradition. Purses were increasing, making it even more attractive for young cowboys and cowgirls to make rodeo more than a hobby (…) Rodeo had spread its wings so that Canada and Australia were also part of what was becoming one of the most exciting and fastestgrowing sports around.”
20
A slightly-built man, Jerry rode with a style that was pure balance. By 1932, Ambler had journeyed to New York where he won day money at Madison Square Gardens and second at Boston Gardens. By the time he had won the Calgary Stampede Canadian Champion Saddle Bronc title in 1937, cowboys were trying to introduce some structure into the sport. The 1936 strike during which contestants walked out of the Boston Garden Rodeo positioned them to create the Cowboys Turtle Association (CTA) in 1939. The group, of which Ambler was a card-carrying member #286, sought to improve cowboy earnings and equality in judging. In 1945, the CTA changed their name to the Rodeo Cowboys Association, then in 1975 to Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association.
Canadian Cowboy Country February/March 2018
PHOTO COURTESY NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME/DEVERE HELFRICH
odeo cowboy Jerry Ambler is the man credited with revolutionizing saddle bronc riding, taking the competition from a showdown of brute strength to a display of balance and grace.
