Rodeo season is off to a great start! Entries are strong; we’re seeing excited fans and some great performances. Congratulations to event winners and rodeo committees for making the start of our 2023 season so successful.
While most events to date have been Maple Leaf Circuit Series rodeos, we’ve moved into our SMS Equipment Pro Tour with the Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement Rodeo May 27-28 and the Grande Prairie Stompede June 1-4. We’re excited to welcome back SMS Equipment as our Pro Tour sponsor. Thank you for your support! With sixteen Tour rodeos on our schedule, we’re looking forward to seeing athletes from across North America competing at these and other events.
Exciting too is the news that The Cowboy Channel is our new live-stream partner. Rural Media Group has entered into an agreement with FloSports to purchase and obtain the media rights license for the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association.
The Cowboy Channel will be the new home of the Canadian Finals Rodeo, the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals, the SMS Equipment Pro Tour Finals and several other stops along the SMS Equipment Pro Tour. Numerous Canadian pro rodeos will be part of The Cowboy Channel’s “100 Rodeos in 100 Days” schedule, which begins in June with Reno Rodeo and ends in September with the Pendleton Roundup. Thank you to FloRodeo, a group we’ve enjoyed working with for several years. We appreciate all you contributed to the CPRA. 2023 should be outstanding. Follow all the action on our website www.rodeocanada.com, and our social media channels:
Facebook and Instagram: @prorodeocanadaofficial l Twitter: @prorodeocanada
Safe travels, everyone; see you at a CPRA event soon!
Terry Cooke, President, Canadian Professional Rodeo Association
PRESENTED BY PEAVEY MART
JUNE
Grande Prairie, AB
Leduc, AB
June 1-4
June 1-3
Hand Hills, AB June 2-4
Brooks, AB June 9-10
Lea Park, AB June 9-11
Rocky Mountain House, AB ................. June 9-11
Bonnyville, AB June 10-11
Gleichen, AB *(SB) June 14
Stavely, AB June 15-17
Innisfail, AB ......................................... June 16-18
Wildwood, AB *(SB) June 17
Wainwright, AB June 23-25
Sundre, AB June 23-25
High River, AB June 23-24
Bassano, AB — NEW June 24-25
Ponoka, AB June 26-July 2
Williams Lake, BC June 30-July 2
Raymond, AB June 29-July 1
Airdrie, AB June 30-July 1
JULY
Benalto, AB
July 7-9
Teepee Creek, AB ............... July 14-16
Bowden, AB July 14-15
Morris, MB July 21-23
Kennedy, SK July 21-23
Medicine Hat, AB ............... July 27-29
Rockyford, AB July 28-30
Pollockville, AB *(SB) July 29
Bruce, AB July 30
AUGUST
High Prairie, AB Aug 1-2
SMS Equipment Pro Tour Rodeo * SB=Saddle Bronc
FloRodeo Network broadcasts Canadian Finals Rodeo, Maple Leaf Circuit Finals and SMS Equipment Pro Rodeo Tour rodeos.
Visit RodeoCanada.com for updates.
2022 Canadian LBR Champion Taylor Manning making a winning run at Broncs & Honky Tonks in Medicine Hat, Alta.
The Canadian Professional Rodeo season is well underway, with several contestants enjoying early season success.
Pascal Isabelle describes his bareback riding career as a ‘work in progress.’
If 2023’s first Canadian spring rodeo stop, the Broncs and Honky Tonks event in Medicine Hat, Alta., is any indication, things are progressing nicely indeed for the Quebec-born cowboy. Isabelle posted a stylish 84-point ride on Duane Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Fabio for a firstplace cheque of $1499.30
The likeable three-time CFR qualifier came from a non-rodeo background. “My dad was a carpenter, so I grew up in the construction business. My older brother, Eric, took me to some amateur rodeos out in Quebec, and I fell in love with the sport.”
One of the 29-year-old’s earliest pro rodeo memories is a trip out to the Williams Lake Stampede (B.C.) with veterans Denny Phipps and Michael Solberg and working on his English during that trip. One wonders what pearls of wisdom Messrs. Solberg and Phipps shared with the fresh-faced rookie during those many miles!
“I’m feeling pretty confident about this year,” Isabelle, who had a solid winter at the U.S. rodeos, added. “I have high goals for myself. I want to be a Canadian champion. My travelling partner, Ty Taypotat, won it last year, so I know that feeling, and I want it for myself.”
And the 2022 Canadian Barrel Racing Champion, Taylor Manning, is wasting no time in defending her title. The 19-year-old Alberta cowgirl partnered with her gelding Little Sexcee Cowboy (aka Archie) for a 12.55 second run, the Medicine Hat win and $2575.60.
Tanner Milan is on a heater, no doubt about it.
Two-time Canadian Steer Wrestling Champion, Tanner Milan, is four for four to kick off the 2023 Canadian rodeo season after a weekend win at the Dawson Creek Spring Breakup with a 4.4-second run that netted $2243 for the Milan bank account.
The B.C. victory comes on the heels of winning the final two performances of the
Maple Leaf Circuit Finals last fall in Regina, then chalking up top spot at the Medicine Hat Broncs & Honky Tonks event. The 16-time CFR qualifier now sits first overall in the Canadian standings with over $8000 won in the still young season. His times over that four-win span are 3.6. 3.7, 4.1 and 4.4 — that spells consistency, a quality that has been a hallmark of the brilliant Milan career.
“I don’t remember ever having a start to the season like this, that’s for sure,” Milan acknowledged.
April was a busy time for the affable Canadian as he and partner, Chelsea Moore, welcomed their second son into the world, Kesler, baby brother to Standon Milan.
And while he wasn’t riding the horse this weekend, he was quick to attribute a major portion of his success over the last couple of years to Eddie, the gelding he acquired in 2020 from Canadian bulldogging legend, Lee Laskosky.
“They’d been team roping and barrel racing on him, and he’d only run about 10 or 15 steers but after the first steer I ran on him I knew he was special, and I knew I had to own him.”
Turns out Milan was right. From the 2022 Canadian Finals to this weekend, cowboys have won over $200,000 on Eddie
Meanwhile, the brothers Schmidt, Tate and Kagen also kept their winning streak going. Following up on their record-setting (3.3-second) final run at the Maple Leaf Finals, the Barrhead team ropers were 3.8-seconds last week and 3.7-seconds in Dawson Creek this week ($1750 each), making a trio of runs that borders on the unbelievable.
And Camrose, Alberta bull rider Coy Robbins appears to be unstoppable, as he padded his lead at the top of the Canadian standings courtesy of an 87.5-point winning effort on the Calgary Stampede bull, 797 Night Walker, for $1958.
Fort St. John bullrider/bull dogger, Jake Gardner, captured a couple of titles to keep his early season effort going. The 2022 winner of the Kenny McLean Award (formerly the All-Around Award) split top honours in bull riding at the Kananaskis Pro Rodeo in Coleman, Alta, with an 86-point ride on Duane Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Fallen Angel, joining Paraguay-born Fabian
2022 Kenny McLean Award-winner Jake Gardner on Legends Rodeo's 955 Tabletop He rode for 84 points and the win at Taber Spring Classic Rodeo.Dueck in the winner’s circle. Gardner then added an outright win at Taber, mastering Legend Rodeo’s Tabletop for 84 points and $1371. Factor in a sixth-place $541 cheque in the steer wrestling at Taber, and you have a solid $3000 plus weekend on this side of the border that has Gardner in second place in the bull riding standings.
“I had a couple of good draws this weekend and I knew if I capitalized it could turn out pretty good for me,” Gardner noted. “I was dialled in and got the job done. The Legend Rodeo bull, Tabletop, is up and coming with lots of potential and Keslers’ Fallen Angel over in Coleman, I’ve been on him three times and rode him twice. I guess the weekend went pretty well as I hoped and anticipated it might.”
But the 26-year-old, three-time CFR qualifier wasn’t done. He headed off to the famed George Paul Memorial Bull Riding in Del Rio, Texas and rode both his bulls there,
including an 87-point effort in the short round to finish third overall for a $7276 payday and a $10,000 plus total injection to his PRCA bank account. Seven-time World Champion and 2019 CFR qualifier Sage Kimzey was the George Paul champion.
“Rodeo is definitely my main priority and the NFR my main goal,” Gardner stated. “And I want to be a Canadian champion bull rider eventually. I’d really like to be at the CFR in both my events, that would be cool.”
As for the Kenny McLean Award (the former All Around Award) Gardiner is justifiably proud of the accomplishment. “Kenny is a legend and a BC guy so it’s pretty sweet that I got to win the first one.”
Sherwood Park bareback rider Kody Lamb was also a double winner this weekend, chalking up victories at Taber with an 85.5-point ride aboard Legend Rodeo’s Flashy Secret for $1218 and adding a 1-2 split (with Clint Laye) at Coleman courtesy of an
86.5 mark on Duane Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Up North Outlaw for an additional $1113.
The twin wins solidified the cowboy/ singer/songwriter’s hold on a top-five spot in the early season Canadian standings.
Barrel racer, Taylor Manning, added another win to her 2023 portfolio with a 12.61-second run for the Kananaskis win and $2013 to move the 2022 titleist to second place in the Canadian standings.
And a couple of newcomers to the professional ranks displayed their prowess as well. Bull rider William Barrows, the pride of Foremost Alta, was second at Taber and third at Coleman for a tidy $1932 weekend haul, while Saskatchewan teenager Kate Beierbach cruised to a 12.85-second barrel racing run and her first pro rodeo cheque, $1102 for her 4/5 spilt at Coleman.
Check out rodeocanada.com for further updates. c
Disposition - Conformation
Versatility - Athletic Ability
Offspring That Satisfy for the Arena, Pleasure, Show, Ranch and 4H
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
PREVIEW 9AM • SALE STARTS 1PM
REFERENCE SIRES ARE:
SKIPSACE OF DIAMONDS
NORTHWIND SKIPSKANE
SKIP ON BADLANDS SIX
—Auctioneer—
Coy Robbins had his career all mapped out. It was all going to plan. He had won the Pro Rodeo Canada Steer Riding Championship, the Lakeland Rodeo Ass’n Steer Riding and Junior Bull Riding titles in back-to-back years and was the 2017 PBR Canada Rookie of the Year.
But then his career path turned down a dark and dangerous road.
“My first major injury was in February of 2018 when I dislocated and broke my shoulder,” begins the 23-year-old Camrose, Alta, area bull rider. “There were some complications, and I had emergency surgery the next day.”
“In that surgery, they severed a nerve, and then I had to go back for another surgery. I ended up being out for over a year. I probably could have skipped the nerve surgery, but my shoulder wouldn’t be what it is now. I remember (2008 Canadian Champion) Tyler Thomson telling me it’s better to take a year off the beginning of your career than five years off the end of it.”
The road to recovery was not an easy one for Robbins.
“Before the injury, I was always a guy who wouldn’t quit until my head hit the ground,” offers Robbins. “But I struggled quite a bit when I came back. Mentally, I wasn’t able to trust myself with being OK to put everything on the line.”
Robbins was afforded a glimpse of a potential return to form at the 2019 Ponoka Stampede when he won the long round with a sparkling 89.5-point ride. Unfortunately, his return was cut short.
“Later that year in September at a PBR in Magrath, I broke my arm,” recalls Robbins, who was named to Team Canada for the 2017 PBR Global Cup. “I ended up having to get two surgeries that time as well.”
“I was out about eleven months with that, and then COVID hit. There wasn’t much to go to, and I think I got complacent at home. So, the 2021 season was a bit of a struggle again.”
In 2022, a healthy and confident Robbins flipped the script.
“I’ve always known I can compete with the best,” says Robbins, who now owns a feed and forage business and produces a PBR Canada event in Camrose each spring. “The way I finished the year gave me the confidence and reassurance that I can be in the conversation when it comes to Canadian titles.”
Robbins finished the 2022 campaign by winning the Canadian Finals Rodeo bull riding aggregate title while missing out on the championship by a mere $1,300. He then finished as runner-up to the PBR Canada title and won the CPRA’s Maple Leaf Circuit Finals to end the year.
“I felt better than ever,” offers Robbins, who followed up last year’s success by winning the most money in the 2023 PBR Canada season by mid-April. “I think the 16-year-old, hungry Coy would have been proud of the season I had, knowing that that’s what I was capable of.” c
"The years have been good to me. It’s the weekends that have done the damage.”