Over 500 horses, including some of the best bucking breeds in the world, call a huge swath of land near Hanna, Alta. home.
FULL COVERAGE: Calgary Stampede 2018
The Stampede Ranch was created in 1961, with the animals’ genetic lines going back to days when Alberta’s west was truly wild.
“Way back when big ranches used to have a lot of horses and there was always them saddle horses that would throw cowboys off,” ranch manager Tyler Kraft said. “That’s kind of how rodeo roots started.”
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Stallions, brood mares, even 10-day-old colts roam across the 22,000-acre ranch in a natural herd environment.
“They’re in their own territory,” livestock coordinator Ken Rehill said. “They’re just like family members out there – quiet – just raisin’ their young.”
Rehill is known around the ranch as “Goose” – a nickname he says he’s had since junior high.
For almost three decades, he has been tasked with rounding up the ranch’s top-tier athletes and travelling with them around North America’s premier rodeo circuit.
Only about 40 of them will be chosen to compete in this year’s Stampede rodeo.
“They’re all running, and playing, and kicking, and you’d like to think they’re going to be superstars one day. And a lot of them are!”
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