Horse event makes strong Meadow Lake debut

Bucking horses are born and bred, and there’s a special competition for them to be judged and sold at a younger age. This past weekend, the first ever futurity event was hosted in Meadow Lake with 40 horses taking part.

Futurity is a fairly new practice where younger horses are trained to participate in rodeo events. They do not have cowboys or cowgirls riding on their backs at the two and three year old stage. Once they get older, the horses can be tailored to participate in bareback and saddlebronc.

Austin Siklenka helped arrange the inaugural North Country Futurity event in the city on June 30. It is part of the World Futurity Association circuit, which is a North American-wide organization.

“Without this type of event, there’s no way to advertise them at a young age,” Siklenka said. “You don’t usually see them in action until they’re four or five [years old] even six, and they don’t always pan out. Now with futurity, you can see if the horse will work in your program or not.”

He said it’s a positive practice for both breeders and rodeo athletes and investors.

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“Lots of horses can buck like that, but lots of them don’t know it,” Siklenka said. “Not every horse will be able to, though, it’s kind of like how anyone can run but not everyone can do well in a hundred meter dash.”

This year’s first event was only for the two and three year olds, and Siklenka said he was happy with the local interest in spectators and participants.

 “I hope next year adding a four [or] five year old class will bring more people to come watch,” he said. “Fifty or 60 years ago, people used to run wild horses in rodeo if they were big enough. Now, they go back generations to breed the proper bloodlines. Rodeo is becoming more than anyone ever thought it would be. These animals mean a lot to us.”

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath