The image of a battered and unconscious rodeo cowboy hung up on a madly bucking bronc spurred Don Tuchscherer’s imagination.
“He was knocked out and he was like a rag doll,” recalled Tuchscherer, who saw the scene on TV three years ago.
“He was hitting the posts and everything else. He went around the arena three times.”
Instead of just wincing at the cowboy’s brush with death, Tuchscherer started pondering ways to free someone snagged by the saddle gear of an ornery bronc or muscular bull.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers commit to enhancing competitiveness
Canadian ag ministers said they want to ensure farmers, ranchers and processors are competitive through ongoing regulatory reform and business risk management programs that work.
He and his wife Idella figured there must be a way to design a quick release mechanism for saddles.
So they started working on the project, even though neither have any rodeo experience and make their living farming eight quarters of grain southeast of Botha, Alta.
Idella’s brother-in-law Stan Ettinger and his wife Betty were also recruited to help out.
Handy with tools, Stan helped turn the Tuchscherers’ ideas into a prototype. The design is simple. About the size of a cigarette pack, the gizmo, which hasn’t been named yet, attaches to the cinch at one side and the saddle at the other.
By pushing a button on a black radio control box, the strap is released, similar to a seat-belt release mechanism. That will allow the saddle to slide off the horse or bull, freeing the cowboy whose arms or legs are snagged in his gear.
Since it’s radio-controlled, the responsibility of triggering the release could be left with rodeo judges who have the best vantage point.
Tuchscherer admits he was surprised no one had come up with the idea before. But while it sounds simple, it took a lot of work to come up with a workable device.
“Getting it small enough was the biggest (challenge),” he said. “We knew it can’t be very big.”
The locking mechanism also had to be strong enough to take the tension of a tightly rigged rodeo saddle without snapping open.
The couple and the Ettingers have been issued U.S. patent 5,949,339 for their “method of reducing injuries to riders and a riding cinch.” The Canadian patent is pending.
