Cyril Ross doesn’t compare to the other riders in Canada’s Select Ranch Horse Competition and Sale.
At age 85, he is far and away the oldest and most experienced horseman to ride into the arena during one of Canadian Western Agribition’s most popular events.
He was in the same arena a few years ago team penning with his son and grandson and he was still team penning this past summer.
“Time drags unless I’m doing something,” he said in an interview.
But where others his age might choose a more sedate hobby, he continues to work with horses as often as he can.
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“I just love a good horse,” he said.
Ross isn’t worried about falling off or getting hurt, likely because he’s been riding all his life. When he was a young boy his job on the family ranch near Estevan, Sask., was to herd cows.
He said these days he lets someone else “take the rough edges off” a horse and then he begins working with it.
Ross said the Agribition event is special because the contestants are selected at several smaller events beforehand to ensure the highest quality horses are on offer in late November.
The competition focuses on the horses’ natural abilities. Each rider has a maximum of nine minutes to complete the prescribed pattern of left and right circles at slow and fast speeds and in smaller and larger circles.
The horse and rider then work a yearling, turning it at least once each way on a fence, then track and rope it, bringing the animal to a stop before leading it out of the arena.
The rider then ties on to a log in a roping box, drags it to the centre of the arena, circles, and returns to the starting point. The horse must back up and drag the log back into the roping box.
Finally, the rider opens and closes the gate, loads and unloads his horse in a stock trailer and returns to the centre of the arena to wait for the score.
“The main thing is to have a horse that’s sound and good and show you’re not trying to put one over on the public,” Ross said.
He could be back at Agribition in future. He’s working with a two-year-old horse right now.
Lady’s Last Playboy, an eight-year-old sorrel gelding owned by Jeff Schwitzer of Yorkton, Sask., and ridden by Dale Clearwater of Hanley, Sask., won this year’s competition. The gelding earned 623 points and won $5,000.
Clearwater’s own horse, Primo Reward, a four-year-old sorrel gelding, placed second with 619 points.
The third and fourth place horses were both bay mares from Ponoka, Alta. Casey Crandall owned and rode CJC Classic Chic, a five-year-old, to a score of 604 for third. He also rode Jesse Crandall’s six-year-old to 594 points.
In the sale, the first and second place horses each sold for $10,000. Lady’s Last Playboy went to Donna Weekes in Biggar, Sask., while Primo Reward went to Lee Poncelet of Lavington, B.C.
A total of 18 horses sold for $113,150; the average was $6,286.11.
Eleven selected prospect horses also sold for an average of $4,522.73. The top seller was Jae Peppy Buck, a buckskin gelding consigned by Leonard and Darlene Fisk of Oak Lake, Man. He went to Gerry Moyen of Zehner, Sask.
Meanwhile, in Canada’s Greatest Cowhorse Competition, Clint Christianson of Bracken, Sask., was the rider to beat. He rode the first and second place finishers, MTR Anuthagenuinenic, owned by Don Hudson of Edmonton, and Pepinics Paradise, owned by Harold McLeod of Brookdale, Man.
MTR Anuthagenuinenic won the cutting and steer stopping events, Pepinics Paradise won fencework, and Smokums Miss Parette, owned by Ron Mathison of Calgary and ridden by Vance Kaglea of High River, Alta., won the reining event.
