DOROTHY, Alta. — Just like great racehorses, great bucking horses don’t just happen.
Raymond Goodman, manager of the Calgary Stampede ranch, said it took six generations of careful selection and breeding to get the bucking star Grated Coconut.
“He is the greatest bucking horse that ever lived,” Goodman said during a tour of the ranch east of Drumheller.
The six-time world bareback champion horse also passes on the same traits to his offspring.
“He is a rare gem for a number of reasons: his athleticism, his competitive nature, his domesticated and calm demeanor outside of the arena and the remarkable way that his genetics produce very consistent offspring replicas of him in both appearance and desirable traits,” said Bonni Clark of the Stampede’s communications department.
Read Also
Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding
$5.2 million of provincial funding pumped into crop diversity research centres
Grated Coconut didn’t just happen.
In 1961, the Calgary Stampede ranch initiated its Born to Buck program with a goal to breed bucking horses for the Stampede. Through the program, it became a premier rodeo stock contractor.
“It’s taken 40 or 50 years to make him,” said Goodman. “Our goal is to have every horse like him.”
Dr. Greg Evans, a veterinarian with Moore Equine, said it’s not as simple as breeding a good bucking mare with a bucking stallion.
“Breeding for certain traits is not an exact science,” he said.
Goodman said they are looking for horses that buck in the arena and are quiet in the corrals.
“We try to get the wild out of them and put the buck into them,” said Goodman.
There are 600 horses at the 23,000-acre Calgary Stampede ranch in Alberta’s Special Areas. The horses are a combination of young foals, retired horses and active bucking horses.
Fifty mares foaled at the ranch this year. Twelve of the colts came from an embryo program and flush.
“We’re getting super star horses,” said Goodman.
The foals stay with their mothers until the fall, when they are brought into the corrals, branded, halter broken and weaned. The foals are then turned back out in the pasture with retired babysitting horses. In the spring, the horses are vaccinated and their feet trimmed.
Some of the young horses go to a leased pasture at Turner Valley, Alta., where they become familiar riding in a truck. Everything is designed to get the horses used to being handled.
“If they’re scared being in the truck, they are not going to perform.”
It’s the same routine until the horses are four, when they begin to work.
A bucking dummy, a type of remote controlled metal box, is placed on their back.
After eight seconds the remote control is triggered and the dummy falls off and the horse is rewarded for bucking. A real rider is added and then soon after that the pick-up men.
“They learn the best place to be is near the pick-up men.”
Horses have a dominant side, and it’s up to Goodman and his staff to figure out how the horse likes to buck and if it will make a better saddle bronc or bareback bucking horse.
“Each and every horse is an individual, and you have to know how they buck.”
