Shane Franklin laughs a lot when he talks about Airwolf. But his laughter is mixed with wonder and respect for a 22-year-old, one-of-a-kind rodeo horse.
“There’s only one way you could describe that horse’s personality,” he said. “He’s a Jesse James.”
And like an outlaw, Airwolf submitted to no one throughout his entire career.
The Franklin Ranch’s prize-winning bucking horse trotted his way into history with a final lap at the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton on Nov. 12, 2006. The lap marked Airwolf’s induction into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame.
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Franklin fondly remembers his horse’s life work.
“The first time we bucked that horse, he fought in the chutes until he was sweating so hard, the water was just running off him, and he was the same way the last time we bucked him,” Franklin said.
“He just wouldn’t give up.”
When bucking horses first start out in competition, many will fight in the chutes but over time they learn to settle down, Franklin said.
Airwolf never did.
“That guy just would not put up with anything from anybody.”
He added that after three or four years of hard riding, most horses settle down and learn to be easier on themselves. But Franklin said throughout Airwolf’s career, he was in top shape and bucked as hard at the end of his career as he did in the beginning.
Airwolf was born in the spring of 1984 at the Franklin Ranch, south of Bonnyville, Alta. He was named after a 1980s television show that featured a supersonic helicopter capable of extraordinary manoeuvres.
“The first time we bucked him, that horse, when he left the chute, went straight up in the air just like that helicopter does when it takes off.”
In the beginning, Airwolf was bucked in bareback competition, winning Canadian and World Bareback Horse of the Year in 1993. Eventually, Franklin switched Airwolf to saddle bronc competition.
Not many horses can switch events and still perform at the same level, Franklin said. He compared Airwolf’s switch from bareback to saddle bronc to a hockey player who starts out playing defence and then switches to forward.
“It didn’t matter to him whether he was in the bareback riding or the saddle bronc riding.”
In 1995, Airwolf won Saddle Bronc of the Calgary Stampede. Then in 1999 he was named Saddle Bronc Horse of the National Finals Rodeo, top horse of the Calgary Stampede and Canadian Horse of the Year.
One of Airwolf’s most famous accomplishments was in Innisfail, Alta., in 1996 when Glen O’Neill – one of the few riders that hung on to Airwolf for the full eight seconds – rode for 95 points, tying Doug Vold’s 1979
saddle bronc record.
“That ride (of O’Neill’s), I was standing right there and watched that and oh my god, was that ever good,” Franklin said. “That was two heavyweight fighters going at it, and there was no winner. It was a draw.”
Airwolf’s final award came in 2003 when for a second time he took home Saddle Bronc Horse of the National Finals Rodeo.
Airwolf’s competitive nature, combined with age, were the reasons why Franklin decided to retire him.
“I was scared that horse was really going to hurt himself,” he said.
With all of Airwolf’s accomplishments, there was nothing left to prove, Franklin said. “That horse didn’t owe (the possibility of injury) to anybody, especially me or professional rodeo.”
Airwolf was retired in 2003 and lives on the Franklin Ranch.
“Most people don’t understand that a horse like that is really a freak of nature, because you may never come across another one in your lifetime.”
