Rodeo kicks off Wednesday evening at Agribition

The competition heats up Wednesday night at the Canadian Western Agribition, with the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association starting final heats on its 2019 circuit in seven rodeo events at the Brandt Centre.

Admission is free to the Maple Leaf Finals Rodeo on Wednesday night. The events continue until Saturday, when athletes are to compete in the championship heats.

Morgan Grant will be one of the cowboys looking to win big; he’ll be competing in steer wrestling and calf roping.

Now 30 years old, he has been competing since he was 17.

Speaking on 980 CJME’s Greg Morgan Morning Show, Grant said he loves rodeo as a sport despite some of its hardships, like seemingly endless hours of driving on the road from one show to the next.

“We’ve got a run called Cowboy Christmas, which is from end of June to July 20. You go driving every day — 12 hours, 18 hours (in a day) is nothing,” he said.

“You drive, show up at a rodeo, rope and then turn around and head the other direction.”

His truck more or less becomes his hotel room.

“I’ve been in Nampa, Idaho, drive all night to go to Salinas, California, draw a calf you can’t win on, and then turn around and drive to Salt Lake City, Utah for the next day,” he said.

Having been born in Granton, Ont. (north of London), Grant is in the minority of rodeo cowboys who aren’t originally from Western Canada.

He credits his love of the sport to his dad.

“(He) grew up riding horses and stuff like that,” said Grant, who now lives in Didsbury, Alta. “My dad would go to Quebec and compete in exchange rider (horse racing) and barrel racing.”

Grant’s first shot at rodeo events was junior barrel racing.

“It’s kind of a girls event, so all of the boys used to make fun of me because I didn’t steer ride,” Grant said. “And that got me into roping, and now I’m here.”

Both calf roping and steer wrestling can still be dangerous for injuries, he said.

“I’ve had my shoulder rebuilt,” he said. “I’ve got 13 anchors in my shoulder. I had a steer cut in front of my horse, and my horse went down and I went down with him.”

Along with more than $100,000 in cash prizes, Grant and the other rodeo athletes are competing for a spot at the National Finals in Florida in April.

More information about Agribition’s rodeo events can be found here.