It was blue skies and wild rides for a pair of Prince George competitors who performed well at the Calgary Stampede.
In the novice bareback, Decker Passey placed fourth in his first trip to the major competition in front of 18,000 rodeo diehards.
The local cowboy rose to the challenge with every mount. Passey secured a 66 score to get the rodeo started Friday, then inched up to a 67 on Saturday, finishing with a 73.5-point ride on Sunday aboard Grape Merlot, a longtime bucker from the Stampede Ranch.
The 20-year-old spoke with MyPGNow.com even though he missed out on a top-three finish, performing at that level did a lot for his confidence.
“Now that I have been to the big show, it’s just another rodeo. compared to the little ones. It is just peace of mind now that I have done the big thing you can go conquer the little things.”
“You can’t really put it into words how much pressure and butterflies that you have – you have to put it behind you when you cross open that chute and it has to be in your mind that it is just another rodeo and you have to do your best.”
Despite the impressive performance from Passey, Quaide Skjonsberg and Brody Dent found another gear.
Skjonsberg benefit from a peach of a ride on Jamaican Sand reaching a mark of 84 on Sunday, while Dent right an 82-point ride on Favourite Bubbles.
In addition, Skjonsberg claimed the aggregate by 1.5-points good enough for $5,000, while Dent took home $3,000 as the runner-up.
American Braylon Johnson was third in the aggregate. 6.5 points up on Passey. They earned $2,000 and $1,500 respectively.
Passey was quick to give praise to his competitors and believes all of them could give those in higher divisions a run for their money.
“I really wanted to win and thought I had a pretty good shot. Some of those competitors are pretty dang good and they could win an open rodeo any day those guys.”
The local product will now apply the knowledge he picked up from the Stampede and apply to his craft for future competitions.
“Your always learning something new from the older guys and they are always learning something new. There is always something to talk about in the locker room and its fun to even listen to the older guys talk and here how they talk about the horses and stuff. The maturity raises up a level when you are there compared to the amateurs in B.C.. It’s pretty cool.”
The Calgary Stampede wrapped up a pretty wicked stretch for the 20-year-old who placed in the top three in the bareback events at Rodeo Prince George at the end of June. Passey also made the trek to Bella Coola for three days – which included a BC Rodeo Association event and one a Bullarama event.
Passey claimed top spot in one day of the BCRA bull riding and also topped Bullarama.
He then finished it off with a pair of second place finishes in bareback leading to a $4,500 weekend haul.
Passey’s next competition is this Sunday in Pritchard, where he and fellow PG native Jared Marshall are entered in the bareback competition.
In addition, Zane and Diane Pickering finished first in the six-horse hitch event at the Calgary Stampede.
Zane who is a fourth-generation PG resident was elated by the result, noting that there is some pretty stiff competition out there.
“It is quite a thrill, quite a buzz monitoring the competition while concentrating on your own camp to make sure your horses are ready to go so they can turn out with the best effort they possibly can.”
“We knew that we were getting close and going up against folks that we saw last year and we were able to top the class and it was quite the thrill and effort.”
Imagine six literal tons of muscle moving in perfect synchronization. When a six-horse hitch rattles into the arena such as the Stampede, you don’t just see it—you feel it in your chest.
For the Pickering’s, it is a wall of raw power, perfectly controlled by a single driver holding a spiderweb of leather reins.
“You can have one horse do the wrong thing and lose the class and so it is all about timing and luck and picking your horses, sizing them to the right temperament and pairing them all the time.” added Pickering.
“My father and grandfather and great grandfather all logged here with horses back in the day, pre-automation to where they fell trees with axe, cross-cut saws and skidded them with horses. I used to listen to the conversations when I was a young fellow and thought about getting into it and never did until I was later on in life.”
The Calgary Stampede wraps up on Sunday.
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