Southwestern Manitoba rodeo keeping western spirit alive

Moving from a bustling Canadian urban centre to the heart of rural southwestern Manitoba, a former Winnipeg family is embracing rural life on the prairies.

The Stewart family, Keightley, 12, Brett, Kendra and Henry, 6, moved to Virden in August 2015. They had been living in Deloraine for three years prior.

Before moving to rural Manitoba, the family had only known city life spending time in Winnipeg and Calgary. While it was a bit of adjustment, Kendra said, the family has embraced the western way of life.

Keightley was five when she first began to ride — initially as an English rider and later grabbing the western saddle horn.

It was fun but nerve-wracking riding her lesson pony Buzz for the first time, Keightley said, but with support and practice her confidence in the saddle grew. Her skills were enhanced through her local 4-H Light Horse and Pony Club.

She and her current horse Ella made their Manitoba High School Rodeo debut over the weekend at the Virden Indoor Rodeo. She competed in goat tying, pole bending and barrel racing.

"It doesn't matter what you do or where you live. There's always something you can find to do like horse riding Whether you live in a city or not." Keightley said.

The entire Stewart family has embraced prairie rodeo life. Kendra says they were driven to join the horse crew at the Virden Rodeo because of the vibrant community in the area.

Their experience shows it's possible to anyone to enter the world of rodeo, Brett added.

"Having ... the support we do of these life lifelong cowboy cowboys and horse people, you know, we have a really nice safety net of people to ask questions to and stuff like that, and people are willing to help us," he said.

Youth 'fall in love' watching rodeo

It was great to be getting youth back for the Virden Indoor Rodeo for the first time since 2019, said the event's president Thomas Hagan.

"It's a really strong horse community in Virden," Hagan said. "It seems like everybody in Virden knows somebody ... that's a horse person that rodeos or ... shows horses — they're very connected."

The Virden rodeo offers the chance to showcase rough stock events like bronc and bulls and horsemanship skills. Youth are inspired by these sights, he said, and high school rodeo numbers in the area are climbing.

Young people are getting in the ring early with their eyes set on one day competing in events like the Virden Rodeo.

"The town kids come and watch the rodeo and fall in love with it," he said.

Hagan was especially excited to see breakaway roping included in this year. During the event cowgirls rope cattle and their time stops when the rope breaks from the animal's horn.

It is an important addition to the event, he said, because it provides another opportunity for women to continue competing in rodeo sport. Breakaway roping helps women compete at the professional level in an event using the skills they have built over a lifetime.

Rodeo is evolving and it has been great to see how the sport is changing, he said, because it encourages people to get involved.

"If this rodeo makes you go out and find a horse and start riding, I think that's just fantastic," Hagan said. "It can teach you a lot of lessons."

The event brings the community together while showcasing the world of rodeo and agriculture, said Lonnie Brown, Western Rodeo chairperson.

Youth rodeos like Manitoba High School Rodeo offer young people a chance to compete at more than a dozen events over the summer and into the fall.

"It's a really great stepping stone to get people involved and, and let them, you know, work on their skills and, and get to where they can compete at, at the big rodeos," Brown said. "On top of that, you know, I think ... just with the youth being in it, it teaches them a lot of responsibility."

Many of the youth gain life skills such as horsemanship and how to care for animals, he said, setting them up to enter the Canadian Rodeo.

When it comes to growing the rodeo sports, Brown said, it comes down to education and building connections with those who are interested.

"It's one of those things that if you're interested, you know, you can reach out to a lot of different people … whether they're the right person to talk to or not, they'll get you in touch with someone else and, and find places to go and learn," Brown said. "Cowboys and cowgirls usually pretty willing to help educate and take the time to explain ... there's a lot of great lessons to be learned from it.."