By Charles Lefebvre

Children learn basics of calf roping during clinic

Jul 9, 2018 | 5:37 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Children from Medicine Hat and the surrounding area got a crash course in a popular rodeo event Monday afternoon

The Short Grass Rodeo Club hosted its annual tie down roping clinic on Monday, bringing more than 30 children to the park to learn about the sport.

“It’s a pretty young bunch of kids, and we’re all doing the ground work, teaching them the basics of calf-roping,” said Joe Lucas, a long-time rodeo competitor who was running the clinic. “A lot of them, they’re very much beginners, and you have to show them how to even coil a rope and make a proper loop.”

Lucas, a former Canadian champion who won at the Calgary Stampede in 1987, has been teaching a clinic in Medicine Hat for the last 12 years.

He says he loves showing his skills to the children, and seeing the ones who return each year get a little better each time.

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“I can see it kind of lights a fire in some of them,” he said. “I’ve been doing it enough years, I’ll end up seeing some of them at the pro rodeos.”

The clinic runs again on Tuesday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.