Medicine Hat Stampede Rodeo staff attending to a collapsed horse during the steer wrestling competition on Thursday night (Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin)

By Scott Roblin

Medicine Hat Rodeo

Concern for collapsed horse underlines Stampede Rodeo’s return

Jul 29, 2021 | 11:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A monumental return for the Medicine Hat Stampede Rodeo on Thursday night had its fair share of exhilarating and frightening moments.

Amid the excitement of the first rodeo action in the city in two years, a concerned crowd watched on as a horse suffered a medical incident during the steer wrestling competition.

The horse, which was not involved in the event itself and was standing nearby, collapsed and suffered convulsions while the crowd watched on between heats.

Medical attention was immediately given to the horse and its status is still not known as of Thursday night.

“Right now we just know the animal is off-site and in veterinary care,” said Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede general manager Kara Brake. “We’re hoping to have a little bit more information in the next couple of days.”

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There is no word yet on what caused the medical incident for the animal, though Brake added its a rare occurrence with it being several years since something like this last happened.

“It’s a rare situation, it’s unfortunate when medical events like this do happen,” said Brake.

The Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede is expected to issue an update on the horse’s condition on Friday.

On the competition side, a gamble from Calgary’s Nick Tetz ended up paying off on the final ride of the night in bull riding.

Tetz was the lone competitor to go the whole eight seconds on his first ride, but was only able to post a score of 70.

He then decided to accept a re-ride, which occurred only about five minutes later.

“I didn’t really have a whole lot of time to think about it,” said Tetz. “I just handed my rope to my buddy Tanner and said, ‘Can you set this for me?’ I gave it to him, I went back to grab a quick drink of water and then we got ready to go again.”

That decision was a smart one for the 21-year-old, as he wowed the crowd in attendance with an 84.5 ride to claim top spot on the night.

“Right now we’re trying to win a title and you’re not going to win titles by being in the seventies,” said Tetz. “So, you got to make sure you take advantage of when you get the chance to get on a better bull.”

In saddle bronc, top Canadian Zeke Thurston came through on the first night of the Medicine Hat Stampede with a first place score of 81 points.

Bareback went to Carbon’s Cole Goodine with an 82.5 on his first ride, while Tanner Turcato’s 4.7 second slack performance earlier in the day in steer wrestling continues to sit in top spot.

“Right now we’re trying to win a title and you’re not going to win titles by being in the seventies,” said Tetz. “So, you got to make sure you take advantage of when you get the chance to get on a better bull.”

Quesnel, BC’s Mariah Mannering is the woman to beat in barrel racing with a blazing time of 17.208 seconds.

Competing in his own backyard, Scandia’s Alwin Bouchard finished with an evening’s best time of 8.7 in tie-down roping, while Tage and Kagen Schmidt are first in team roping at 5.7 seconds.

The second night of the Medicine Hat Stampede Rodeo goes at 8:00 pm on Friday.