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 Wearing his father's chaps, the first Inuvialuit cowboy, Billy Turner, blasts out of the chute aboard Fancy Dancer during the Calgary Stampede. Turner has competed in 12 rodeos so far this season and has plans for eight more. - photo courtesy of Al Charest/Calgary Sun |
Billy Turner is the son of the Kathy Thrasher and retired cowboy Don Turner. Don was an oil field worker and rodeo rider and often took the family along on the circuit.
At a rodeo in Smokey Lake, Alta., the family witnessed a young rider thrown and stomped, who later died from his injuries. Don wanted to get Billy started by riding steers, but after that incident, the boy's mother thought differently.
"Kathy was dead set against him ever riding," Don said.
During his teen years, Billy's passion was for music, so rodeo was never a consideration.
"Billy was going to be a rock star," Don recalls. "He wanted absolutely nothing to do with horses and livestock."
Three years ago, a family friend who raises animals was holding a bucking session -- where anyone can have a go on the back of a bronco. Billy asked if he could give it a try and was shown to the chute at the next buck session.
"He got on six -- one right after the other," Don said with a laugh. "Most guys will do two and they don't want no more."
Billy was intrigued by the sport and was hooked from the very first ride.
"I've always thought it was one of the most challenging sports there is," Billy said.
"It's a brave and courageous thing to do and only certain people can ride a bucking horse."
He's been competing on the circuit in smaller rodeos, but this year he got a chance to ride in the Calgary Stampede in the novice category.
"It was quite amazing to see that many people in one place," he said. "You look at the grandstand and it's just a blur of colour."
For protection, the riders wear a padded vest, a tail pad and some will wear a neck brace.
Last spring Billy was in the chute aboard an inexperienced horse. The animal got spooked and threw Billy back into the chute, shattering his right arm.
"I had to get a metal plate and a couple of screws put in," he said.
Like any good cowboy knows, when you fall off a horse, Billy got right back on. While last year's break didn't phase him much, this year he's hanging on with his left arm.
Last September he was thrown again and had his head kicked by the horse, but that, the broken arm and the memories of that young man in Smokey Lake are things he doesn't think about.
"I just block that out of my head nowadays."
Just staying aboard a 1,200 pound bucking horse for eight seconds is a tough task, but the rider is also scored for style. The rider must maintain a forward posture on the animal, while "spurring" with the legs.
"You have to pry with your forearm and really stick your chest out," Billy said.
While in the chute, he clears his head of any distractions outside making it to the whistle.
"I just mainly think about trying to make it to the pick-up men -- it's just a matter of what the horse does," he said. "You have to keep up with his ability and hopefully I can."
When he first started riding he said the eight seconds sometimes seemed to go past very quickly, but now with experience, he says he takes time to concentrate on the ride.
"When I first started getting on, it was almost like a time warp, where everything was a blur and it happened so fast and I had to really keep up to the horse," he said. "But now it's slower ... the horse enters the arena and you can hear stuff in the background, but your not thinking about that."
To date, Billy's rode about 70 broncs, but his dad said he's riding as good as cowboys who've been on 200.
This weekend he'll ride in an all-aboriginal rodeo just outside Calgary at Bragg Creek.
"I'm sure word will get around that I'm Inuit," he said.
Once the summer circuit is behind him, Billy will be studying political science this fall at Red Deer College.
