Curtis Cassidy Tops Ropers at Inaugural Medicine Lodge Event

RELEASE BY PRO RODEO CANADA

It\’s been a bit lonely for Curtis Cassidy on the pro rodeo trail. The Donalda, AB, cowboy has been without his sidekick for much of the summer and it\’s showed.

\”He (2010 Canadian tie-down roping horse of the year, Stick) has been having breathing problems,\” relayed Cassidy, who was 24th in the Pro Rodeo Canada tie-down roping standings heading into last weekend. \”I haven\’t been on him much this summer at all. From about Calgary (Stampede) until Jasper, I was getting mounted on anything I could find.

\”His throat has collapsed on one side and the other side is only partially open. We don\’t know how it happened and we\’ve been trying everything under the sun but nothing really helps. He can\’t run calves very far because he gets short of breath.\”

Cassidy won his biggest roping cheque since July 1 this past weekend at the inaugural Medicine Lodge Fall Roundup in Medicine Lodge, AB, for a rodeo-winning 9.0-second run.

\’The calves were good, at least for me. I like them big,\” offered the 36 year-old. \”When they\’re bigger like that, it\’s not easy to flank them. So I focused on having a good, strong flank and it worked.\”

The $1,013 cheque will prove vitally important to his chances at qualifying for the Canadian Finals Rodeo in the roping. It should be enough to get the 29-time CFR qualifier to the Pro Rodeo Canada Series Finals at the Agrium Western Event Centre in Calgary on October 2-3, where the top ten in each event from the Series standings will compete.

\”I\’ve dug myself such a big hole,\” concluded Cassidy, who has won just $2,800 since the beginning of July in the roping. \”I need to keep winning as much as possible the rest of the way and then do good at those finals. The bulldogging\’s been good all summer but if it wasn\’t for the Pro Series finals (in Calgary), I wouldn\’t have a snowball\’s chance in (heck) of getting to Edmonton in the roping.\”

The win moves the reigning and eight-time Canadian Hi-Point champion into 9th in the Pro Rodeo Canada Series standings and bumps him up a spot in the overall standings.

Bareback rider, Kevin Langevin solidified his CFR qualification by winning in Medicine Lodge with an 83-point ride on C5 Rodeo\’s White Water. The $737 cheque boosts the Rich Lake, AB, cowboy\’s earnings to $12,538, good enough to leave him in the 12th and final CFR spot, almost two thousand dollars ahead of the injured Michael Solberg.

Other Medicine Lodge winners included saddle bronc rider, Jake Watson ($970, 82-points on John Duffy\’s Rip N Zip); steer wrestler, Cody Cassidy ($1,181, 3.9-seconds); team ropers, Travis Booth/Clint Weston ($728 each, 5.1-seconds); bullrider, Fabian Dueck ($698, 82.5-points on Duffy Rodeo\’s No Seeum) and barrel racer, Kirsty White ($591, 13.822 seconds).

Next up on the Pro Rodeo Canada schedule is the Oldstoberfest Pro Rodeo in Olds, AB (Sept. 18-19).