Get Smart Steals the Show

For the second year in a row, Harvey Northcott’s Get Smart stole the show in the saddle bronc riding event at the Strathmore Heritage Days Stampede.

In 2009, Sam Kelts of Millarville, Alta. recorded a stunning 90-point ride on the 1,100 lb bay gelding. During the most recent installment of the five-day tour rodeo in Strathmore, Alta., it was Nebraska’s Cort Scheer who matched wits with the steed.

When Scheer discovered which horse he’d drawn, he confessed, “I was dang sure the most nervous I’ve been all year, that’s for sure. I saw that horse at Ponoka and he’s one of the buckiest horses I’ve seen.”

When it came time to ride, Scheer channeled that nervous energy into excitement, “because you don’t have that chance that often. It’s just one of them deals where you just gotta get on and have fun.”

According the Scheer, Get Smart “just turned out and was honest as he could be. He was bucking five feet in the air.

“When the buzzer rang, I was sure happy about that,” the young bronc rider laughed.

Even happier with the 89.5 he was awarded, and the $5,595 that accompanied it.

Scheer has only been to five Canadian Professional Rodeo Association sanctioned events this season, including Strathmore, but is already putting pressure on the top 10 in the Canadian saddle bronc standings. Currently third in the World, the 23-year-old admitted he’ll soon be a more common face at Canadian rodeos.

“Yup, unless they don’t let me come back; I’m coming back forever,” he exclaimed.

“We didn’t really know where to enter and stuff and now we’re wishing we would have started earlier,” he said, noting this is his first season traveling north of the border. “We love the Canadian rodeos.”

On the flip side, Strathmore’s own Mark Johansen took time off rodeing in the States to make an appearance at his hometown event, where he split for first in the bull riding on the back of a beast by the name of Kin Deadly from the Vold Rodeo herd.

“He was really good, lots of timing. He just rode like a Cadillac.”

Since the rodeo was a co-sanctioned event, the $4,326 he picked up for his 84.75-point ride counts towards his PRCA earnings, and carries him a little closer to his 2010 goal.

“The main goal is to get my dollars up there so I can get into Houston and all those big rodeos in the spring.”

Also at Strathmore, the Calgary Stampede Novice Tour came to a conclusion. The Tour was created to assist up and coming contestants as they pursue a career in rodeo. Calgary Stampede covered entry fees and added money to purses at six rodeos during June and July. Cadogan, Alta.’s Bryce West claimed the steer riding title, Wyatt Thurston of Big Valley, Alta. won the novice saddle bronc riding title and Gavin DeRose of Kamloops, B.C. won the novice bareback. The new champions were each awarded a bronze by Crystal Mossing-Mascaro and a buckle by Becker Buckles.

Visit RodeoCanada.com for detailed results from the Strathmore Heritage Day Pro Rodeo, as well as the Bruce Stampede, The Medicine Hat Stampede and the Mighty Fraser Rodeo in Abbotsford, B.C.