Zeke Thurston has a long history with the Ponoka Stampede. It goes back to the days when he was part of the family act The Thurston Gang doing trick roping and riding. Then there was steer riding, and novice saddle bronc. And since turning pro a decade ago, he’s earned three Ponoka Stampede saddle bronc championships, to go along with his five Canadian and four World Champion buckles.
So Thurston rolled into Ponoka with some high expectations Sunday, for the fifth performance of the 89th Stampede. He did a little dance with the Calgary Stampede horse Exciting Bubbles, and eight seconds and 86 points later, he’s in fifth place overall, and in great shape for more Ponoka success.
“You get that initial one out of the way, and get back in a decent spot – one of the top three or four spots, that’s a big advantage – then you can come here for the Finals, and go out there and do your job in the 12-man, and hopefully get you one for the four round.”
“This rodeo’s treated me really well,” admits Thurston, who makes his home at Big Valley. “It’s right in my back yard and I always seem to have really good luck here. I just can’t wait to see what this year’s got in store.”
Although it looked like ‘just another day at the office’ for Thurston, there was some business management in his approach to entering Ponoka for Sunday.
“It’s later in the week. A lot of guys like to come and get here first couple perfs and get out of here so you can go do everything. It’s a little more work for us to go back and forth, but you hit that Calgary pen and get one of them buckers, you’ve got a good chance to come back. A rodeo like this – this one rodeo – could make your whole fourth.”
The travel work this year included a social media plea for connections on transportation.
“About twelve hours before we left Reno yesterday, we had no rides, no way to get here, and we didn’t know how we were going to get here. By the time we left yesterday, we had about three different planes we could’ve taken and everything had come together,” smiled Thurston. “It always does.”
Thurston and his traveling partners managed to secure a private jet to go from Reno to Great Falls, arriving at midnight to grab a rental car and get to Ponoka for 7:30 Sunday morning, in time for the steer wrestlers he was traveling with to help throw down steers before their runs in slack. The $5593 Thurston earned in Reno will go a long way to a flight payment. One of Thurston’s traveling partners, fellow bronc rider Ben Andersen, collected $10,567 out of Reno and then was just a quarter point behind Thurston in Ponoka.
Thurston hasn’t entered a lot of rodeos in the early season, busy with his young family. That includes helping his young daughter Lucy with some trick riding practice, and it was a full circle moment as he was a proud dad watching her perform at Ponoka Saturday on TV, while he was still in Reno.
But now it’s go time for rodeo.
“This is the time of year that matters. This is when we like to get to work and get after it.”
Bareback rider Clint Laye is on a similar program, busy at his ranch near Cadogan and with his young family. Ponoka Stampede is one rodeo that he couldn’t pass up. Even though, he hasn’t had a great track record at Ponoka.
“I’ve been bucked off here pretty hard a couple times,” recalls Laye. “One time I won the long round and came back and got bucked off in the twelve-man. Just kind of had tough luck. But I keep showing up and keep trying, and hopefully this will be a good year.”
It’s off to a strong start, as Laye took over second place with an 85.75 mark on Calgary Stampede’s Arbitrator Joe.
“He’s a big, fat horse, lots to get a hold of. He just came around really nice and let me focus on some stuff I’ve been working on, so that was a really good, feeling ride.”
“Ponoka’s huge, especially in the Canadian standings. It gives you such a bump and is so important for us.”
There are now a full complement of twelve qualified bull rides, even before the final performance. However, Brazilian Francisco Costa was the only one to make the whistle Sunday, as he marked an 84.5 on Calgary’s Watermelon Sugar High, to sit in fifth place for the standings.
While All Around contender Riley Wakefield had the best run Sunday afternoon in the tie-down roping, a missed opportunity on his first calf means he was only eligible for go-round money. It was Texan Paden Bray who managed to secure third spot in the aggregate standings after putting together two runs in 19.1 seconds. It was a similar situation in steer wrestling, where Mike McGinn of Oregon went after some go-round money with a time of four flat, after missing his first steer. South Dakota’s Jace Melvin took over third place overall with 10.2 seconds on his pair of runs. Team ropers Brett Buss of Ponoka and Joey Romo of Nanton were the speedy ones of the afternoon in 4.6 seconds, but they’re in a precarious 11th spot among twelve qualifiers.
There was another two second run posted in the breakaway roping as Tatum Wilson caught a calf cleanly in 2.7 seconds, to snag fifth spot in the standings overall with an 8.6. Mikenna Schauer was a hair faster for her two run tally at 7.2, giving her second spot overall.
“I had a pretty good run this morning,” says Schauer, who helps on the family ranch at Halkirk while finishing her education training. “And I got really nervous right before my run. But honestly, I sat back in the box and everything just kind of mellowed out, and I just went and roped my calf.”
“It’s pretty intense running down the alley though. There’s a lot of thoughts running through your head of what could happen, how it’s going to go, what your calf is going to do. It was pretty fun though,” she grinned.
As she looks ahead to the Finals, Schauer intends to focus on the long game.
“I just need to go get one more down in three seconds. Don’t do anything crazy Tuesday. Same thing, take a deep breath and go get another calf roped.”
The lead in the barrel racing changed for the first time since opening day, as Oklahoma’s Paige Jones bumped the clock with her 17.54 second run, to become the new pacesetter. Then Karli Cowie of Mankota, SK was only a tenth behind that, to sit second with her 17.55 second run.
Jones believes her 13-year-old gelding Bazinga is well suited for the Ponoka pen.
“He’s always loved big outdoors,” says Jones. “Whenever the barrels are off the fences, I can trust he’s going to rate down and turn them, and take care of himself. I always say he’s very ‘four-wheel drive’ because I feel like he keeps all four feet going together at the same time. He stays real up underneath himself.”
Jones has some high hopes, considering the size of the Ponoka purse.
“It could really turn a season around. My season so far hasn’t been great. For the last month I’ve been sitting up here, turning out of muddy rodeos, so I’m happy to hopefully win some money.”
Monday will see the final set of contestants who have a chance to secure a spot among the top twelve in each event. Those finalists will compete July first in the afternoon, with the four best advancing to the rich Showdown Round, where the 2025 Ponoka Stampede Champions will be determined.