Age is irrelevant when you’re riding like a youngster. At least Orin Larsen would vouch for that. The Manitoba-raised cowboy has been tangling with bareback horses professionally for fifteen years. It’s a rodeo event known for being hard on the body. While he’s had his share of injuries, Larsen is feeling better at 35 than ever, and the results back that up.
On a sunny Monday afternoon at Ponoka, the 2019 Canadian champion strapped his rigging to a younger Calgary Stampede horse called Happening Fact, and then spurred the lights out for an 88, to take over the lead in the standings, and guarantee a seat back at the Ponoka Stampede Finals.
“The horse has been around maybe two years,” says Larsen. “It went to Houston but I think this was the first big show up here for him. He was a mudder, for sure.”
“That thing felt so good. He was way more fun than I was kind of expecting. When you hit something like that at your favorite rodeo, it doesn’t get much better, I promise you. He had a really good day, so I was pretty pumped about that.”
One of the things keeping Larsen young is the company he keeps. Traveling with fellow bareback rider, and 2024 Canadian champion, Kody Lamb, the two have a road chemistry that’s been firing on all cylinders this season.
“The dogs are on the loose,” laughs Larsen. “That’s been the running joke in our rig. They call us the dogs, or the one-two boys. Kody’s been riding lights out. He’s going to be kind of a problem (for me) this year, I can tell,” he jokes about their competitive comradery, which netted them over seven thousand dollars each last weekend alone.
“Iron sharpens iron – there’s a lot of truth behind that, and I hope I help him out as much as he helps me.”
Larsen and Lamb are first and second in Canada currently, and both are also pursuing an NFR berth – for Larsen it would be his tenth. Lamb could join Larsen back at the Ponoka Stampede Finals on July first, after turning in a ride worth 81.75 points, but only if Tuesday’s bareback riders don’t move him out.
Beau Cooper had the best time of the afternoon tie-down ropers at Ponoka, with a solid 8.8 seconds, giving him fourth place to date with 18.0 seconds. He’s excited to get back for Wednesday’s action in Ponoka.
“This is probably the greatest rode,” says the Stettler cowboy. “It’s so much fun, just so electric, and I mean there’s nothing like it when you come running down the lane and you know you’ve got a good one. You can go so fast, and go so far, and still be fast and just show off.”
The soupy arena of the performance before became stickier with the sunshine on Monday
“I got in a really deep spot. Honestly, it cost me probably at least a second. I think I could’ve been seven right there, had I not got stuck in the mud. But it all worked out,” says Cooper, who gambled on a good calf by only putting on a single wrap.
For his equine partner, Cooper went to the ‘retired’ pen at home for an old faithful, betting his money on his good horse Seven.
“I’ve rode him here four times, and I’ve made the short round every time. He’s due for a win, and I really hope I can do my part and win this rodeo for him.”
Cooper has also been known to participate in the team roping when there’s an All-Around award at stake, like in Ponoka. In 2022, he partnered up with his mentor Shane Hanchey, and while both made the Finals, Hanchey won the tie-down that year, as well as the All-Around for also competing in team roping. This year, cousin and champion saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston nabbed Cooper first, so the two of them also competed in the team roping Monday. They may have missed their first steer, but they did catch the second one in a clean, respectable 8.1 second time.
Ponoka’s own Alyson Haveroen drew cheers when she caught her calf in the breakaway roping in 3.7 seconds Monday afternoon. Her two-run total of just 6.4 seconds comes in just two-tenths behind leader Falyn Thomson, as she moved to second overall. But the fastest time of the afternoon belong to 2023 World Champion Shelby Boisjoli Meged, at just 2.8 seconds. The Canadian, who’s now based in Texas with her Montana tie-down roping husband Haven Meged, hasn’t been back in the saddle long since they welcomed their son Wilder in May.
“I had the baby two months ago. It’s been really rough, post-partum, trying to get back in the swing of roping. So I was just glad that my rope went around the neck. It’s been pretty trying out here, trying to get competitive again,” admits Boisjoli.
It seems rodeo doesn’t offer much of a maternity leave program.
“I rope for a living. It’s how I put food on the table. Every day I’m sitting at home and not making money, I’m not able to support my family.”
However, there are elements of rodeo that are in a working Mom’s favor.
“It’s actually such a blessing, because people have to go to work every day and they might go work a twelve-hour shift, and have to put their kids in daycare. I take my baby with me everywhere, and I don’t see him for about fifteen minutes while I rope. Otherwise I’m with him 24-7, so I feel like I have the best job in the world.”
Becoming a mother has also given Boisjoli Meged a new perspective on rodeo life.
“It’s not as serious as it was. Baby comes first, no matter what, now.”
Boisjoli Meged won’t make the Ponoka Finals, as she didn’t get a time on her morning run. But the 2.8 in the afternoon did serve as a real confidence booster in her journey back.
“I felt like the degree of difficulty was pretty high on that run, and that wasn’t a calf you’re really supposed to win money on. So I kind of felt like myself again right there. I was aggressive and went and took care of business. It felt really good. I actually wanted to throw my hat that my rope finally broke off. Even though I was slow, I was just so happy I caught,” she smiled.
Several steer wrestlers worked their way into another appearance at Ponoka, as they secured a spot in the Finals. Tyke Kipp of New Mexico now sits third with a 10.3 second tally. And Ontario’s Tim Kemp is now right behind leader Scott Guenthner (8.9 seconds) after he was fastest in the afternoon with 4.6 seconds, making him 9.3 on two head.
“I was a little worried about it being sticky here this afternoon, but I hit a good spot in the ground and it didn’t grab me too bad,” says the three-time CFR qualifier, who was only a tick slower in the morning.
“The average is a little bit soft, so I was trying to be smart about it (this afternoon) and just go make a good run. I had a really good steer, but at the same time you want to try and get some money in the round, so I tried to play safe on the barrier.”
Kemp’s rodeo career requires even more dedication than most. He rodeos out west on holiday time from his day job at a nuclear power plant in Ontario. So not only does he log the many miles between rodeos, but he’s also flying back and forth for his job.
“Last year I was on a plane twenty-seven times,” says Kemp, who knows what kind of a different doing well at Ponoka could make for his season.
“I’ve been to the short round a couple times but have never made it beyond there. But anything you can win out of Ponoka is a benefit.”
Once again there were more movers invading the saddle bronc riding qualifiers list. In fact, it’s a high mark of 84.75 holding down last hole, making it a very competitive event. The top mark Monday was an 87.25, from Montana’s Tanner Butner on the Calgary Stampede horse Frontier Acres. Only one out of the nine bull riders Monday made the whistle, so the 81.25 from Weston Davidson of Saskatchewan is a shoe-in to qualify, as it’s only the eight complete bull ride so far.
There was a 4.9 second run in the team roping, from Texans Nicky Northcott and Tyler Tryan. But they were a little longer in the morning, so their 16.3 second total isn’t far from the bubble for qualifying for the Finals. The only other team to move into range was Saskatchewan’s Garrett Brownlee and Rile Roy of Pincher Creek, who were 15.3 seconds on their two runs. The fastest barrel racing time came from Braidy Howes of Metiskow, at 17.99, but that is two one-hundredths out of the top twelve.
There remains one set of contestants who have a chance to shake things up and earn their way to the Canada Day Finals in Ponoka.