The Barrhead area is becoming known on a national and international scale for producing some of the best young rodeo talent.
In the July 7 issue the Leader told readers the story of Barrhead native Kolton Schmidt, a young college rodeo athlete who became the first Canadian to win the National College team roping championship in June, at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming.
A month later, another Barrhead native has come to prominence on the large rodeo stage, this time at the national level.
Quentin Branden, a recent Barrhead Composite High School graduate, placed fourth in the team roping event at the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) finals in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
The event pitted more than 1,600 of the best high school rodeo athletes in North America against each other in sports such as bareback riding, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, pole bending, team roping, barrel racing and bull riding.
In the team roping event, which Branden competes in with his partner Walker Galloway (from Ponoka), a steer is released from the chute and a team of two ropers on horses both attempt to rope the steer which is running loose in the rodeo arena.
The first roper, known as a header, ropes the front of the steer, usually around its horns, but sometimes as low as its neck. Once the steer is caught the header then wraps his or her rope around the horn on his saddle and then uses his horse to turn the steer to its left. While the header is doing this the heeler attempts to rope both of the steer’s back feet. Branden is the heeler on his team.
However, before Branden and his partner could make the 18-hour trip from Barrhead to Wyoming, they first had to qualify for the event.
“We knew we would have a lot of competition. They (NHSRA) takes the top four qualifiers in every state and province,” Branden said, adding that the pair qualified for the event by placing second in the Alberta High School Rodeo Association Rodeo Finals in Grande Prairie.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” he said. “Rock Spring is a city, smaller than Red Deer (population of about 23,000), and here you have more than 1,600 kids coming into town and competing to see who is the best at their event. It’s crazy.”
To qualify for the final round the pair had to finish in the top 20 after two rounds of competition.
The pair’s first action was on Monday, July 13.
“We really had a good round,” he said. “We ended up having a time of 7.1 seconds and we finished the first day in eighth place.”
Unfortunately, Branden said the pair couldn’t use the momentum they had in the first round and translate it into success in their next round.
In the second round the duo managed to shave close to a second off their time, but a mistake in Branden’s throw cost the pair valuable time.
“I roped a leg,” he said, adding that the five second penalty dropped the duo down to 11th place.
Branden attributed the team’s performance and his mistake to a combination of nerves and lack of practice.
He said it was four days between the first and second round of competition and although the team did have a couple of practice sessions in between, it wasn’t the same as an actual competition.
The final round of the team roping competition took place on Saturday, July 17.
“We knew we really had to make time up in the short go (the final day of the event) if we were going to make a show of it,” Branden said, adding that the pair left everything out on the arena floor. “We knew we didn’t have anything to lose so we just wanted to go fast.”
And fast they were, finishing the round with a time of 6.4 seconds, which when combined with their other runs put them into fourth place.
As for what Branden’s immediate plans are he said he is preparing for a rodeo in Smoky Lake, Alta, before heading to Hobbs, New Mexico where he will be attending college on a rodeo scholarship.
“I am not sure what I want to do yet as far as a career, but whatever it is, I know it will involve horses and rodeoing,” he said.
