Home a comfort for saddle bronc rider

It can pay off to work close to home.

Black Diamond saddle bronc rider Chad Thomson softened what has been a hard year with a fourth-place finish at the 25th annual Okotoks Pro Rodeo on Aug. 26-28.

Thomson rode Wayne Vold’s Moving Shadows for a 76 to collect $695 for his eight seconds work on Friday night at the Murray Arena.

“I was happy to have that horse in front of the hometown crowd — the first time I ever got on him was at the Okotoks rodeo and he bucked me off, so it’s nice to get some revenge,” Thomson said. “I rode him in Stavely earlier this year, but it didn’t go so well. You just got to keep swinging.”

Thomson said it wasn’t a spectacular ride on Friday, but he thought it might be good enough to earn a paycheque. He was sitting first after Friday’s go round but dropped to second after the 2015 Okotoks champion Jim Berry turned in an 81.5 on Saturday night.

He wasn’t sure where he would be after Sunday’s go-round with some of the top bronc riders in Canada waiting in the chutes.

“I thought I was going to drop further just the way things were,” Thomson said. “But it was a funny rodeo this year, a lot of guys got bucked off that I didn’t think would.”

Thomson was sitting 32nd in the Pro Rodeo Canada standings going into Okotoks. Jake Watson hung on to ride Apache Trail to an 83 to win the Okotoks saddle bronc title.

Back to school

A Longview barrel racer will have an extra $180 in her jeans for her first days at St. Luke’s Outreach School in Okotoks this week.

Bradi Whiteside turned the cloverleaf pattern in 12.506 seconds in the small confines of the Murray Arena on Friday night. It was good enough for ninth-place after the rodeo.

“Things haven’t been going very good (this season),” the 14-year-old Whiteside said. “Okotoks has been my best one.

“I could have rode better, but I was happy my horse did good.”

She said she decided to turn pro because her horse Rancho was ready for the circuit. She said she continues to learn, with her father, Travis, a 12-time CFR bareback qualifier doing the driving.

Bradi’s older sister, Kylie Whiteside, hit a barrel on her run Friday.

“I just kind of quit riding by my barrel,” the 16-year-old St. Luke’s student said.

Kylie was sitting 25th in the standings. Both of the Whiteside sisters cut their teeth on the Silver Spurs circuit and the high school rodeo tour.

Bulls triumph

The bulls didn’t take too kindly to being taken from Wayne Vold’s scenic ranch near Okotoks — even if they only had to work for eight seconds.

Virtually all of the bulls punched out early — costing riders big bucks. Scott Schiffner was the only one to hang for the full eight seconds at the rodeo, scoring a 71 on Vold’s Jersey Dip on Sunday.

Longview’s Brock Radford had a spectacular ride for about 4.2 seconds, until Johnny Ringo threw him for a loop Friday night.

“He’s a high-calibre bull that guys want to see their name beside because if you do your part, he will take you to a high score,” the 2012 Foothills Composite grad said. “I was riding him good and he dropped me into the well, took me to the outside.

“He got me tonight, but I will see him again — the CFR or somewhere else.”

Radford should hold onto his third-place spot in the standings as Okotoks was the lone Canadian rodeo on the circuit. He’s locked up his first CFR invitation with just six rodeos left in the Canadian tour.