In the moist heat of a Sunday afternoon, riders sit on their horses on Saddle Lake’s rodeo grounds, enjoying the rodeo portion of a June 18 to 20 weekend filled with wild pony races, calf scrambles, wagons, carts and more.
The blaring announcer’s voice of Ray Champ breaks in again, this time to make a special announcement about the next person coming out for bareback rigging.
Billy Turner, who’s waiting behind the gate to take his ride, is an anomaly – an Inuit cowboy who also happens to be a local boy, living in Elk Point. He gets his round of applause and cheers, and bursts out of the gate, his horse bucking. But at some point in those following split seconds, Turner gets scared and grabs for his rigging with his free hand. The double grab would see him receive no score, but the audience still claps for their local star.
In his five years of riding professionally, Turner’s won some and lost some, but overall, it’s a good way to win lots of money, he says.
Turner’s mother lived in Inuvik, Nunavut, with the 27-year-old coming down from the north to Alberta, where his father lived. His father was a rodeo competitor, which is how Turner was introduced to the sport that he still enjoys today.
“It’s physically demanding and mentally challenging,” he said, adding that this is what one can expect when they pit themselves against a 1,200 lbs., or even heavier, animal.
It’s also been a good way to bring “a lot of pride up north,” he notes, adding that the aboriginal television network, APTN, has featured him as an Inuit cowboy. People back home are pleased with his success, as he explains, “They think it’s awesome. I’m famous up there.”
He’s hoping to continue the rodeo circuit for as long as he can – perhaps another 10 or 15 years, but he’ll be juggling his time, since he is also pursuing a law degree, making for another first as the first Inuit law student to study at the University of Alberta.
Results from the Saddle Lake rodeo were unavailable to the Journal as of its press deadline.