All ages enjoying growing horse sport
Local club gets together twice a week for penning and sorting
Posted 5 months ago
RICHARD MACKENZIE
Globe Staff
Eighty-nine year-old Irene Grant looked quite at home last Wednesday evening as she casually rode her horse around the indoor facility at Jody Elliot’s ranch just outside of Lacombe.
Then, the cattle were brought into an adjacent pen and the action started.
Grant, still looking more than comfortable, and a teammate directed the cattle in a specific order, from one pen to another.
It’s the sport of cattle sorting and along with cattle penning, they’re two of the fastest growing sports in North America. Grant, the eldest of a Central Alberta club which features a few seniors, said she got into it because there was more action than the other horse sports she was participating in.
“I did trail riding and western pleasure but that’s not as exciting,” said the Bashaw resident who makes her way to Lacombe and Ponoka for club outings. “I like competing.”
Grant admitted she doesn’t compete as much now as she once did noting it’s not the actual competing that wears her down as much as the whole day of having to be around for an event.
“I’ve gone to the odd event but I don’t go to far places anymore,” she said. “It’s too much of a drag and it’s the long days, sometimes you have to be there for hours and hours. I have enough at home (on her acreage) to keep me busy.”
Grant said she got into penning around 1987 while still living in Oregon and that included making trips to Alberta. Along the way, she has had her fair share of success in the sport, which she attributes to having a strong penning horse to work with.
“I had such a good horse,” she said. “He knew how to do everything himself. He was a cutting horse and such a smooth ride.”
Even as she cuts back on her competition schedule, Grant says she loves just coming out with the other local penning and sorting athletes for their Wednesday nights in Lacombe and Thursdays in Ponoka, sessions.
“It’s just like a social gathering, you get to know everyone,” she said. “And they’re all great horse people. I’ve so many good friends.”
Amongst those are fellow club members Max Cox and Doug Morris and when the three team up for a penning competition, they do so at the combined age of 242 years.
“It’s quite a thing when we can get together to form a team,” said Cox. “And Irene, she has been involved in the sport a long time. She’s a very nice lady and a great competitor.”
