Before people watch or participate in a rodeo they need to learn a new vocabulary, more specifically two words — ‘yahoo’ and ‘yipee’.
At least that is what David Poulsen, announcer for the Wildrose Rodeo Association (WRA) told Barrhead Elementary School (BES) staff and students during a special presentation for the school’s Western Day festivities on Thursday, Sept. 15.
Poulsen and a group of WRA athletes, were in town to compete in the association’s championship finals.
“If you are going to compete or watch rodeo those are the words you need to know,” he said.
To help teach the words to the students and staff, Poulsen used a game where he broke the word into two parts, ya and hoo’ assigned each to a different groups of students and had them yell out their portion of the word whenever he pointed to them. He played a similar game with the teachers.
Poulsen, with the help of the WRA finalists and volunteers from the audience, demonstrated many of the events students would see during the WRA finals.
One of the crowd’s favourite speakers was former Calgary firefighter and now full time rodeo clown, Dennis Halstead.
“I have a very serious job and a very fun job,” he said, adding he enjoys both aspects of his job equally.
Halstead said the main duty of any rodeo clown is to help ensure the safety of the athletes, most notably bull riders, by distracting the bull and providing them with an alternative to attack when a rider has either been bucked off or jumped off an animal.
He added there is a misconception that bulls are attracted to the colour red. In reality they are colour blind.
“That is why I wear these big, funny pants,” he said. “What a bull sees is movement and you see how my pants shake, they are attracted by the movement and that is what they chase.”
As for the fun portion of his job, Halstead said he has always been a bit of a jokester and enjoys making people laugh, adding one of his favourite bits is a magic trick where he turns three golf balls, into something else.
“I am going to put these three golf balls into this box and by saying a magic poem I am going to turn them into a basketball. And if I do, your principal and teachers have told me I could be your teacher for the day and all we would do is play basketball all day long,” he said.
Unfortunately for the students, the trick did not quite work and he turned the golf balls into two rabbits.
After the presentation to the school, Poulsen said, while the group’s main purpose was to promote the WRA Finals, it is also important for children to have an understanding of rodeos.
“Growing up in Alberta and Western Canada, rodeo is part of our culture and I think it is important for children to have an understanding of what it is all about,” he said.
