Some people might find it odd that a man in his 60s would decide to not only take up a new sport, but to do so at the professional level, but for Danny Smoole it did not seem to be that much of a stretch.
Two years ago, the 62-year-old County of Barrhead resident started competing on the Canadian Senior Professional Rodeo Association (CSPRA) circuit in the team roping event shortly after taking up the discipline.
The CSPRA was founded more than 30 years ago to give older competitors a chance to participate in the sport they love.
For the most part, CSPRA events are just like a traditional rodeo, with the exception being the age of the contestants.
Athletes compete in eight different events — from saddle bronc and bull riding to steer wrestling — but to compete in the CSPRA you must be at least 40 years old and there is no upper limit.
“I raced chuck wagons for 25 years and I competed in team-cattle penning for just about the same amount of time, overlapping a little bit,” he said.
Team penning is a sport where a herd of cattle stand at one end of an arena. A number is called out, and the teams of three have a set amount of time, usually 60 to 90 seconds, to herd the cattle of that number into a pen.
In 2002, Smoole’s team won the Canadian reserved championship.
“I actually, with my team, ended up third in the world at a competition in Texas later that year,” he said.
Despite his success, Smoole decided to give up competing, mainly because of the amount of travel involved.
“But I knew I wasn’t ready to give up competing so I decided to give team roping a try because it was relatively easy to get into because of the amount of activity in the area and I wouldn't have to travel as much,” he said.
Smoole, who is the header, along with his partner and heeler Doug Moore, from Redvers, Sask., compete in about a dozen CSPRA events throughout Alberta and Montana.
“Doug and I have been friends for years,” Smoole said, adding they first met through their girlfriends, now wives. “They knew each other before we knew each other.”
Since Smoole has taken up the sport, others in his family have also jumped on the bandwagon, including his wife Ione, and his daughter Lacey have taken up the sport.
He is confident his granddaughter Sawyer will become a roper.
“She is only two, but already I can tell she is an enthusiast,” Smoole said.
In the team roping event, a steer is released from the chute and a team of two people, on their own horses 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. It is a timed event and the team with the fastest time wins the event. 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. It is a timed event and the team with the fastest time wins the event.
