Advanced Cattle Handling Driven by Impulse
Discover the Secret Code of Bronc Reins
E eo A K ? od T N R S IT MA K ro E P DO L AN AT A F WH BE TO
Bull Riding Trailblazer “Smokey” Snyder
b r o C d n u L New Musrice New Gen
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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 • $5.95
Welcome Back! Canada’s Heartland TV Post-COVID Branding & Improving Grass Use Calgary Stampede’s Ken “Goose” Rehill
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Our country is filled with some of the most amazing natural habitats in the world. It’s what makes Canada, Canada – and it’s why we’ve spent more than 50 years protecting our irreplaceable natural spaces and the wildlife that they sustain.
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toll free 1-877-262-1253 Canadian Cowboy Country August/September 2020
In This Issue
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 | VOLUME 24, NO. 2
21 THEY CALL HIM “GOOSE” Ken “Goose” Rehill standing outside of the Calgary Stampede’s well-travelled stock liner in 2011. Goose is the Stampede’s most famous behind-thechutes personality.
Advanced Cattle Handling Driven by Impulse
Discover the Secret Code of Bronc Reins
E eo A K ? od T N R S IT M A K ro E P DO L AN AT A F WH BE TO
Bull Riding Trailblazer “Smokey” Snyder
Features 14
Corb nd Lu ic New Musre New Gen
PM# 40070720
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 • $5.95
Welcome Back! Canada’s Heartland TV Post-COVID Branding & Improving Grass Use Calgary Stampede’s Ken “Goose” Rehill
On the Cover Multi-award-winning singer/songwriter, Corb Lund
“Flat Nose” Curry
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Corb Lund
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COWBOY WAY
Corb Lund’s music has earned its own genre
Driven by Impulse Overcoming instinct for those in the saddle
Photo by Scott Slusher
Heartland Here to Stay The smash hit series is renewed for its 14th season
30 TRAILBLAZERS
“Smokey” Snyder
PHOTO COURTESY CALGARY STAMPEDE
Remembering bull rider “Smokey” Snyder’s World title
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WHAT WORKS FOR US
Ranching Never Stops
The Secret Code of Taking Hold Two-time Canadian Champion, Clay Elliott, explains rein holds
OUTLAW TRAIL
True tale of the Canadian in Butch Cassidy's gang
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WHAT DOES IT TAKE
Flank Men The lowdown from those who make an honest buck
Departments 4 My Point of View 7 In the Corral 12 Spirit of the West 13 Wheel to Wheel 16 Reflections 37 Pro Rodeo Canada Insider 44 Clownin’ Around 50 Cowboy Poetry
Post-COVID branding, and bringing water to native grass
cowboycountrymagazine.com
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PHOTO BY SCOTT SLUSHER
CORB LUND Agricultural Tragic By TERRI MASON
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is is a multi-storied lineage that is told and retold through his music every time he strolls on stage. His family tree includes rodeo record setters and rodeo royalty and a breed of people that defied the odds and headed across the desert to the Promised Land. “Unique” is a pale word to describe this cowboy, whose campfire stew of musical influences and genres could only be summed up by coining a new subcategory: Agricultural-Tragic. This is Corb Lund. “Yeah, Agricultural Tragic is also the title of the record [released the end of June],” said Corb. “I never have quite fit in any of the music genres. We’re not pure western, we’re not really a radio country band, we’re not really outlaw country, but there’s a lot of western stuff on it. So I told people that I had to invent my own subgenre that I call Agricultural-Tragic,” he said. “It also reflects, as probably most of your readers that know me know, I read a lot about Western life in this part of the world and in my family background. It’s important to me. The bulk of my writing has that thread running through it.” In normal times, touring is purposely done in the comfort of the van. “That’s one of the things I’m most proud of over the last five or six years is the growth of our audience in western U.S. It’s been a long time coming, but they’re finally really starting to get it, and they’re rabid about it,” he says. “It’s pretty cool.” While he is focused on the western U.S. for upcoming tours, Corb has toured internationally a number of times and has encountered a few surprises. “D’you know Colter Wall? He’s this Canadian prairie kid from Saskatchewan. He’s doing a great job. He’s like, 24 — and he’s huge in Europe. The first time I actually met him was in Amsterdam and he was playing all these old cowboy songs that we all know, and he’s playing them to these hipster kids. He had them eating out of his hand. It’s like, how did this happen?” he laughs. Like everyone else in the entire world, Corb and his band, the Hurtin’ Albertans, had their lives severely disrupted in early spring. They were on tour and playing dates in Colorado when Canada put out the call to go home. Here’s where he’s been ever since, at his place in Lethbridge, on the family ranch near Cardston and regularly visiting (and social-distancing) with his mom, Patty, on the home place near Taber. Like everyone else listening to a new album, there’s always that one song that captures your heart, and on Agricultural Tragic, for me, that song is “Never Not Had Horses.” It was written about his mom, Patty, who for all time will be in the Calgary
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Heartland Here to Stay By TERRI MASON
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here was some good news from the East this spring when in early May, CBC announced they have renewed the multi-award-winning TV show, Heartland, for a recordsmashing 14th season. To the one million+ fans from around the world that tune in every week, that announcement is sweet music to their ears.
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Heartland is a Canadian family drama television series which debuted on CBC on October 14, 2007. The long-running series is a multigenerational saga that’s set on the fictitious Heartland Ranch in the rolling foothills of southern Alberta. It follows Amy Fleming (Amber Marshall), her older sister Lou (Michelle Morgan), and their grandfather Jack (Shaun Johnston). Together, they confront the Canadian Cowboy Country April/May 2020
PHOTOS COURTESY CBC
Amber Marshall, who plays Amy Fleming
Graham Wardle, Amber Marshall and Shaun Johnston possess a believable and powerful screen presence
Graham Wardle, Amber Marshall and Ruby Spencer, who plays their child, Lyndy Borden
PHOTO COURTESY
From left: Graham Wardle, who plays Ty Borden, Amber Marshall, and Alisha Newton, who plays Georgie Crawley
challenges of running the ranch that has been in their family for generations. Season 14 of Heartland is set to debut on CBC this coming winter. Heartland is the longest-running one-hour drama in Canadian television history; it is a multi-generational family drama that is much loved by fans of all ages, not only in Canada but all around the world. The show has made its way into the hearts of families in more cowboycountrymagazine.com
Shaun Johnston, who plays Jack Bartlett, and Shea Johnston
than 119 countries. Not including its upcoming fourteenth season, Heartland so far has amassed 214 one-hour episodes and a 2-hour Christmas movie. The beloved series is based on the bestselling series of books by Lauren Brooke. To learn more about the series, the actors and much more, be sure to visit their website. You will also enjoy some great video interviews with cast members from the hit show. If you’re one of
the few who haven’t yet enjoyed spending time on the ranch, be sure to tune in. New social media analytics shows that Heartland was one of the most-watched family dramas during the pandemic. c For more on the hit series, visit cbc.ca/heartland. For more on Amber Marshall, visit her website at ambermarshall.com.
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