Joe Scully blames his dad. Callie Gray blames her sister.
The word “blame,” though, is a relative thing. In the case of Scully and the Gray family, all from the Hillsburgh area, the word “credit” could easily be substituted.
Whatever the word, they have the bug. The rodeo bug. And it has taken them all over North America. They have won championships and they love to compete. Scully has gone from a toddler working a lasso, to a rodeo clown, to an announcer.
He is something of an historian, too. He said in an interview rodeo started in 1886, and the Ontario Rodeo Association (ORA) was formed in 1957, and reformed again in 1970, leaving it the second longest consecutively running group in Canada.
“It slowly grew up in the 1990s,” he remembered, adding it went from seven events to 28 by 2005. The ORA now has 14 events, and other associations running similar shows means 45 rodeos a year in Ontario – and that includes a high school competition.
“We support that,” Scully said. “A lot of those compete in our association.”
Scully was only 3 when his father, a pleasure rider, went to Oklahoma to obtain an education as a farrier. He also learned how to rope while there. Scully tried it, and instead of lassoing something, the rope caught him. He soon rode six nights a week in Rockwood, and practiced roping two to three hours a day.
By 15, he was a rodeo clown, an important job for entertaining and protecting rider and animals in the ring. His brother, Ross, plus Ross’ wife, also compete on the pro circuit. It’s all family.
Others who live near Hillsburgh are hooked, too. Callie Gray, in fact, is getting her education through rodeo. She won a scholarship to Western Oklahoma State College after years of competing and winning in the Ontario High School Rodeo competition.
Callie Gray “blames” her sister, Tamaran Mousseau, for getting her hooked. Callie was six years younger when Tamaran took up rodeo. “Being a little sister, what she got into, I wanted to get into.”
Before rodeo, they were riding. The Gray family was at the Holstein Rodeo on July 8, and the sisters’ mom, Lisa, laughed and said back then they went to just about every county fair for riding events. When the girls learned rodeo, Lisa said they spent a lot of time driving to Michigan to compete.
Logically, Lisa Gray formed the Ontario High School Rodeo Association, which has its championships in Hillsburgh, at the Gray farm. That association led to competitions in Oklahoma for the title. Lisa noted this is the first time in ten years she has not been there in July for the high school championships.
When asked why, Lisa and Tamaran said in unison, “Callie graduated,” from high school. Both sisters still compete in rodeo and are planning to be in Erin on Aug. 20 and 21.
Mousseau was at the Holstein Rodeo only the Friday night. She left for Quebec for another competition the next day, and left from there on Sunday for yet another competition in New Brunswick.
Callie Gray said competing in the U.S. for the high school championships led to her scholarship. Coaches from American colleges and universities meet the competitors there, offer tips for techniques, and watch as students improve. She won a scholarship worth $4,000 to $5,000 a year last summer.
Her family said there is a circuit and competitors meet and make friends easily.
“It’s a festival,” said Mousseau, looking around the Holstein event, where everybody was chatting with friends and getting ready to compete.
It is the biggest rodeo in Ontario, attracting over 30,000 people each year. And it has a friendly rivalry with the Erin Rodeo.
Scully said Holstein won the Rodeo of the Year in 2008, Erin won it in 2009, and Holstein, adding extra prize money, won it last year. This year, Erin is tops in prize money, and that is not lost on the competitors. Scully and the Gray sisters think a friendly feud fought with big prize money is great for all the competitors.
Scully will be able to compete only on Sunday this year because Erin’s rodeo was rescheduled from early June. He is attending his best friend’s wedding on the first day, but will be there on Sunday.
“It’s my home town rodeo,” he said.
The Erin event had been run by the Erin Agricultural Society and it is held at the fairgrounds on the main street. This year, the International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA), presented by the Rawhide Rodeo Company, will run the 2011 Professional Rodeo Season Series there.
It will attract competitors from four countries, including top hands from San Paulo, Brazil; the United States; Mexico; and Canada.
It will offer all the competitions that two-day events in Ontario have. That includes bull riding, bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, team roping and calf roping.
All professional cowboys and cowgirls competing will be vying for world championship points and tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. The top 15 cowboys and cowgirls of the IPRA rodeo series will qualify for the International Professional Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City in January.
The Ontario rodeos are used to raise funds for charities.
Portions of the proceeds from Erin will support Camp Maple Leaf. It was started by the Canadian Council of War Veterans in 1955 and pays homage to Canada’s fallen soldiers. It is a year-round camp for military families with children to reconnect in a nurturing environment after a demanding tour of duty.
For over 40 years, it provided a summer experience to children who, due to financial barriers, would not have been able to attend summer camp.
For ticket information for the Erin Rodeo, visit www.greatrodeo.com or call toll-free to 1-866-51-RODEO.
