THRILLS AT SHOWS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 30, 4 August 1926, Page 4

THRILLS AT SHOWS

THE WAY IN THE WEST

HORSEMANSHIP IN CANADA.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

VANCOUVEB, 9th July

Western Canada, birthplace and home of efficient horseman, is " stampeding " just now—not with some new goldfleld as an objective, but to show city folks what a man can do with a horse, and vice versa. The stampede is the principal feature of the annual Show, just as tho high jump is the big draw at Melbourne and Sydney Shows, and the auuual final Eugby schools' match as the arena attraction at the big Shows at Palmerston North. To the person seeking thrills, nothing is left for him to desire at a atampede. Wild horses —there are 100,000 of them in. the Canadian ranges, eating their heads off with valuable herbage— are brought in for the Show. In a wild horse race at Prince Eupert last week, typical of many others, two men and a rider were assigned to each horse and the ten horses and thirty men put up a great fight between them before the 'outlaws were saddled and sent round the course. LUBE OF BIG PEIZES. In other centres, a horse is "corraled," and roped into a small enclosure or frame, not much bigger than himself, with a gate at either end. The saddle is adjusted, tho rider drops fvom a scaffold above, and the gate is flung open. For the best exhibition of horsemanship in the scene that follows prizes up to £300 are awarded. Two of twenty-four iider3 finished in the latest event.

Leaping from horse to the back of a flying steer and throwing him, milking wild cows, double-banking, and riding tandem backwards, make for sport that makes a bigger ,bid to the spectacular than in the shows in,the other Dominions. In these the cowgirl has shown remarkable adaptability. The "chunk-wagon race", has its special appeal to the, humour of the beholder. Tho camp is pitched, ana haa all tho appearance" of a' lengthy stay being made. The pioneer wagon has been unhitched and horses tethered. Tho rude table is set, and the. prospector or -farmer is about to commence his meal when a gong sounds. He ia required to pack his grub and utensils, stamp out his fire, harness up and get on the track again, taking a couple of turns of the course, during wJiich process much of his earthly gear has parted company with the lumbering wagon. .AMAZING LUMBERMEN. But of all the thrills that open-air Canada offers to the tourist or city dweller the art of the "high-rigger" has no equal. The expert lumberman who mounts his skyscraper of a Douglas fir, cleans the top, lights a cigarette, stands on his head on the peak, and waves his arms to the crowd hun : dreds of feet below, has to be seen to be believed. • Yet they say the death rate in the lumber industry is lower, relatively, than in any other.