Sled dog pictures from the archives as promised - Page 3

Thanks so much for sharing. Quite impressive!

Must have been a real hard life, but for sure worth every second, and all of us are able to feel your love and dedication for your animals -

Most respectful ( and a littlebit envious )
Susie

What Susie said, and all of the others.  
Wow, girl you rock!!!

Thank you, y'all are making me blushh.

Susie, it was a hard life. For the first five years, I when I was on the Roman team (standing on two and three horses) , I traveled with a mentor. That really means I got to do all the work, cleaning after and washing the horses, swinging a sledge hammer, driving tent stakes, etc.
Edit to add: it was a tremendous learning experience for those five years and I got to be around great trainers such as John Herriott, Rex Williams, and performers such as Tommy and Stupi Hanneford, Gaylord Maynard. I would listen and keep my mouth shut, just be a sponge soaking up all the stories and watching while they worked. Later, I was shoeing horses for all of them, including Gunther Williams on the Ringling Show, the Royal Lippianzan horses. By that time also, I was helping during training sessions. It takes over all knowledge and experience to be rounded out enough to be diverse enough to succeed in training and performing with animals and keep them happy and healthy. After that, I was on my own with my own animals. Circus World in Florida was the first big gig on my own, that was for two years until the park was sold. Besides re- training the six horse liberty act at the park and putting them back in the show, trick riding and performing with my high school (dancing) horse, I also shoed several of the horses working at the park, including my own. Not to mention being involved with (volunteer) the Asian Elephant birthing watch. I took the night shift, watch and taking notes of the elephant in labor. This was done at the request of Dr. Schmitt from the Portland Zoo, who was the premier researcher in elephant reproduction. I'll post pictures in a little while. Gotta go pick up dog doo now. Later.

Joan

Not many of that type of show around any more. The animal rights activists have helped destroy them.    Also, there just isn't the interest here in Ontario. .

I remember seeing Roy Rogers perform at the CNE when I was really little...good stuff!  In addition to having Trigger trained to put on an eye-popping performance, Rogers himself was an incredible marksman. Then, last year I went to see Cavalia. The tickets cost a bundle, but I asked for money towards them as my birthday present. It was well worth the price of admission!

Their show is quite different from a Wid West show, of course, but the acrobatics are no less thrilling. For example, two people hold a third person horizontal in the air at shoulder height, and a horse jumps over top of him.  A Roman rider also went over a jump while standing up... 

A lot of Cavalia consists of horses at liberty. There can be 20 or more horses on stage at any one time. And some of the performers are intact males!

Anyway, very interesting to hear your recollections and see your photos! And as a former equestrian, I know all about the body giving out as you get older. The stuff I did was much, much less dangerous, but I still have a few aches and pains as a result of riding 'green' horses, and school horses that thought they could get away with acting out!

Then there's people like my former instructor, who was still teaching and riding at the age of 87, when lung cancer claimed him...

What "type of show" are you referring to SS? AR picket rodeos on a regular basis, have been for over twenty years, and the Rodeos and PBR are still going strong.
The 'trick riding' took a toll on my neck and legs. The shoulder stand likely caused damage to my neck; I have a bone spur on my neck, causing pressure on my esophagus which in turn is problematic swallowing (that's what the Doc told me when I was recently in the hospital). The 'death drag' ( up side down secured by my right ankle in a strap) is not real healthy repeated over years.
I went to school in 1980 to become an RN, figured that'd be a more sensible occupation. My grades were high, clinic work (in hospital) was straight A,s but I longed for the lifestyle of being on the road with my animals. One course, Written Communication (instead of English), ALL of my short stories and compositions were about my observations and experiences with animals. My instructor suggested I become a writer. So, after two semesters, I auditioned at Circus World, got hired and loaded up my dog, horse , and the young bull I had at the time and quit school to continue my passion. BTW, while I was in school, I shoed horses on the weekends to support myself, buy books and pay tuition. I was staying at a friend's racing greyhound farm, where he had a full size race track for training the dogs. Studying kept me up all hours, and many nights, two or three in the morning, I would have to take a break and I'd run two laps, barefoot around the track. No one was using it at those hours, and sitting for hours studying will create a lot of pent-up energy.LOL

If there are rodeos here in Ontario, they very rarely get any publicity.

And the popularity of the Wild West shows like Roy Rogers used to do went down the toilet when westerns lost their popularity on TV.

The last time I saw a live rodeo-type performance it was a total bust. I was at a horse show which I think might have been a charity fund-raiser. It was a LOT of fun. There was a costume class over fences. One group pretended to be the Canadian team, and parodied their riding styles. Another entry ffeatured a horse painted with zebra stripes. The rider was dressed as a head-hunter, and was riding bareback, chasing a white guy who was stripped down to his long johns and hiding inside a barrel.

Then, after that class, a couple of cowboys came out and tried to do some steer wrestling. The first steer they wrestled hurt its neck very badly, and couldn't even get up. When it did get up, after considerable prodding, it could only move in tight circles.

They were resoundly booed by the audience. 

Nope, rodeo isn't too popular in this neck of the woods!

SS, Please put up a different thread, bashing the the crap you've been to. This isn't about those backyard fiascoes, which wasn't a rodeo as you described it. There is a world of difference between the amateur pretenders you described, and the professionalism in which I immersed my life. BTw, I have done rodeos and a wild west show in a theme park in Canada, including Toronto, Ontario in a building, which was sold out. That was in the late 90's. There are losers in every walk of life, but I am not interested in including the disgusting event you described with my experiences.

Better yet, on second thought, don't start another thread. Instead, let me say that the people injuring animals trying to imitate what they have seen done by professionals, is what gives any animal venue a bad name. And I'm very sorry that those people were allowed to do what you witnessed.....no animal deserves to be abused and especially not for the sake of " entertainment". Whoever produced the 'show' you attended should have put more thought into allowing those " cowboys",as you called them, to attempt their imitation of a rodeo event which resulted in the injury an animal.

SS, ever hear of the Calgary Stampede ? Gets lots of coverage and full house. One needs to keep things in perspective, and real.

Joan,
I have seen the Calgary Stampede! Myrtle Beach or thereabouts? And the Lippizanner's Show in MSG. I agree, SS's post was a downer. This is your Memory Lane, and her experiences have nothing to do with what you are sharing.

I am loving reading about your life story, FWIW.