Sometimes called “the most dangerous eight seconds in sports”, bull riding at Western-themed events is growing in popularity across Canada. Now sponsoring bull rider Benjamin Shaw, the Fur Institute of Canada hopes to educate rodeo fans about fur in general and in particular about its brand Canadian Seal Products.
By the time the Fur Institute of Canada (FIC) and Canadian Seal Products (CSP) came into my life this summer, my rodeo season was already well underway. I had already been travelling, riding, falling, learning and trying to establish myself on the circuit.
So the sponsorship did not start my season. It arrived right in the middle of it, when I was already deep into the grind.
And from that point on, things got pretty eventful.
My brother has been beside me through almost all of it. Rodeo can look like an individual sport because there is only one rider sitting on the bull, but there is a lot that happens before and after those eight seconds. There are long drives, hours of waiting, equipment to deal with, injuries, disappointment and then another long drive to the next rodeo. Having my brother there every weekend has been a huge source of support.
In the Slack
The first stop after the sponsorship came together was Le Rodéo Pont-Château in Quebec, on July 17-18.
The new competition vest with the FIC and CSP logos was not ready yet, but the partnership was underway. Jacob from Torchia Communications came out to see me and we spent part of the day together at the rodeo.
There was just one problem. There were too many riders for everyone to compete during the main evening performance. I had insisted on riding that day because I already had another rodeo the next day, so when the draw was made, I ended up in the slack.
Instead of competing during the main evening performance in front of the crowd, I had to ride during the daytime competition. When you are trying to build yourself as a bull rider and now also represent sponsors, you want to be under the lights. You want the crowd. You want to be part of the show.
It was frustrating, but that is rodeo. You take the ride you are given.
The Vest Was Ready … But
By the Festival Western de Saint-André-Avellin on July 23-25, the vest was ready. For the first time, I could climb onto a bull while sporting the FIC and CSP logos – except that I never got the chance!
There was a required equipment inspection before the rodeo, and while it was taking place, I was still on the road driving to Saint-André-Avellin. I got a call telling me I had missed the inspection. Because my equipment had not been inspected, I could not compete. I was disqualified before I ever got on the bull.
I had finally received the new vest. I was ready to represent my new sponsors in the arena for the first time. And instead, I had to watch.
It was another frustrating lesson in rodeo. There is a lot more to getting those eight seconds than simply being willing to climb onto the bull.
At Last
A few days later came the Expo agricole de Saint-Hyacinthe. I rode on Wednesday, July 29, and Jacob came out again.
Before the competition began, as we do at every rodeo, we gathered for the cowboy’s prayer.
There were around 20,000 people there that evening. For a moment, with our cowboy hats held over our hearts and that enormous crowd around us, everything became still.
We do the prayer everywhere we ride, but that one felt different. There was something solemn about standing there together before the rodeo began, knowing that in a few minutes all the noise, movement and adrenaline would take over.
Then it was time to get ready. For the first time, Jacob came behind the chutes with me.
That is the part of the rodeo most people in the stands never really see. The bucking chutes are the steel enclosures where the bulls are held and where we climb onto them before the gate opens. Behind them, riders are getting ready, checking equipment, concentrating and preparing themselves for what is about to happen.
Jacob came right in beside me with his camera and started taking pictures while I prepared.
He was trying to get as close as he could without getting in my way or breaking my concentration. He was taking pictures of the preparation, the bull, the vest and everything happening around us.
Then somebody warned him that he should not be back there without a cowboy hat. I was about to put my helmet on anyway, so I handed him mine.
For the next few minutes, while I prepared to ride in my helmet, Jacob stood behind the chutes wearing my cowboy hat and taking pictures.
Just seconds after I came out of the chute, we had the photo we had been looking for – the one that really announced our partnership. My free hand is held high above me. Underneath me is this enormous bull, exploding out into the arena. The CSP logo is visible on the back of my vest, and behind us the sky is glowing with the last light of the evening.
We did not know it when Jacob pressed the shutter, but we had our picture.
I remember the bull in that photo very well. Before my ride, he was in the holding area trying to dominate the other bulls around him. He was huge, aggressive and clearly wanted every other animal there to know he was in charge.
And somehow, I seem to get those bulls all the time.
That is part of rodeo. You do not simply walk through the pens and choose the bull you want. It literally comes down to the luck of the draw. The riders’ names go into one hat and the bulls’ names go into another. A rider is drawn, a bull is drawn, and that matchup also helps determine the order in which everyone will ride.
Once your name comes out beside that bull’s name, that is your bull.
For me, the luck of the draw seems to have a sense of humour. It has become a bit of a running theme. I look at the bulls around me and there always seems to be one that is bigger, stronger or meaner than the others. Then I find out that one is mine.
Off to Hospital
If Saint Hyacinthe gave us a great picture, the Festival du Cowboy de Chambord (July 30 to August 2) gave us a trip to the hospital!
I came down hard and injured my jaw. I knew immediately that something was wrong. I ended up at the hospital, and at that point I was worried that I had broken it. A broken jaw could have changed the rest of my season.
Then the doctors told me it was dislocated. I was happy.
That might sound ridiculous to most people. I had just dislocated my jaw riding a bull and somehow the diagnosis felt like good news. It was not broken, and that meant I could keep riding.
They put my jaw back into place, and almost immediately I was thinking about the next weekend.
I also needed a new helmet after the accident. I managed to get one just in time for my next ride. There was not much time to recover.
At the Festival du Cochon de Sainte-Perpétue, on August 1, I once again drew one of the toughest bulls there. Once again, the luck of the draw had put me on an enormous animal weighing around 1,800 pounds.
But that is also the point. You do not get better by riding easy bulls. You get better by getting on the bull they give you.
And sometimes that improvement comes with a price. Over the course of the following rides, I took more falls. My arm was hurting. My leg was hurting. My jaw was still recovering.
Then Monday morning came and I had to go back to work.
I work construction during the week. That creates a strange rhythm to my life during rodeo season. I spend the weekend getting thrown around by bulls, then I spend the week doing physical work while my body is trying to recover, then as soon as the weekend comes, my brother and I get back on the road and I do it again.
Seal Oil Supplements
Canadian Seal Products has also been helping me with that part of the journey. As part of the sponsorship, they provided me with seal oil supplements, a complete source of omega 3 with DPA, DHA and EPA. I have been taking them through this stretch of the season, and I feel they have helped me manage some of the soreness and pain that comes with riding and with trying to recover while still working construction during the week.
When your weekends involve getting thrown off animals that weigh around 1,800 pounds, and your weekdays involve physical labour, anything that helps you feel better and keep going matters.
There were more stops along the way, including the Festival Western Malartic (August 14-15). And through all of it, I kept riding with the FIC and CSP logos on my vest.
Feeling Accepted
Then came the Rodéo MSA on August 21-23, at Sainte Anne de Beaupré. That one stands out.
First, there is the setting. You are riding with the Saint Lawrence River stretching out nearby. The enormous Basilica of Sainte Anne de Beaupré rises beside you. In the other direction are the mountains, with Mont Sainte Anne in the background. It is hard to imagine a better place for a rodeo.
And I had a very good ride there.
I could feel that all those weekends were starting to add up. My riding was improving. I was staying with the bull better. I was learning how to react to what the animal was doing instead of simply hanging on and hoping.
But something else happened at Sainte Anne de Beaupré that probably meant just as much to me. I finally started to feel accepted.
The year before, some of the other bull riders had given me a hard time. I was still new. I was trying to find my place in a very particular world, and some guys did not make that easy.
You cannot really ask people in rodeo to respect you. You have to earn it.
By Sainte Anne de Beaupré, I had been showing up weekend after weekend. They had seen me take the big bulls. They had seen me get thrown. They had seen me get hurt. They had seen me come back.
For the first time, I felt like some of the riders who had been against me the year before were starting to see me differently. I was becoming one of them.
The following weekend (August 28–29) brought us to the Grand Rodéo in Saint Calixte.
I did not make the full eight seconds. But I rode better. And sometimes that is the part of bull riding that people watching from the stands do not necessarily see.
Eight seconds is the objective, but there are a hundred smaller victories on the way there. Staying centred a little longer. Reacting properly when the bull turns. Recovering your position when you start to lose it. Making it another second. Feeling more in control.
At Saint Calixte, even without the eight-second score, there was clear progress. That is really what these first weeks of the sponsorship have been about.
When the FIC and CSP decided to support me, with funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and the Governments of Newfoundland & Labrador and Nova Scotia, they joined my season right in the middle of the journey.
Having that kind of backing means a lot to me. Real sponsorship is not something that is easy to find in this sport, especially when you are still trying to establish yourself. Knowing that there are people genuinely behind me gives me confidence, but it also gives me opportunities I would not otherwise have. Their support allows me to spend more time practising on bulls, keep travelling to rodeos, and put more into becoming a better rider.
They are not just logos on my vest. They have become part of the journey.
Since the sponsorship began, there has been a frustrating daytime ride, a new competition vest, a disqualification before I could wear it in competition for the first time, a massive bull at Saint Hyacinthe, a great photograph, a dislocated jaw, a hospital visit, a new helmet, sore arms and legs, construction work between rodeos, thousands of kilometres on the road with my brother, some very difficult bulls, and a growing sense that maybe I am starting to earn my place among the other riders.
I am still chasing eight seconds. But I am getting closer.
