If you were to take a drive to the Bearspaw Arena on any given Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday afternoon, you’d find a building full of smiles and laughter.
The Bearspaw First Nation has started a roping, riding, and horsemanship program for its youth, which is already an overwhelming success.
Starting in February, Janet Janvier, the operations manager for the First Nation and organizer for the program, expected around 20 youths to join. In a matter of days, her expectations were exceeded when they had around 40 kids sign up.
“Because of the interest in the program, we’ve maxed out the capacity of the three trainers. So we had to close registration as of March 14,” Janvier explained.
Megan Lunak, Levi Bearspaw, and Baillie Milan have all been contracted out by the First Nation for three nights a week to teach the kids roping, horse etiquette, and overall safety when being around horses. The program also has help from numerous volunteers from the First Nation as well – for example their dedicated bus driver, Terry Lefthand, who transports the children to and from the arena each night.
Although the program is being offered by the Bearspaw First Nation, they opened up registration to allow youths from Chiniki First Nation and Wesley First Nation to participate as well.
“The vision for the program came from Chief Darcy Dixon – he himself has a horsemanship background and he wanted to expose the children to the opportunity to learn more about the horsemanship side, because that is Stoney tradition. He wanted to make sure the next generation had the opportunity and exposure as well,” Janvier said.
The typical evening routine begins with the children practicing their roping maneuvers on dummies for the first hour or so. Next they take a short break and have supper, provided to them by the Bearspaw First Nation. After that, the kids are allowed to interact with the horses.
“So right now, we’re just working on basic groundwork with roping, which includes handling a rope, fixing the rope. This is getting ready for the next level which will be horseback. So right now they’re just starting from the bottom which is groundwork,” Lunak explained.
“The second part of the program we do horsemanship, which is learning how to stop, start, and go, which is basic horsemanship.”
Most of the kids taking part in the program have had little to no prior experience working with horses, so it provides them with a unique opportunity.
“It’s amazing how, over the last four weeks, how far they’ve progressed. They’re natural, they’re really natural with this – especially with the horses,” Lunak said.
“For Stoney with the horse culture, it’s something that Bearspaw has been supporting for their members way before my time. In particular, they help the youth as well as the adults with the Indian National Finals Rodeo (INFR), their rodeo cards. And when one qualifies locally to participate in Vegas they also help to assist to make sure they can get that exposure as well,” Janvier explained.
For Jadaca Wesley and Kadence Wesley, both from the Bearspaw First Nation, the program is a chance to learn about horsemanship while spending time with their friends. Both girls agree their favourite part of the program is learning about roping and think they’ll likely sign up again next year.
The program will run until June 16, and Janvier said they will be hosting rodeo-style jackpot events the last four weeks to allow the kids to use their new skills.
She explained the Nation has put a lot of work into upgrading its arena – from replacing the packed-down dirt and providing better lighting, to upgrading the kitchen to a full-service canteen, and installing a brand-new surveillance system. Her hopes are that this will encourage the community to continue running similar programs and using the facility.
“It’s beautiful because we deal with a lot of poverty and a lot of sad issues on the Nation and this is something for the kids where it’s a positive event, no stress, and they’re having fun and it’s teamwork, and it’s building the community.”
