This post is long and varied and will discuss my old self as a rodeo event supporting human to my new vegan self who sees the rodeo and chuckwagon races in a different light. I would be tickled pink if you stuck with me to the end.

I would greatly appreciate if you could pledge not to attend rodeo events by taking this pledge – which is then used to lobby for change so it’s good action to take. If you need to learn more about why rodeo events are cruel, this is the site to go to. Follow their social media to keep up to date and actions you can take for the animals: https://rodeotruth.com/

Let’s start with a story about my wonderful mom.

Each time I re-discover things from my mom, I think of what a little trailblazer she was and have a new appreciation for her. My mom was creative and artistic and was the type of person who moved to the beat of her own drum. As I type this, I can literally picture her bopping around the house to music or putzing around in the garden.

In the 90’s, as a way to make additional income, my mom used her talents in ceramics to create Stampede Bolo ties. She made the clay, poured the mold, cooked the bolo in her kiln, cleaned the greenware and intricately painted each bolo before adding the rope and other hardware for this special bolo neck tie. She made these little gems completely from scratch and sold them to companies downtown, generally in the energy industry.

She typically showed up at reception with a sample bolo for the company to keep along with an order form and prices. I honestly do not think she did that well as I don’t recall her getting tons of orders. She was hoping that these companies would place orders and suggested they could give these out to staff/clients as unique gifts during Stampede.

I love that about her. Her confidence in her product, her confidence to show up unannounced with samples and an order form. To give away precious product for free in hopes it would pay off. I would never have the guts to do this and I admire her for doing what she needed to do to make ends meet. The date on the back of most of these bolo ties is between 1995-1998 and those were definitely difficult years for us financially as 1995 was around the time my dad left us and my mom suddenly became the sole breadwinner when my dad never looked back and didn’t pay my mom a dime in child support. In fact, he chose to further hinder my mom financially by fighting her for the house, the house his two children lived in and whom he no longer financially supported. The only people who won that battle were the lawyers. My dad lost and so did we as any extra money went towards the legal battle to keep a roof over our heads. He made a difficult time exponentially harder for all of us.

When my mom passed away in 2006, I found a box of ceramic bolo heads in her house and promptly placed this box in a place in my house so safe I was unable to find it again until this year! Each year at my corporate job during Stampede, I proudly wear my bolo tie in honour of my mom. I get so many compliments, I’ve wanted to find that box of bolo heads and finish off my mom’s project for years now.

I’m pleased to report that my cousin helped me finish off the project and I was able to find vintage rope and ends from a seller on Etsy, matching the rope and ends my mom used. Cousin Renee and I spent Easter together putting these bolos together in honour of my mom, and I was able to surprise my colleagues with their very own bolo tie. Everyone was honored, and one person even asked if they could make a donation in honor of my mom (how sweet). Of course I sent her to one of my favourite organizations, Animal Justice to make a donation!

It has been such a pleasure to get to share about my mom, share her talents and to see her bolo ties being worn in the office and people sharing her story. To see her idea finally come to fruition and fully appreciated by all. I am honored to see them being worn.

I personally have so many great memories of attending the Stampede as a child and as a teenager. I would spend hours on the grounds riding all the rides and playing carnival games – my two favourite activities even to this day. These bolo ties are nostalgic for me as is the Stampede.

I’m a born and raised Calgarian and have always loved going to the Stampede, going to free concerts at the Coca Cola Stage and in the old days, attending the hypnotist at the Coca Cola Stage. Then there’s the indoor building that showcases all the infomercial type products that you don’t need, but definitely believe you need after hearing their miraculous sales pitch. There’s also people watching, company events and live music happening all over our City at this time. The City is buzzing with energy. Many streets and storefronts that aren’t even near the Stampede grounds get in the spirit and decorate and even offer their own Stampede breakfasts and lunches.

When I first became vegan I reflected on what this meant for my beloved Stampede activities. Would it still be acceptable to go if I wanted to? After some consideration, I decided I could take part in the Stampede events that do not exploit animals. I could continue eating my vegan meals and support the vegan food truck and other options on the Stampede grounds. I could veganize the Stampede for myself and continue to live in alignment with my values. Just like when I go to the grocery store and purchase plant products instead of animals. I don’t boycott the grocery store because they sell animals, I’d never eat if I had to go to those extremes.

Admission to the Stampede is just to get into the grounds. The Rodeo and Chuckwagons are separate events on the grounds that require a separate paid ticket. In fact, I never thought too much about the rodeo events as a child or teenager, as I never went. My first chuckwagon event was at a team event with my colleagues. Entry to the Stampede grounds is one thing and the rodeo and chuckwagon events are a separate piece of the Stampede, requiring a separate ticket. So yes, as a vegan, I am ok with attending the Stampede grounds or other Stampede events at work or around the City if I wanted to.

After that one work event, I was caught up in attending the Rodeo and/or Chuckwagon races as part of my Stampede experience and used to go most years. What I thought about when going was mostly getting out of the sun, having a place to sit for a few hours so that I could get back to the grounds refreshed and ready for more. Essentially, attending the rodeo events extended the amount of time I would stay on the grounds as it felt like more of a place to rest from crowds and line ups. I found both the rodeo and chucks to be quite boring so we also drank and placed our guesses on who would win the chuckwagon races.

Looking back at the chuckwagon races I attended with colleagues, we were in the box, which meant we had private space to walk around and mingle and eat and we could go on the patio and watch the chucks too. Reflecting back this reminds me of a scene from Squid Games which is a Netflix series that revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children’s games for the chance to win. There’s a scene where the Elite are watching the deadly games and are laughing and drinking and eating food. When I was watching it felt so barbaric, so offensive. These humans were risking their lives and they were up there living the high life, not even WATCHING the very deadly game they funded? This seems similar to my experience at the chucks. Half of us weren’t even watching. Meanwhile, the animals are performing for our ‘entertainment,’ risking their lives. On July 14, 2023, one of the chuckwagon horses was euthanized after being forced to compete in the chuckwagon races, the horse collapsed at the finish line and was later euthanized. 2019 was the deadliest year where six horses died in the chuckwagon races.

I wish I could say I didn’t think about the animals at all, but that isn’t true. I’d have minor anxiety about the animals and would silently pray that no animal was injured or killed while I was in the stands. It was like a fingers crossed and a wish kinda thing. It’s like I thought as long as no one died while I was there, my conscience was clear.

I also distinctly recall telling my husband that I was comfortable going to the rodeo and chucks because factory farming was much worse. As a non vegan while I didn’t fully understand exactly what happened on factory farms, I did believe it was bad. I would use the excuse of well ‘I eat meat and dairy from factory farms and those are larger issues, so why would I bother avoiding the rodeo and chucks? These are small events compared to factory farms. The suffering isn’t that bad.’

My defence for going was that there are bigger issues to worry about. It’s so interesting this was my best defence for supporting cruelty. This was somehow enough to quiet my heart. My brain had rationalized what I was doing was ok. We would never use this as an excuse to harm a human. I’ve heard this argument against veganism, it’s quite a common one. With all that is going on in the world, why focus on this? Shouldn’t you focus on humans first before animals?’ Blah blah. In actuality, I do not see how we can have peace in this world if we do not care for the most vulnerable, the animals. As long as we feel entitled to use and exploit animals, I do not see how we can have peace. We have lost our way as humans if animal exploitation must be explained to people.

There are 8 billion humans on this earth. We raise and slaughter 80 BILLION land animals each year, this number gets bumped up into the TRILLIONS when we consider marine life. These numbers do no even include animals used for testing, research, entertainment and for their fur and skin. This issue is bigger than my brain can even comprehend. Please re-read those numbers. The suffering is enormous. Think about one individual animal you love and imagine your precious companion stuck in any one of these systems and how that would make you feel. That is how I feel for all animals. For my old self to be so complacent about the rodeo is offensive to my new self. Sure less animals die in rodeos each year than in our food system, but every single individual matters to me. I don’t want a single one of them to be used and to die for entertainment seems especially needless.

Since becoming vegan, the Stampede has been a little harder. I look at animals exploited for any reason, including entertainment, differently than my old self. All I see is fear in their eyes, straps tightened around their bodies to make them buck and more. It’s really sad. We so casually call one event ‘calf roping,’ but can we call it baby cow roping? How awful to be a newborn and used like that while onlookers drink and laugh and take selfies in the stands. It’s barbaric. When we were in LA earlier this year, I was asked where I was from and when I said Calgary, Alberta, the person replied with sorrow ‘ah home of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo.’ Many around the world and Canada are appalled at this yearly event. I’m ashamed that these cruel rodeo events are what Calgary is known for as this annual 10 day event does not represent the majority of Calgarians.

I also think about all the animals who were practiced on and the fact that the Stampede Rodeo is one of the biggest rodeo events in North America, if not THE biggest, so this one event ensures smaller rodeos stay alive too. It’s not just about these 10 days, but the bigger picture of what we are supporting.

It seems everywhere I turn I hear conversations about the rodeo, showing off new leather products purchased and what animals people will eat or have eaten. Animal cruelty is heightened at this time for me, it is really in my face. Being vegan in a non vegan world is hard enough, but during Stampede it’s even more difficult for me.

My only wish is for peace and compassion, for animals to not be harmed and mutilated and used and killed and endlessly exploited by humans. Why is that such an outrageous concept for people to get behind and support? Why am I so weird for speaking up? I thought we all loved animals? Where is everyone? The silence is deafening.

To protect my own sanity and to ensure I can remain active year round, I felt compelled to create my own vegan event where I can give back to the vegan advocates in my life and to showcase vegans can have fun during the Stampede.

We hosted a vegan Stampede brunch over the weekend, complete with a photo station for our guests with an amazing spread of vegan options for brunch: tofu scramble, hashbrowns, beyond breakfast sausages, coconut yogurt, granola and maple syrup, pancakes and fruit. None of us vegans are over here wishing we could eat animals, we are beyond happy with our plethora of delicious options. We even had some guests bring chickpea coconut curry and a fried rice dish with tofu. Traditions can CHANGE. It’s not important that we eat bacon and eggs together or that we watch horses forced to race and bucking bulls, what’s important is social connection.

During my first Stampede event as a vegan, I was pleased to see there was a vegan food option at lunch I attended and there was no donkey! I was so thrilled I decided to send the host a note to thank them for the vegan option and for EXCLUDING the donkey they had on site in previous years. I added I was not comfortable with animals being used as entertainment. Even as a non vegan I didn’t feel good about the donkey being there for our entertainment. I am pleased to report that this same event this year had a photo booth instead of a donkey as entertainment. I have no idea if that is because of my simple thank you note, but I am thankful nonetheless.

I ended up sharing this simple idea in an animal advocate thread on social media when I was just starting to dip my toe into activism. My assumption at that time was that people in Canada understood that the Stampede and Stampede themed events were separate from the Rodeo and Chuckwagon races. My other assumption was that vegans generally would be opposed to the rodeo and chucks, but wouldn’t have an issue with the rest of the Stampede and I couldn’t have been more wrong on my assumptions. I think if people are not from Calgary, they do not understand it becomes like Christmas in the sense that everyone gets into decorating, playing country music and hosting events across the City.

My current coach and incredible human, Kimberly Carroll jumped in the thread and backed me up. She also took the time to provide me feedback in a private message. She truly saved me in that moment and plucked me up from a black hole of questioning myself and saved me from completely giving up on activism. Last time we chatted, I told her she has saved me many times from making horrible decisions and she is the reasonable, ethical vegan I needed to help me find my way on this new path.

So yes, there is division and/or confusion in the vegan community over whether a person can attend the Stampede as a vegan, but my personal thoughts are that you can. Even the Animal Justice petition is asking to ban rodeo events in Alberta, they are not asking to ban the entire Stampede.

As I type this, I came across a blog post just published by a local ranch who sells beef, pork and eggs. Their post talked about the fact that the rodeo and chucks do not reflect real ranching practices and I commend them for speaking up on this. They specifically stated ‘riding bulls is truly for entertainment only as there’s no practical reason for doing this.’ The post goes on to talk about historical accounts of cattle drivers in the 1800s. The cowboys had to move large herds to pasture or load cattle onto trains to be shipped to market. There were no fences or handling facilities so it was imperative they could move the animals in a calm manner where the cattle would walk at a comfortable pace in the right direction without the cowboy resorting to using force or fear. It was counterproductive to profits to risk upsetting the animals.

While riding wild broncs was done to train horses in the old west, gentler approaches such as non-restraint methods of training are used today. They said that it is unlikely steer wrestling was ever practiced historically as most cowboys’ were competent ropers and could restrain an animal without resorting to manhandling him to the ground.

While chuckwagons were used historically, it is unlikely they were racing across extremely rough native prairie. Slow and steady prevented breaking wheels or spilling goods.

Lastly they discuss that calf roping does happen some times, but most ranchers do not want to chase a calf at full gallop and bring them to a stop abruptly. It’s dangerous for the calf, the rider and the horse. Instead if a calf needs to be restrained on pasture, the cowboys usually rope their back feet at a walk, not their necks at full speed.

The Stampede’s indicates their purpose is to preserve and celebrate western heritage, culture, and community spirit, but we aren’t even doing that. Turns out the rodeo ISN’T even a good representation of our western heritage nor is it representative of current ranch culture. Does anyone even know WHY they are supporting this event? My past self’s reason was to get out of the sun and drink. What in the sam hell kind of outrageous reasoning is that? That or I went because I was given a free ticket.

Each year there is a rodeo protest, something my husband used to attend (his heart has always been naturally more vegan than mine). My husband has always hated using animals for entertainment and vocally spoke up when I would attend such events.

That said, I do not believe it is enough to just be vegan. Animals are being slaughtered in record numbers year over year and we are killing this planet with our consumption of animals. If you are vegan and awake, I do think we have a duty to speak up in whatever capacity is sustainable for you. Whether you are vegan or not, please consider donating to help secure legal protections for animals. Two organizations I love are Animal Justice and the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. We cannot leave it to industry to voluntarily protect animals, they will not when profit is involved which is why we need legal protection for animals which can be upheld in a court of law. We have become too busy, too distracted and too complacent as a society. Now is the time to speak up. If not now, then when? If not you, then who?

My coach Kimberly says it’s always good to ask yourself what is best for the animals and that is the final perspective I take here. Is it best for the animals for me to showcase a life of loneliness and isolation and not attend social events where animal flesh is served? Or is it best for the animals that I show up if I can handle it? I choose the latter. While I ate my delicious breakfast and the non-vegans were moaning about their dry chicken sausage, I was able to invite them to try my beyond sausage. I want to be a shining example of the vegan lifestyle and in this way, hope to inspire others to join me. How can I be a shining example if I proclaimed I had to sit at my desk and skip the event because it’s Stampede themed or because animals are served? The sad reality is I live in a non vegan world, so I’m always going to be in a better position to help the animals if I can show that being vegan is easy and that I am living a life that is worth emulating.

Please sign and share this Animal Justice petition to ban Rodeo Events in Alberta and learn more about the Stampede Rodeo here. The Stampede is so much more than the rodeo events and we do not need these cruel events for the Stampede to exist.

As the link above states:

‘these animals are not willing participants or athletes—they are forced into participating, and will be whipped, prodded, or kicked if they don’t.’

‘The Vancouver Humane Society began tracking animal deaths at the Stampede in 1986. Since that time, over 100 cows and horses have been tragically killed in rodeos. Horses often suffer heart attacks or break legs and are euthanized, and calves can break bones as they are thrown in rope events. Animals die virtually every year at the Stampede.‘

People think it’s extreme there are some people who think the rodeo and chuckwagon races should be banned. I think it’s extreme these animals are forced to participate and risk injury or death. No one deserves to die for our entertainment.

Peace, love & plants,

Michelle 😊

p.s. If you made it with me to the end, thank you for sticking with me. Please don’t forget to sign and learn more and share with others.