They build cowboys young and strong in the Black Diamond area.
Black Diamond’s Jake Burwash, 13, competed in the Junior High School National Rodeo championships in Gallup, New Mexico this week.
He was in several events including saddling up a steer to ride as part of the Build A Cowboy event in Gallup, which is a new program developed with the assistance of his father, former Calgary Stampede and Canadian bareback champion Robin Burwash.
“It’s called Build A Cowboy and what you do is ride a steer either bareback or with a saddle,” Jake said prior to leaving for the finals. “They do it on steers because the kids are in Grade 6 and 7. So you are trying to build up until they are strong enough to get on a horse… My dad started it a while ago.”
Jake is getting close to being strong enough. He finished in first place in the bareback and saddle steer events in the provincial high school standings at the end of the season.
The Build A Cowboy program is recognized in Alberta, but it is a demonstration sport in Gallup.
However, Jake isn’t going to Gallup just to be in an exhibition — he plans to compete and win.
Jake, a Grade 8 student at J.T. Foster School in Nanton, qualified for the nationals in Gallup by finishing third in the goat-tying, ribbon robbing and chute dogging in the final provincial standings.
The top four qualified for the Nationals.
“I really like the ribbon roping and the calf-roping,” Burwash said. “And kind of second to that is the chute dogging.”
Chute dogging is when the youngster wrestles down a steer, however, the young bulldoggers don’t jump off the horse. The competitor begins in the chute with a steer and once the chute opens they run into the arena and try to wrestle the steer to the ground.
“It’s all technique,” Jake said. “There are a lot of smaller kids who can wrestle down some big steers.”
He credited his ribbon-roping partner, Madison Kundert of Blackie, for earning a trip to Gallup
It’s Burwash’s job to rope the calf, and then the speedy Kundert grabs a ribbon from the bovine’s tail and then dashes across a finish line.
The young Burwash will compete in timed events at Gallup, but he insists he’s not just a “timey”. He is also a “roughie”, someone who also competes in the rough stock events like bareback or the saddle bronc.
“I want to be an all-around and to me that is someone who does timed and roughstock,” Burwash said. “I would like to steer wrestle or rope cows and maybe rope calves.”
He will see plenty of talented all-around athletes in Gallup.
Burwash finished 43rd overall in the goat-tying and was 72 in the chute-doggin.
There were the best of young cowboys and cowgirls competing at nationals with representation from 42 states, Canada and Australia.
