A veteran railbird will be on the other side of the rail this Canada Day.
Phoebe Bushnell has been a spectator at the Millarville Stock Horse Races for more than a decade. This year she plans to be racing with her horse Willie.
“I have been going to the Millarvillle races since I moved here from England 11 years ago,” the 23-year-old Bushnell said. “I have wanted to race since I was little, and I never had the horse for it.
“My horse isn’t the fastest, but he is a real stock horse... I finally have the courage to do it.”
It’s an-old fashioned horse race. There is no starting gate. The horses line up and with the dropping of a flag, they run down the Millarville track backstretch a distance of about 350 yards. There are no corners.
“It’s just a short race,” Bushnell said. “There are only three rules; you have to own it to ride it, it can’t have a lip-tattoo (designating a racing thoroughbred) and you have to use a western saddle.”
The majority of the horses are like Willie, a quarter-horse.
Bushnell has loved her experience at the Millarville races with her friends and family.
“We just parked ourselves on the rail and have a barbecue. I know a lot of people who ride and I just love the stock race,” she said. "When I first started going it was pretty much everybody just brought their ranch horse to race. It was really fun to watch.”
The six-year-old Willie was broke by Bushnell at the family home in Millarville. Willie is a jack-of-all-trades, he can cut, he is pretty fast, but he hasn’t done a lot of racing experience, other than the odd fun race with friends.
“I have started to do a lot of reining so he might have a little bit of a mental block – ‘Oh you actually want me to get moving’ kind of thing,” she said. “He has never raced formally.”
While there will be pari-mutuel betting on the thoroughbred races at Millarville on Canada Day that’s not the case in the stock races.
“Everybody bets along the rail and in the stands,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know if I am going to bet.”
If she does, it will be on the up-and-up. The Oilfields High School graduate is a criminal justice major at Mount Royal University.
Rob Kroeger is racing in his third stock race this Friday. He has some sound advice for Bushnell.
“You need to have a good start because it is a real short race,” Kroeger said. “And enjoy yourself.”
One of the reasons Kroeger ran his first stock day race in 2009 was because his quarter-horse would get all shook up in a crowd.
“Elvis had difficulty being around people,” he said. “I figured if I could get him to run past a crowd, it would help.
“And he is fast. If a guy owns a fast horse, he wants to race him once in awhile.”
It’s the thrill of the race Kroeger enjoys.
“I’m from Zimbabwe and we used to have gymkhana races there but for me, this is western, it’s a real adventure for me,” he said. “I live out here, west of Millarville and I love the country fair atmosphere.” The race is also good for horses. Elvis is comfortable around crowds now as long as the folks don’t be cruel.
“Yes it helped Elvis,” Kroeger said with a laugh. “Three years later he is much calmer… Nothing like time with horses.”
The stock horse races will have a minimum of five horses and a maximum of 10 at one time.
They start at 12:30 p.m. following the sidesaddle race at 12:15 p.m. on Canada Day.
The thoroughbred races will start at approximately 1 p.m.
The Millarville Race Track is approximately 25 kilometres west of Okotoks on Secondary Highway 549.
For more information about the races or to enter the stock race or sidesaddle race go to www.millarvilleracetrack.com or call 403-931-3411.
