A Longview barrel racer is competing in her first Calgary Stampede with some sage advice from a guy who has been there before — her dad.
“Dad is helping me with more of the mental side,” said Kylie Whiteside about her pa Travis. “He helps me keep my head level. He’s been there and knows how it feels.
“When I have tough times, he teaches me how to come out of those and keep my head up.”
Kylie, a 19-year-old graduate of St. Luke’s Outreach School, is up in Pool A of the Calgary Stampede July 5-8.
“I am very excited to just get there and get started,” said Whiteside four days before making her Stampede debut.
She said she has struggled as of late — not cashing a cheque in rodeos in Airdrie or the Ponoka Stampede last weekend, but she has had a consistent season. Whiteside currently sits eighth in the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association.
Her first time competing in the Stampede, but far from her first time being at the Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth.
“As a little kid, I remember watching my dad ride there all the time,” Kylie said. “Sitting in the contestants’ grandstands and standing on the fence waiting for my dad to ride.
“Those are my longest and first memories of the Stampede.”
Travis was the 1997 Canadian bareback champion and he and his wife Dusti have been instrumental introducing daughters, Kylie and Brandi — along with other Foothills youth — to rodeo.
Brandi is presently seventh in the Canadian standings and will be at the Stampede cheering her older sister on.
Now just days from her first Stampede, Kylie is cautiously optimistic she is ready for her debut after some slower times as of late.
“I am just hoping my horses are feeling their best,” Kylie said. “They seem to be feeling healthy, but I don’t think my good one (Hooey) has been clocking as well as he could be.”
She is going to the big dance with the one that got her there. She plans to turn the cloverleaf pattern on top of Hooey.
“I have not ever run him on that big of a stage so I am hoping he will fire off all that energy there,” she said.
Jess, her younger horse, may also get a chance to run in Calgary.
“He is a little greener, has never even come close to running on that big of stage,” Whiteside said. “The closest thing was the Ponoka Stampede.”
Her strategy is to try to treat Canada’s biggest rodeo like she was competing in Stavely or in the slack at the Guy Weadick Days Rodeo.
“I am honestly taking it like any other rodeo – that’s all I am doing,” Kylie said. “That just helps me stay level-headed and knowing what I need to do.
“The way I like to think of it is there are three barrels and I got to get around them. I have to do that every time.”
The Calgary Stampede format has 10 competitors in Pool A and Pool B. Pool A will go from July 5-8 with the top four moving on to the Sunday Showdown for $100,00 on July 14. Pool B goes July 9-12.
Those six in both pools who don’t make the top 4, will compete in Wildcard Saturday on July 13. The top two from Wildcard Saturday will advance to the July 14 final.
Other Foothills area competitors at the 2019 Calgary Stampede are: Pool A: Bull riding. Jordan Hansen, Foothills Comp grad. Pool B: Bareback — Pascal Isabelle, Okotoks; Bull riding — Brock Radford, DeWinton.
