It must have been a devastating decision for the High River Agricultural Society, but it was the right one.
Last week after some horses were confirmed to have equine herpes, the High River ag society wasted little time in cancelling its historic Little Britches Rodeo and even banning horses from the pre-rodeo parade.
The drastic steps were taken to ensure the highly contagious and fatal equine disease did not spread any further.
The Okotoks Agricultural Society was quick to follow suit. The Millarville Ag Society, while not closing its facilities, is taking precautionary measures. A fund-raising rodeo this Saturday has been cancelled for example.
Ag societies hold only a handful of major events each year and they depend on the revenue from those events to fund their operations for the remainder of the year.
As a result, cancelling events like the Little Britches Rodeo is costly.
However, not cancelling the event could have proved more costly if the equine herpes outbreak spread and it forced the cancelation of more events like the Guy Weadick Rodeo or Millarville Races.
The local ag societies should be commended for how quickly they reacted to what was potential disaster. Thanks to their tough decisions the remaining summer schedule should go on.
As for Little Britches, a rainy Monday should relieve some of the sting of having to cancel the historic rodeo.
