The stampede came to an end 2 weeks ago and The WPCA has taken me through two more stops on the tour. After not qualifing for the top 10 and a garranted spot, back to the Calgary Stampede in 2008, the pressure is mounting.
I went to Edmonton, hoping to have the same or better success as last years 3rd place finish, and was of my most dissapointing Edmonton shows in my career. It has been a year of could, would ,and should of done some things different. A very heavy track and some horses coming up with some lung infection different horses had to be used and they just did not perform as they should of. The extreme heat that we have had this summer and a lot of racing left , three of the horses i use of barrel one and two were left at home for rest and relaxation. Hopefully getting them back healthy and rejuvenated will set me up for a stong finish in Drumheller and the rest of the year.
Drumhellerr we continued to have lots of hot and dry weather and the show was ran with great attendance and i believe good beer sales. The saturday afternoon the temperature was 36 degrees in the shade and 56.2 in the sun. Lots of water used on the horses to keep them cool and i doubled there electolytes. I had a average show ended up 14 th in the show and held on to 17th in the world.
The strategy is a key now with only three weeks left and 14 days of racing to QUALIFY for The Greatest Outdoor Show on the Earth. I have had the great fortune to qualify every year, and I have been having better results every year . It is a wagon drivers dream to be there and a nightmare to miss it.
Thanks again to ATB my sponsor in Calgary. They were again, great to work with and I took something home from ATB, that i will always recongize ,after having ,ATB working in conjuction with the childrens hospital, the visit the children had at the barns and going to the hospital to visit children that could not come to the barns . I learnt that I am blessed to have a lovely family (wife Dori and three healthy children) and freinds and that I get to race chuckwagons and meet all sorts of people and that there are less fortunate people in this world and that everyone should remember that it could be worse. Missing the stampede in 2008 would be very hard to take , but having sick children would be even harder to take and I take my COWBOY HAT off to every family that has to go through it and open my heart up to you if you need something as smalll as me sending a poster, or another visit to the hospital I can try to be there.
Chad Harden