Jaret Cooper is a Calgary Stampede champion.
The 18-year-old won the novice saddle bronc event at the Stampede, with impressive scores on Monday and Tuesday.
Saddle bronc is where a cowboy strives to hold onto the horse for eight seconds, while the animal attempts to 'buck' the individual off.
Currently, the Armstrong native is a student at Olds College in Alberta, competing for their rodeo team. He attended high school in Vernon and was named the 2018 Canadian junior roughstock champion in saddle bronc and the 2020 BC high school rodeo association saddle bronc champion.
At the legendary rodeo early this week, Cooper started off with an impressive first place score of 69, atop the horse Einstein Quest. He followed that up the next day with a second place scoring of 66 aboard Empire Warrior.
“The first horse, he bucked pretty crazy,” said Cooper. “I was out of the saddle, back on, but I toughed it out to make it work. The second horse, I’d heard of him and seen him before, he’s a nice horse and I was expecting him to be tough. I started out good, then he got really strong and I was able to make a score happen.”
For more information on Cooper, click here.
The Stampede is wrapping up this weekend, click here for more information on the events.
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