KISBEY - Wade Rempel is a legend in the rodeo business. He is a pick-up man and is known to many across Canada.
Recently he attended a practice event at Bar J Ranch near Kisbey to show Greg and Cody Johnston how to make a safe and quick pick-up.
Rempel lives near Swift Current but has travelled as far north as Lac La Biche, as far west as Vancouver, as far east as Toronto and as far south as Houston, Tex.
Wade and his brother Gary Rempel are avid horseback riders and were contacted by Jerry Myers, a large stock contractor, when they were in their early 20s to help with rodeo pick-ups.
The first trick of the trade, said Rempel, is knowing how to ride a horse well. Knowing the horse is an essential part of working together. Not all horses work, and some are not cut out to be pick-up horses.
Rempel has been in the rodeo line of work for over 40 years. He has ridden the community pastures for the Saskatchewan Provincial Pastures Land (SPPL) program for 46 years, and he has had plenty of experience in the saddle.
The work for the SPPL involves overseeing thousands of acres of land on horseback, and the cattle that roam on this land are the responsibility of these riders.
When Rempel looks for a horse, it needs to be conformationally correct, well-built and a gelding and have speed, energy and looks.
He uses running quarter horses and usually geldings. The horse needs to be alert and not afraid of bucking horses and bulls.
In winter, Rempel's six horses are turned out, but if an event comes up, they are brought up to the barn and worked to get them winded and back into shape.
He uses one horse for about 10 pick-ups and then brings out another. All his horses are trained for this job.
He does not like to work them too hard in the winter. Since they have their winter coats, horses sweat faster, and when they are soaked to the skin it takes a long time for them to dry off.
Rempel and his brother have ridden in hundreds of rodeos, which included the Calgary Stampede for 39 years. At rodeos, pick-up men are guys that keep the riders safe from the bucking animals. They need to be quick, but not too quick not to interfere with the ride, and the timing needs to be correct. Rempel's horses also need to have nerves of steel to slide in beside a bucking horse to remove the flank and to get the bulls out of the arena by chasing or roping them.
In all of his many rides, he has only had one accident, which occurred in the community pasture when a horse landed on him. Rempel broke 11 ribs, cut his liver, flattened his colon, deflated one lung and broke his eye socket and had to be airlifted to the hospital, since the accident occurred in an area that a vehicle could not get to. He remained in the hospital for three days and one month later was back on a horse.
Soon Rempel will begin his rodeo season, which runs from April until October, with most of his weekends filled.
This unsung hero of the rodeo world will continue to do this job as long as he is healthy and fit, as for him, it is a way of life that he loves.
