Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Canada was not able to have any professional rodeos in 2020 and the pattern has continued into this year as well.
The situation has forced more Canadian cowboys to spend more time south in the United States and trying to get to as many rodeos as they could.
Tie-down roper Kyle Lucas and bareback rider Mike Solberg joined Amy Wilson to discuss the challenges of being a Canadian rodeo athlete in the year 2021.
Lucas says he is fortunate enough to have a place in Arizona he was able to get to in May. He has been there ever since, except for a few trips to Canada to load horses. Having the Arizona house is something he is grateful for, but he still felt the challenges of not knowing when and where to enter in the States at certain points.
Solberg says he knows some Canadian rodeos are hoping to go on as scheduled in 2021 and if that’s the case, he’ll be there. But his main goal this year is the yellow bucking chutes of the Wrangler NFR, he says.