For the third time in the event’s 21-year history, a team of Douglas Lake cowboys has won the prestigious Medicine Tree Ranch Rodeo in Nanton, Alta.
Cow boss Stan Jacobs, foremen Steve Brewer and Cameron Jacobs (Stan’s son), and ranch hand Sam Woodman combined to win one event, finish second in two others, and garner a pair of fifths to give Douglas Lake a total of 47 points – eight more than the second-place Sam Emideo Ranch and 14 points better than Sleepy Springs Ranch in third. A total of 16 teams took part in this year’s competition.
“As a team, we had a really good day,” Brewer said. “There’s always a bit of luck involved, and we were getting a lot of it.”
The Douglas Lake foursome took first in sorting and second in the wild horse race. The other second came courtesy of the younger Jacobs in bronc riding. The fifths came in team branding and wild cow milking.
Brewer, who was a member of the two previous Douglas Lake winning teams in 1999 and 2000, and was voted Top Hand at this year’s competition, said, “Medicine Tree is kind of the cream of the crop of all ranch rodeos. Winning in Nanton is always special.”
In other rodeo news, Merritt’s two representatives at the Canadian High School Rodeo Finals, also in Nanton, both came home with top-six placings.
Fallon Fosbery and her horse, Dutch, finished up fourth in ladies’ barrel racing with a combined time of 49.108 seconds. The winner was Vanessa Legett from Kamloops (48.427 seconds). Amy Pozzobon and her horse, Rigs, placed fifth in ladies’ pole bending with a total time of 65.272 seconds.
