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Eight horses die after being spooked in trail ride ahead of Calgary Stampede
CALGARY - Eight of the Calgary Stampede's prized rodeo horses died Sunday when they tumbled off a bridge into the Bow River near the end of a 200-kilometre trail ride.
Stampede officials are trying to determine if more of the 200 animals on the trail ride perished. They were being led by a chuckwagon over the Ogden Road bridge in the city's southeast end when some of the horses got spooked. The animals began thrusting forward and bunching up on the bridge, sending some of them tumbling into the water. "We're still counting our animals," said Stampede spokesman Lindsey Galloway. "These are our star athletes. Suffice it to say it's a tragedy from our perspective." The trail ride was organized to celebrate the province's centennial year as part of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, which begins Friday. On Tuesday, 200 wild horses left from the Stampede Ranch near Hanna, Alta., led by a chuckwagon and accompanied by approximately 50 trail riders. They were to travel across open prairie land, stopping in several communities along the way. They were scheduled to arrive in Calgary on Sunday at 3 p.m. Spectators had come out to watch the horses make their way through the city. The accident happened 10 minutes before they would have arrived at Stampede Park, Galloway said. Trail riders roped some horses and pulled them from the river. Some of the animals managed to swim across to the river bank, while those that safely crossed the bridge were standing along the road, which was being blocked off along the way by police. Several riders continued on to Stampede Park with the remaining horses, while others stayed behind to continue searching. "They are really upset," Galloway said. "They got really close to these animals." The wild horses, called bucking stock, are kept at Stampede Ranch in Hanna, northeast of Calgary, and normally transported to the Stampede in trailers. They take part in a number of events through the 10-day stampede, including the daily rodeos. "The idea of the trail ride is to try and recreate some of the romance of the Old West," Galloway said. The same route was taken for trail rides in 1987 and 2000 with no incidents, Galloway said. The animals travelled over the same bridge in 2000. He said it's not known why the horses got spooked, but witnesses are being interviewed. Galloway said the chuckwagon driver pulled his groin. No spectators or trail riders were injured **** Just wondered if any of our Albertan (??) members can explain what happened here, if they have more info than the story is giving. I'm not familiar with the area, how do that many horses die ...? |
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