14 | 2021 Umatilla County Fair & Farm City Pro Rodeo | East Oregonian & Hermiston Herald
Calgary
Stampede’s
top broncs to work FCPR
Bareback horse
Grated Coconut
is one of the top
bucking horses
to ever come out
of Calgary Stam-
pede’s Born to
Buck program.
Grated Coconut
was retired in 2010,
but several of his
off spring carry on
his legacy.
Calgary Stampede/
Contributed Photo
By ANNIE FOWLER
EO Media Group
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The Calgary Stampede’s Born to
Buck program is well known and
respected, and has turned out some of
the top horses in the business since the
early 1960s.
Keith Marrington has been bringing
Calgary Stampede stock to the Farm-
City Pro Rodeo for nearly a dozen
years, and even though Hermiston is a
long haul from Alberta, Canada, he said
the trip is well worth it.
“It’s a good show for us,” Mar-
rington said. “Calgary Stampede is a
pretty good brand. We get our horses
exposed and our brand is out there. It’s
a competitive business out there. We
make some pretty good money down
there. We’ve been working Hermis-
ton with the same guys for a number of
years. It’s a good cohesive group of peo-
ple who know the business well. We do
what we can to make the Farm-City Pro
Rodeo successful.”
Marrington said the key to keep-
ing their horses in top form is not to
overwork them. Each horse will buck
an average of 12 rodeos a year leading
into the National Finals Rodeo and the
Canadian Finals Rodeo.
“We don’t overbuck them,” he said.
“That’s the name of the game. We keep
them fresh.”
Some of the top horses that have
come out of the Calgary Stampede pro-
gram are Coconut Roll, Grated Coco-
nut, Special Delivery, Stampede War-
rior, Trail Dust and Tiger Warrior.
Grated Coconut is the king of the
herd. He was inducted into the ProRo-
deo Hall of Fame in 2020. He earned
six Bareback Horse of the Year titles
(2003-04 and 2006-09). He was retired
in 2010. Of his children, at least 45 are
competing at the top level of rodeo
athletes, with several qualifying for
both the NFR and the Canadian Finals
Rodeo.
“We are excited about our young
stock,” Marrington said. “We have
some excellent potential. We start them
off at 4 with a dummy saddle, make
sure they are used to the chute, check
out their athletic ability, whether they
want to be a bareback or a bronc, and
whether they go left or right. It’s a pro-
cess to go through. Just like any other
athlete. It’s an interesting time of year
when you start working with young
horses.”