Competing with his horse in extreme cowboy races has kept 80-year-old Jim Ochs young.
The Kansas cowboy raced against the best of the best through the gruelling obstacles of the Cowboy Up Challenge at the Calgary Stampede this week.
“It’s kept me healthy and young – for my age,” said Ochs on Wednesday.
Ochs and his wife, Joyce, hail from Gridley, Kansas, a tiny town about 178 kilometres northeast of Wichita. They are among the 360 people who live there.
The two met at a college rodeo club that Ochs helped start. He had become interested in horses in high school and participated in rodeo for a few years. But his love for horses was set aside when Ochs served in the American military and began raising three kids with Joyce.
Following his military service, Ochs landed a job in education and ended up in a principal role for nearly 40 years.
“After retiring, my wife said, ‘Jim, why don’t we get a horse?’ I didn’t really want to, I’d been away from it for so long. But we got one.”
He got into the Extreme Cowboy Race community and has competed for 12 years. This is his fourth year with his current horse, A Moonlit Request.
Calgary Stampede’s Cowboy Up Challenge highly selective
Ochs was thrilled to receive an invitation to compete in the Calgary Stampede’s Cowboy Up Challenge, after having success in US competitions.
The Cowboy Up Challenge judges both horse and riders’ skills as they maneuver through 13 obstacles, including jumps, water and other terrain.
“You have to memorize the course. And you’re not given much time to do that,” Ochs said. “I’m always pretty nervous until I start, and then that all goes away.”
With speed and agility, the team of horse and rider work together to negotiate their way through the course. According to the Calgary Stampede, their event is the most viewed and highest paying extreme cowboy race in the world. First prize in the championship round is $10,000, followed by prizes of $1,000 to $5,000 for the rest of the competitors.
Only a select few are invited to compete. This year’s event has nine competitors, five from Alberta, three from the US and one from Australia.
Ochs won hearts of Calgary audience
“I had my 80th birthday in February, and to compete with these people has been very challenging. I haven’t been winning, but I’ve had a great time,” said Ochs of the three days of the competition.
“With the size of the crowd, the lights and the music, my horse is a little bit out of his element. Me too, actually. We both are out of our comfort zone.”
“And the other riders are the best of the best.”
Och posted respectable scores and said he’s knocked competing at the Calgary Stampede off his bucket list. He not only won the hearts of the Cowboy Up audience, who cheered loudly for him, but was honoured by the Calgary Stampede organization with an award for strength of character.
“It was totally unexpected, and I’m humbled,” he said.
