Alberta rodeo family's life on hold due to pandemic

This is usually the busiest time for southern Alberta rodeo competitors, but the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped many of those athletes in their tracks.

Grady Quam should be preparing for his team roping event at the Ponoka Stampede this weekend, but now the 20-year-old isstuck at the family acreage near Airdrie, Alta.,practising his technique on a plastic roping dummy.

"I kind of felt like this year I was the most prepared, my financial was the best it ever had been. So I was ready and eager to go. Then all this happens and then we got nothing to go to," said Quam, who has been in rodeo his whole life.

He won the southwest college regionals in Texas last year and competed in the U.S. national college finals in Caspar, Wyo., while going to school in Texas.

"I don't remember not having a rope in my hand or not being around horses every day," he said.

Quam has now won enough money to earn professional status, and he was on his way to returning to the Canadian Finals Rodeo this fall in Red Deer,in whichhe competed in 2018, but that's cancelled, too, along with the Calgary Stampede.

Quam said he's disappointed, but he's using the time to keep preparing for next season.

"I'm 20, I'm young, and kind of just want to be on the road all summer long," he said.

The Calgary Stampede one of the world's richest rodeos with over $2 million in prize money was called off for the first time in almost a century because of the pandemic.

And nearly 50 Canadian rodeos have either been cancelled or postponed, too, as have many stand-alone competitions, such as the Professional Bull Riders Canada events.

Some American rodeos are operating this summer, but the Canada-U.S. border is closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21.

Grady's sister, 16-year-old Reese Quam, who competes in barrel racing, says the pandemic cut short what was shaping up to be a good season for her.

"I was sad at first because I was doing pretty good in the standings for high school," she said.

She says she's also missing seeing her friends in the sport.

"A lot of us don't really live close. Like, some of them are more than three hours away. I was a little sad, but hopefully I'll see them next year," she said.

In the meantime, she says she has a summer job and she'll spend this summer closer to home.

"So I'm just going to work, hang out with friends, maybe go to, like, more bonfires," she said.

The rodeo athletes' mom, Tammy Quam, says the family is usually on the road every weekend from March until October.

"We're not packing up the trailer, we're not packing up the kids, so it was different. It's our whole life, socially, everything," she said.

"Our busiest year was 2017. We took the kids everywhere. We've been to Gallup, New Mexico, Des Moines, Iowa. We've been everywhere."

The family says they're taking everything in stride, but they're still ready to go in a moment's notice if rodeo makes a comeback this year.

"It's our life," Tammy said.

"Everything we do revolves around rodeo."