Manitoba Government NEWS Information Services Branch Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg SERVICE MANITOBA Phone 946-7175 Date: July 8, 1970.

ROYALTY TO SEE HORSES Few Canadians are familiar with the cutting horse contest, but it's a sport well known to the Duke of Edinburgh. The Royal Family will view an exhibition of this fascinating skill when they visit Swan River July 11. Native to this continent, the cutting horse was developed and trained as a working animal in the early ranching days when herd law prevailed. The horse had to out-think and out-guess a specific steer in the herd -- "cutting" it out of the herd for branding or other purposes. Only recently has the valuable skill been transferred to the contest arena as a spectator sport. A cool, calm performance on the part of both horse and rider is required to out-think the steer using terrific short bursts of speed, the ability to turn in mid-air, fabulous footwork and perfect co-ordination between horse and rider. It was this uncanny ability -- developed originally out of need-- that impressed the Duke of Edinburgh during his 1963 western tour, so much so that he became a patron of the Canadian Cutting Horse Association. The Duke sat on a fence post at the Douglas Lake Cattle Company in the interior of , watched the exhibition and before his visit was over showed a fair bit of finesse in the sport himself. When he returned to Britain, he arranged for a tour by representatives of the Canadian association. Six horses and nine members of the association put on 17 well- received shows in England. The group also brought a quarter horse to the Duke as a present. With proper training, any horse can be a cutting horse, an association spokesman said, but the quarter horse develops the skill particularly well. The Royal Tour at Swan River begins at 6:25 p.m. with the arrival at the CNR station of the train carrying the Royal visitors. A 35-minute drive through the town of approximately 3,600 will take the visitors down Fourth, Nein, Tenth Avenue and First Street to the fairgrounds. The town annually produces a highly successful at the fairgrounds which features the cutting horse exhibition, racing which the Royal Family will also see during their visit here, and chariot races. -more- •

-2- ROYALTY TO SEE CUTTING HORSES

Members of the Swan River centennial committee will greet the Royal Family at the fairgrounds and escort them to their seats in the 5,000-seat grandstand. Here, the Royal Family will view a miniature rodeo including the cutting horse exhibition by five of the top riders and cutting horses in Manitoba. The contestants will each have two and a half minutes to demonstrate the ability of their horses -- regulation time now established for the contest. Each horse and rider will pick an animal from the herd which will give them maximum play and action -- action which is accompanied by the risk of penalties for being out of position, and many other faults, not to mention the severe penalty if the steer is lost back to the herd. In judging the performance, the judges award marks ranging from between 60 and 80 points before penalties. The Queen will present a trophy for the best exhibition of cutting horse skill, and the family will move back to the cars by about 7:30 p.m. The party travels than to the Swan Valley Lodge where they will meet some of the area's senior citizens. The car procession departs again at 7:50 p.m. for the train station, and the overnight ride to Dauphin.