Canadian steer wrestler Ryan Shuckburgh is enjoying early season success.
The Innisfail, Alberta bulldogger who finished second in Canada behind Scott Guenthner and 26th in the world in 2025 has a couple of boxes he’d like to check. A Canadian title and a National Finals Rodeo qualification are the top priorities.
And the productive start to his season has him nicely placed to close the deal on both of those goals. A couple of weekend wins on this side of the 49th parallel will help in both areas. Shuckburgh’s 4.7 second run at the Kananaskis Pro Rodeo in Coleman netted the eight year pro $2334 and he split top honours at the Taber Spring Classic where he and Ben Mitchell turned in 4.0 second runs – giving each a $2253 payday.
For Shuckburgh the double victories moved him to second place in the Canadian standings snapping at the heels of the early season leader—Pacean Deleeuw. And on the south side of the Medicine line, the five-time CFR qualifier entered the weekend in 16th place in the world standings. Depending on what some of the other contenders did on the weekend, Shuckburgh could head into this week in the all-important top 15 in the world.
It’s the best start to a season of his career, eclipsing the solid start he had one year ago when he finished up second in Canada and in 26th spot on the world stage. The 28-year-old points to a few changes he has made for the 2026 season.
“I’m trying to put less pressure on myself and that seems to be helping,” Shuckburgh noted. “I’m just trying not to think about things, just go out there and do it, treat it like it’s just another part of my day.”
In addition to the mental side of the game, Shuckburgh is also on a different mount for the 2026 campaign. “I’d been riding Eddie, Tanner Milan’s great horse, but Eddie was a little sore after the NFR and didn’t come down south this winter. I’ve been riding Matt Richardson’s good horse, Miner, everywhere and it’s been going really well. He scores great, he runs a good pattern and he’s fast. He just does all the things you want a good steer wrestling horse to do, and he gives you a chance to win every single time. When you’re getting horns every time, it’s up to you. You just gotta throw them down and hopefully you get paid.”
Miner came to Matt Richardson from the Wilsons in Cardston—he’s a Ninety Nine Gold Mine bred horse out of the Beierbach program at Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. As for his double-win weekend, the veteran bulldogger was philosophical.
“It’s kind of boom or bust in the spring up here in Canada. The steers are older and a lot of them are good but there’s dang sure ones you want and ones you don’t want. I drew a couple of good ones and it worked out great.”
As for those goals he referenced earlier, that part hasn’t changed a lot. “Obviously, it’s good to go to the CFR every year and that’s a huge deal and the NFR has been a goal of mine for a long time. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Matt’s horse and I’ve got a pretty high batting average on him, so we’ll see how it goes. But as I said before, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. Everywhere you go it’s the same blue chute with a steer in the chute and a barrier strung in front of you and away you go. We’ll see where we’re at in October.”
And while it’s only April, the start Ryan Shuckburgh has to his season is certainly reason for big-time optimism as the 2026 rodeo season rolls on.
And the Canadian saddle bronc riding machine that keeps producing talented young riders year after year hasn’t, apparently, slowed down. Latest off the assembly line is the third-generation cowboy—Blain Pengelly. And like Shuckburgh, the talented rookie collected a pair of wins, riding Big Stone Rodeo’s Rubels to 83 points and a split of the win at Taber, good for $1342, then making the trip over to Coleman for a big-time 86.5 point ride on Duane Kesler Championship Rodeo’s Double Red to pocket another $1237. The $2579 weekend will allow the Caroline, Alberta product to forge a commanding presence in both the rookie and permit standings.
Look for all weekend winners and unofficial results at rodeocanada.com
Next up on the CPRA spring schedule is the Drayton Valley Pro Rodeo May 1-3 and the Brule Xtreme Broncs event May 2 at the Hinton Rodeo Grounds.