‘It’s an unfortunate one off’: Reigning chuckwagon champ reacts to deadly collision, ban

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – “These horses are our livelihood, so they mean a lot,” one of the first comments from Kurt Bensmiller, the reigning GMC Rangeland Derby champion.

As for the Stampede’s decision to hand out a lifetime ban following Thursday night’s wreck, Bensmiller wouldn’t comment on the Stampede’s decision to ban Chad Harden from racing at the Stampede after Harden triggered a deadly collision that left a horse dead. It was the third incident this week of a horse dying in the chuckwagon races.

No driver he says goes onto the track planning to hurt a horse. The horses mean a lot to not only the drivers but also their families.

“It is just a misjudge in depth or distance,” Bensmiller said. “But no one who drives a vehicle on the highway can’t say that they haven’t had a close call even though they were doing everything right, so it could happen anywhere.”

Bensmiller said that anytime there is a wreck, friends, family, other drivers and outriders don’t think twice to jump the fence and help with the situation.

“The first priority is to check to make sure that the driver is okay, and once you know the driver is ok then the next priority is to make sure that the horses are okay,” Bensmiller said. “No one anticipates a wreck, but when one happens everyone is willing to help.”

He said that they are the closest thing that the drivers have to family without being related by blood.

“I have been fortunate to have not lost one on the track, but I have lost them in the winter or on the field,” Bensmiller said. “It hurts when you lose one. It hurts real bad.”

Bensmiller has three girls, aged nine, seven and five, and they know when a horse is gone, and he said that they get upset even if a horse is just sold because they become attached.

“They know all the horse’s names. They know all their attitudes — which one likes mints, which one likes apples,” he pointed out. “That’s what they do, is sit and play with their horses. So when we lose one it hurts them quite a bit.”

For those in the barns and the chuckwagon community, they feel it when someone has a horse which is seriously hurt or when a driver loses a horse.

“It leaves a lump in your throat because everyone knows that there is a risk. But there’s a bigger risk of us getting into a wreck driving down the highway.”