Gentleman Bucking Horse
What makes a good bucking horse. Today a stock contractor would say great bloodlines but in the early era of rodeo there was no recipe to create the equine superstars that often became as popular as Sea Biscuit. Such was the case of Midnight. Welcome to Open Range. Next, a cowhorse turned saddle bronc. Born on a ranch in Alberta, out of a Thoroughbred mare crossed with a Percheron Morgan stud , Midnight would become one of the most famous bucking horses of all time. He stumbled on his new career literally after spectacularly bucking off an Indian rounding up cattle on a Canadian Reservation. Midnight traveled to the top rodeos for ten years from 1923-33 and charmed crowds by his terrific leaps. Once jumping twenty seven feet from the chute before landing. He endeared himself to fans by being the perfect gentleman outside the arena. Unlike the typical bronc he enjoyed attention and he always stopped bucking once he tossed the rider. On one occasion the poor fellow who drew the great horse was knocked out cold. According to an article in the Denver Post as the man lay in the dirt, Midnight turned and trotted toward him, “the crowd screamed in horror, thinking the famed bronc intended to jump on the cowboy. But Midnight merely sniffed at the rider, gently nuzzled him and tried to turn him over as though to say, come on Cowboy get up”. Midnight died at the Denver Rodeo in 1936 they say from ringbone and was buried at a Colorado ranch. In 1966 he was reburied at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame attended by rodeo celebrities and media, all honoring a gentle horse that just liked to buck.
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