Saint Chrysostome native Jérémy Courchesne has been making a name for himself on the rodeo circuit recently, having competed across the province and beyond. Courchesne gave rodeo a try about three years ago, purely out of curiosity. He became passionate about it and decided that bareback riding was the discipline for him. Since then, he has been taking his skills to many rodeos and representing Saint Chrysostome while doing so.
In March, Courchesne travelled to West Palm Beach, Florida, to compete in the Double K Rodeo Productions Randolph Al rodeo. “It was the first time I was in Florida for a rodeo; I had been to Texas before, but it was a really great experience and really fun,” he says, adding it was quite different from other rodeos he had visited. During that event, he won his rounds on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night. “It showed me that I can still go further and perfect my skills even more!” he says, very proud of the results from that weekend.
Competing far from home can be very expensive to self-finance. Courchesne put out a call for local sponsors and is grateful for the number of people who were willing to support him. “It’s a lot of my parents’ friends who have companies who encourage me and want me to do well and make it possible for me to go to the U.S.A.,” he says. Some of these sponsors came from a social media callout, some from word of mouth and personal relationships; but his town definitely shows their support. Some local sponsors are Bar Alouette, Les Entreprises LLD, MCPRO excavation, and Luc Robidoux.
For anyone interested in participating in rodeo, Courchesne encourages them to find a course and give it a try. It used to be a lot harder to get started. He explains, “When I started, the sport in Quebec was in a terminal phase, there weren’t a lot of people doing it. There were two people, Jessy Dufresne and Pascal Vézina, who made a clinic for people to try it out.” This is where he began to learn.
Since developing his skills, Courchesne has also started offering clinics. Many people will offer lessons on mechanical animals before dealing with actual livestock, so participants can feel more confident. It’s important to be safe when practicing, and Courchesne says that people often reach out to him for help or advice. He says, “People wanting to try can come to us, or we direct them where to go practice before they go to a rodeo, so no one ends up getting hurt.”
Since his trip to Florida, he has competed with the American Hero Pro Rodeo, Triple B Cowboy Challenge, the 2nd Annual Bucking K Ranch – Greatest Show, and the Miami Dade Country Fest. He’ll be competing this summer and is excited to keep participating in this sport.