Team Cattle Penning is anything but easy.

This fast paced event gives a team of three riders on horseback 60 seconds to separate three specifically identified cattle from a herd of 30, and put them into a 16’ x 24’ pen at the opposite end of the arena.  Teamwork is the key with all three riders working in harmony to cut out the correct cattle and drive them to the pen.  The Calgary Stampede Team Cattle Penning competition features teams vying for the championship in four different classes, each determined by the skill and experience of the competitors.

In this year’s Stampede “Open Class” Donna O’Reilly and Kirk Cottrell of Millarville along with Devin Antony of Calgary teamed up to rise to the top beating their closest competitor by 81- 100’s of a second.

Kirk says they caught a break early that paved the way to success.

“We got a little bit of luck because we got three cows that were close by one another but the skill part is going in and getting them out without bringing anything with them and as a team we brought them out, all three, and took them down to the pen and put them in the pen,” explained Cottrell.

But tucking the cattle away wasn’t as easy as it sounds according to Devin.

“We thought it was going to be a routine trip to the pen and then they challenged at the hole.  She did a great job managing the cows, managing her space and getting them into the pen,” recalled Antony.

The “she” Devin speaks of is Donna who remembers what she was thinking when she got challenged at the end.

“Uh it’s just little old me boys don’t push them to hard and my horse was absolutely fantastic! She knew exactly what to do,” smiles O’Reilly.

A complete list of the results can be found by clicking here.