Midnight (horse) facts for kids
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| Breed | Thoroughbred x Percheron |
|---|---|
| Discipline | Saddle bronc |
| Foaled | 1916 |
| Color | Black |
| Honors | |
| Honors | |
| Inducted into ProRodeo Hall of Fame | |
Midnight was a very famous bucking horse born in 1916. He was known for being incredibly difficult to ride. In 1979, he was honored by being added to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, which is a special place for rodeo legends.
Contents
Midnight's Early Life
Midnight was born in 1916 on a ranch called Cottonwood. This ranch was in the Porcupine Hills of Alberta, Canada, near Fort Macleod. His first owner was a man named Jim McNab.
Midnight was a big, strong black horse. He stood about 15.1 hands tall, which is over 5 feet, and weighed 1,300 pounds! He was a mix of different horse breeds. His mother was a Thoroughbred, known for speed. His father was a mix of Percheron and Morgan horse, which are strong and sturdy breeds. Midnight had a special mark on him, called McNab's Door Key brand.
Becoming a Bucking Horse
When Midnight was three years old, Jim McNab tried to train him as a regular saddle horse. He used Midnight to help with cattle for two years. But Midnight was always full of energy and ready to buck, even after long rides!
People still talk about Midnight today. Some say he was always wild and bucked from the very beginning. Others say he was trained for a while before he became a bucking horse. Either way, he became a true legend in the rodeo world.
Midnight's Rodeo Career
By 1920, Jim McNab decided Midnight was too much to handle as a regular horse. So, he started using him in rodeos as a bucking horse. In 1924, Midnight competed in the Calgary Stampede rodeo. He was quickly named the "champion bucking horse of Western Canada."
Unrideable Legend
Throughout the 1920s, Midnight earned a reputation for being almost impossible to ride. Most cowboys who tried were thrown off in just 2 or 3 seconds! Back then, cowboys had to stay on for ten seconds to get a score.
In 1926, a famous cowboy named Pete Knight reportedly rode Midnight in Montreal, Quebec. Pete Knight would later become a member of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame himself.
New Owners
In the late 1920s, Jim McNab sold Midnight to two rodeo organizers, Peter Welch and Strawberry Red Wall. They also bought another black horse named Tumbling Mustard. Soon after, they sold both horses to Colonel Jim Skew. He supposedly paid $250 for Midnight, but found the horse too challenging for his riders.
So, Colonel Skew sold Midnight and Tumbling Mustard to Eddie McCarty and Vern Elliot. These two men were famous rodeo producers from Wyoming and Colorado. Vern Elliot was Midnight's last owner. He was also inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1990.
Later Career and Retirement
Some stories say that Pete Knight might have ridden Midnight again in the early 1930s at Cheyenne Frontier Days. However, most records show that no one officially managed to ride Midnight for the required time during his long career. The Texas Trail of Fame says nine riders did manage to stay on him.
Midnight bucked at the very first National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, Colorado, in 1931. He continued to perform until 1933. He retired from bucking at the end of Cheyenne Frontier Days because of a foot problem called ringbone disorder.
Even after retiring from rodeos, Midnight made one special trip to England. He performed four exhibition rides in Wembley Stadium. After that, Vern Elliot brought Midnight home and let him live out his days peacefully on his ranch.
Midnight's Legacy
Midnight passed away on November 5, 1936, at the Denver Rodeo. He was about 20 years old. He was first buried on the McCarty-Elliott Ranch in Johnstown, Colorado. His gravestone had a special poem: "Underneath this sod lies a great bucking horse. There never lived a cowboy he couldn't toss. His name was Midnight, his coat as black as coal. If there is a hoss-heaven, God please, rest his soul."
Tumbling Mustard, the other horse bought with Midnight, was renamed Five Minutes to Midnight. He also died on the ranch and was buried there. Later, both horses were moved and reburied at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In 1979, both Midnight and Five Minutes to Midnight were honored by being added to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. On July 9, 1967, a stadium in Fort MacLeod, Alberta, was named Midnight Stadium in his honor.
Honors and Recognition
Midnight received many special honors for his amazing career:
- 2006 Texas Trail of Fame
- 2003 Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame
- 1981 Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame
- 1979 ProRodeo Hall of Fame
- 1969 Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame
Pop Culture
In 1974, a book called Midnight, Champion Bucking Horse was written about him by Sam Savitt. It was a 96-page story about his life.
