Feature: Bucking horses bring rodeo excitement to Vancouver

Right now these horses couldn't be more calm. But in a few short hours, they'll be in the rodeo ring to be mounted by cowboys -- opponents whom they'll be trying hard to buck to the ground.

The horses are bred and raised by the Kesler family of the western Canadian province of Alberta, who tour North America competing their herd in rodeos like this.

This weekend, the Keslers and their horses are at the 70th annual Cloverdale Rodeo and Fair, which takes place on these grounds near Vancouver at this time each year.

Duane Kesler, rodeo stock contractor, told Xinhua that a lot of people thought it was the cowboys who were the performers, but the cowboys had to have opponents -- the horses that "love to do what they do, they're bred to buck, that's their sole purpose in life."

The Cloverdale Rodeo is the oldest in the province of British Columbia and the largest rodeo in Canada -- other than the world-famous Calgary Stampede.

The three-day rodeo attracts nearly 100 cowboys and cowgirls, including some of the top rodeo athletes in the world. They'll compete for a total prize of 375,000 Canadian dollars (288,000 U.S. dollars) in bareback riding, bull-riding, ladies barrel racing and saddle bronc riding.

Shannon Claypool, president of the Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Association, said the cowboy had to stay on the bucking horse or the bull for eight seconds.

"Eight seconds doesn't sound like a long time but when you've got a 1,400-pound horse or an 1,800-pound bull underneath you, trying to get you off his back, eight seconds is a long time," Claypool said.

All of the rodeo livestock are bred and raised by the Kesler family. They do 35 rodeos each year with their 90 bucking horses and 40 bucking bulls.

Kesler says the herd is like their extended family. Each horse has its own unique character and ability to buck off the cowboys.

"A lot of people will ask me which one is your favorite? And it's a lot like someone coming up and saying which one is your favorite child if you have three or four children and there isn't really a favorite," Kesler said.

"Every one of them have a different characteristic in what they do and we learn their characteristics as life goes along," Kesler said.

The bloodlines of the herd go back 60 years on the Kesler ranch.

Kesler says they take pride in breeding horses that are born to buck. There aren't any particular breeds that are considered ideal for rodeo. They're simply looking for horses that are big, powerful and full of energy.

"I really like to see is the people that come out to watch our animals perform, and there's a certain number of people who will come back time after time to watch the animals, and to me that means so much," he added.

Kesler says many of their horses have long rodeo careers -- much longer than many of the cowboys have. They have a 23-year-old horse here competing and bucking. Endi