Canadian trick rider wows crowd at Polson rodeo

Big Tasty might sound like a mouth-watering hamburger, but it's really the name of one of Canadian champ Bella Da Costa’s trick-riding horses. The big grey gelding was used as a pickup horse, but he didn’t like that work.

“He fought back,” she said, when a bucking horse kicked him, or bit him, or shouldered into him.

“He likes the sparkles better,” Da Costa said with a grin, putting shiny teal leg wraps on his hind feet.

The Stony Plains, Alberta, cowgirl began trick riding when she was 5-years-old so she’s a 13-year veteran of the dangerous sport and a professional trick rider.

“Almost everyone (who’s a trick rider) in the United States or Canada, I’ve gotten advice from,” Da Costa said, listing Niki Flundra, Madison McDonald Thomas, Ginger Duke, Rae-Lynn Armstrong, Tad Griffith, Shelby Cummings, Shelby Pierson, and Cathy Warner.

“I push my horses to go as fast as they can once they have their pattern down,” she said. “Their pattern (around the arena) starts with me talking to them all the time. You’ll hear me in the arena – I’ll be yelling at my horse. I don’t have my hands on my reins so I talk to him.”

She said Big Tasty relies on her voice cues for guidance. The Polson rodeo marked his fourth show.

Many trick riders come from an athletic background, and Da Costa does too. She was a soccer player “with scholarships lined up and everything, and then I decided I wanted to hang off the side of my horse.”

Performing at the Calgary Stampede or the Canadian Finals Rodeo are a couple of her favorites, but she also likes the “little bitty” Cochrane Lions Rodeo in Canada because it’s like a big family.

To keep her as safe as possible, Da Costa has her trick saddles made specifically for her by Ertman’s Saddle Shop near her home. Da Costa said Wade Ertman makes the saddles extra safe (double everything) because trick riding is such a dangerous sport.

Her signature move is a side back bend. Flipping to the side of her horse she bends backward and down so she’s beside her horse’s neck, near his hooves. “I drop both hands, and let my horses run fast.”

Not only does the crowd love speed, but so does Da Costa. “It is my favorite part about this sport.”

Da Costa heads to Augusta after the Polson rodeo, and then she’ll go home for the Canadian rodeos, then back to Montana for Big Sky rodeo, and then Washington.

She winters in Arizona and works with the Junior Rough Stock Association. Da Costa performs at their events and teaches trick-riding clinics. Half of the clinic proceeds goes to a Cowboy Crisis Fund for the “all the kids” because Da Costa saw a young man get hurt in the rodeo arena. He didn’t have any health care so all the contestants took up a collection to fly him from Las Vegas to Utah for care.

“In Canada, we have healthcare,” she said, “And it’s hard to see kids who don’t.”

Young kids are the future of rodeo, according to Da Costa, and they need help if they are injured.

Da Costa’s advice to someone interested in learning to be a trick rider: “Don’t try it at home alone on your own horse. Go on social media, and find a reputable trick rider who provides clinics. Make sure you can see that they perform.”