Broken bones are a part of life for the Stewart clan.
The five siblings from Gleichen, Alta., northeast of Calgary, were riding horses and having accidents before they were walking. These days the four sisters and one brother entertain crowds at rodeos and exhibitions with their Hearts of the West trick riding stunts across Alberta and British Columbia.
"From Day 1 once we got to the house from the hospital we were put on a horse," said eldest sister Kaitlynn. "We rode with dad until we could ride on our own."
The family act put on a 20-minute show Friday and Saturday during their inaugural show at the 100th annual Prince George Exhibition before the bull riders took centre stage. The Stewart Gang began doing trick roping, whip cracking, roman riding and trick riding about eight years ago.
In addition to 19-year-old Kaitlynn the other riders include Sisko, 17, Taylor, 15, Korrie, 14, and Lachlan, nine. Sisko didn't make the trip to Prince George with her family because she's "being a teenager" this summer according to her siblings.
"We get along sometimes but like most families we fight," said Kaitlynn. "We're all really good horse people - my dad has brought us up that way. My mom's not a horse person. She's from the city."
Gord Stewart was a chuckwagon and chariot driver until an accident about six years ago left him with a broken neck and his wife Nina forbid him and anyone in the family from driving the wagons again. But it didn't stop the family from pursuing their passion for riding and after numerous accidents Nina has accepted her family's hobby.
"The first time my mom flipped out when I got in my first accident," said Kaitlynn. "Now we get hurt and she's like suck it up you're OK."
Last year, Kaitlynn broke all four bones on the top of her foot in a riding accident during Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition and had to forgo her freshman year at Red Deer College due to multiple surgeries.
"It's the most serious trick-riding injury I've ever suffered," said Kaitlynn. "I've suffered way worse from horse-related accidents. At the PNE last year, my horse went and turned when he wasn't supposed to and my feet were stuck in the straps and my body kept going forward while my feet went with him."
After 13 hours in a Vancouver hospital, Kaitlynn was released and told to get surgery when she returned to Alberta, but first the family stopped in Barrier to do a show.
"I went to that rodeo and helped out but I didn't ride," she said. "Then I went back home and went to school for a few days and had my surgery a week later."
The broken foot was a minor mishap for the Stewart family to deal with.
"Lots of people ask me if it scares me but I've lost my right kidney in a horse accident and I still get back up," said Kaitlynn. "When I was 10 I broke seven of my ribs and squished my pancreas like a tomato and lacerated my liver while driving my little pony on a cart, then when I was 12 I lost my right kidney.
"They told me actually when I lost my right kidney that I wasn't allowed to ever ride again," she added. "That hurt me a lot when the doctor told me that but my mom just said don't worry about it we'll deal with it later. I couldn't ride for eight months. I watched my siblings ride and it ripped me apart. I hated it so much."
Her siblings have also been touched by injury while riding, the most serious being Taylor who broke her back when she was 10 and has a permanent case of scoliosis.
"We were warming up with everyone for our show later that night and my horse bucked really crazy," said Taylor. "He bucked me off and I fell on my back and almost got stomped on. I didn't even go to the hospital. I still rode that day. I don't know how. It was painful. After a while my back kept hurting so we finally took me in and, I guess, it showed on the X-rays."
When the siblings perform at rodeos in Alberta they also take part in the rodeo competition with Kaitlynn and Taylor doing barrel riding and Korrie taking part in the steer riding.
"I can't do steer riding because of my back - I just don't want to get it wrecked anymore - or else I would want to try it," said Taylor.
Korrie said she's cannot wait until next year when she's old enough to become a junior bull rider, a stepping stone to riding the bulls.
During the winter months all five siblings play on various minor hockey teams in Alberta and also take part in figure skating and volleyball, while practicing their riding at the indoor arena their dad built on their farm.
Korrie was nine when her dad had the chariot accident at a rodeo south of Camrose that left him with a broken neck. She had just jumped out of the wagon and ran for cover inside the fence when another rider T-boned Gord's wagon, causing him to tumble to the ground.
"I was standing there and watching him come around the corner when he got hit," said Korrie, a world champion in trick riding at a competition in Oklahoma when she was six. "It was horrible. He came around and I was standing there and all of a sudden he got ran over. I didn't know what to do."
Kaitlynn and Taylor also witnessed the accident which sent their dad to the Camrose hospital.
"They told him to get out of the hospital after about a week, saying nothing was wrong with him," said Kaitlynn. "Three months later his chiropractor told him he needed to go to the hospital to get his neck rechecked. They found out his neck was broken."
As the eldest sibling, Kaitlynn stepped up to do her dad's work on the family tree farm while he recuperated after surgery.
"That was when I had to learn to drive the tractor and learn how to do everything because my dad wasn't going to be able to do it for quite a while," said Kaitlynn. "I liked doing it, but it was really hard because I had to be strong for my family. My dad wasn't all there when he came out of surgery. He had short-term memory loss for a bit.
"He's back to normal now," she added. "Last year was when he said he felt like he hasn't been here for the past few years."
The accident scared the siblings but not enough to quell their passion for doing tricks and riding, after all injuries can happen any time in one's life. Lachlan's most significant injury came when he was four during routine play when he broke his collarbone when a friend tripped over a gopher hole while giving him a piggyback ride.
"I live to ride and ride to live," said Taylor. "It's our thing. We're not going to finish until we're dead."
