83-year-old rancher will ride a horse in his 80th consecutive parade

Stan Cowley hasn't missed a Calgary Stampede Parade in 79 years.

And if all goes according to plan, the 83-year-old Calgarian will participate in the event for the 80th consecutive time on Friday.

Cowley will ride a horse in the event, alongside dozens of floats, marching bands and other horses.

"It's actually a lot of fun and you get to visit with all the old cowboys that've been in the parade for many years as well," Cowley told CBC's Homestretch.

The former owner of Rafter Six Ranch, who still operates a trail riding operation west of Calgary, experienced his first parade at age three in 1939. His dad was working for the Hudson's Bay Company, and the company was recruiting people to hop aboard its float.

At four, he rode horseback in the parade and has done so nearly every year since.

Parade memories over the years

'The biggest thing I remember is how many headdresses there used to be in the parade," he said. "It looked like there were two blocks of just eagle headdresses, and that was really amazing to me."

The number of chuck wagons participating in the parade has also gone down, Cowley said.

At one point, Cowley was outriding in the parade.

Over the years, politicians and movie stars including former premier Peter Lougheed and American actor Lee Van Cleef, who started in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, rode with him in the parade.

The parade has evolved over the years and so have participants' transportation methods.

"In the early days, there weren't all these horse trailers," Cowley said. "From the ranch and from the reserves, [participants] had to get on their horses and ride them into Calgary and that was a four-day trip."

Cowley took part in a four-day ride with two chuck wagons and 18 riders on the parade's 100th anniversary.

It took them four days to ride from the ranch into Calgary and another full day coming through the city, where they had police escorts.

They trotted down the main streets to the grounds.

"Everybody stops, nobody complains, they all cheer," he recalls. "We got lots of 'yahoos.'"

Parade preparation

On Friday, Cowley will lead his group in the parade and his wife will drive a stagecoach.

He had to wash and polish all 18 of his horses, who will ride nose to tail, in preparation for this year's event.

Cowley and his team will be on their horses around 6 a.m., for judging, until the parade wraps up around noon.

He recommends attendees bring their raincoats since Environment Canada forecasts some showers throughout the day with a risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

"One year, we had a huge rainstorm with lightning and thunder and every time the lightning came and then the thunder boom it would just about scare the horses," he said.

"They would jump all over the place."

With files from CBC's Homestretch