10/15/2026
He and his brother trailed a string of horses 75 miles to a rodeo, and his career as a stock contractor was underway. More than sixty years later, Harry “the Duke of the Chutes” Vold had supplied bucking stock to every National Finals Rodeo since it began.
Harry Vold was born in 1924 and raised in Ponoka, Alberta, Canada. His first interest was in the horse business and auctioneering, then in rodeo. He worked alongside some of the greatest stock contractors of the era, including Leo Cremer, Lynn Beutler, and Harry Knight, learning the business from the inside.
Then he started a company of his own. Vold formed the Harry Vold Rodeo Company in 1970 and moved to the United States, where it grew into one of the biggest names in the sport. Vold stock appeared at nearly every major rodeo in the U.S. and several in Canada. When the first NFR was held in 1959, he was right there as a stock contractor, and he never missed one. He and Bob Barnes are the only two contractors to supply stock to every NFR since the start. His company has held the stock contract at Cheyenne Frontier Days since 1976, where it can be responsible for up to 1,900 animals.
Then the awards stacked up. Vold was named PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year eleven times, in 1982 and in every year from 1987 through 1996, tied with Stace Smith ProRodeos for the most ever. He was also a two-time WPRA Stock Contractor of the Year. He called the awards “the icing on the cake.”
Then came the animals themselves. Vold raised many of the best-known broncs and bulls of the year, including Crooked Nose, the first fighting bull ever inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. He once sold the stud Custer to Ike Sankey, and in a single year more than 30 of Custer’s direct descendants qualified for the NFR. His daughter Kirsten says Sankey “would probably be the first to admit it was that horse that put him on the map in the rodeo business.”
His philosophy was simple. “My philosophy is to put on the very best quality rodeo with top stock and top cowboys, wholesome family entertainment,” he said. He also served as stock contractor for the College National Finals Rodeo every year since it began in Casper in 1999.
Then he built a family around it. Harry met his wife, trick rider Karen Womack Vold, through rodeo, and they married in 1972. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978. Their children Wayne, Vona, Doug, Darce, and Kirsten went into rodeo and ranching, and Wayne and Doug are both in the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
Inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1992 and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1994, and named a Legend of ProRodeo in 2009. Inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame the same year. Harry Vold died March 13, 2017, at his home in Avondale, Colorado, at 93. “My dad enjoyed rodeo more than anyone I know,” Kirsten said, and she hoped people would remember him “as a true, loyal and honest friend.”
A string of horses trailed 75 miles to a rodeo. Every National Finals Rodeo since 1959. Harry Vold started with a hundred horses and a road, and he built a dynasty.
Harry Vold 🤠🐴🏆
