Awards keep coming for champion rodeo rider Cody McGonigle

Cody McGonigle with his quarter horse named Diesel, shows his strength in this steer wrestling competition, by taking down this steer in an outdoor Rodeo Event last summer.

North Easthope Township’s Cody McGonigle has been riding ponies and, as he got bigger, quarter horses, since he was six years old – after his maternal grandfather Barry Cole-Poppa bought him his first pony.

Since then, according to his mom and dad Susan and Dave McGonigle, you could hardly keep him off his horses that he continues to work with, almost day and night.

He has spent many nights on the road with his western saddle and bridle for company, along with his many experienced rodeo friends he leans on for advice.

He is not home for long stretches, as there are rodeos occurring the year round, inside large arenas and outdoors in summertime weather.

His employer, Ed’s Concrete, works with Cody, and knows he will be gone for over 100 days a year and respects how good at rodeo and steer wrestling he has become, beating some of the best rodeo riders in the world.

His paternal grandfather, Murray McGonigle, who also was, and still is, a horse lover, and competes with carriage horses of his own at local fairs, has always encouraged Cody every step of the way (even though he says he didn’t need a whole lot of encouragement).

Cody now travels throughout Canada and North America, taking top prize money and trophies, at every Rodeo he attends. He still contends that a well-trained horse, with the will to compete, is worth 90 per cent of the top awards that he has been able to bring home.

At the start of his career, he competed locally with the Stratford and District Saddle Club. Before he was even a teenager, he had the thrill of competing on his horse, throughout various classes, and started roping with his first roping horse bought and given to him by his Grampa McGonigle, who was also a Master Holstein Breeder and milk producer from Almulree.

Names like local horsemen John Thomson and Ed DeWettering have helped and encouraged this 27-year-old along his way. They know Cody has the talent, work and determination to be a world rodeo champion.

In Grade 11 at Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School, near Baden, he competed on the high school team, but kept honing his craft, and obtained a rodeo scholarship to Olds College in Alberta.

There he also worked on the ranch of Sid Cook, formerly of North Easthope, south of Calgary.

They were breaking horses and roping steers, and the young and energetic McGonigle, gained more experience and the confidence he needed to compete.

Cody also competed with the college rodeo team and loved the competition and that feeling of winning.

After returning home, he continued on the amateur rodeo team and circuit.

Feeling confident, the young cowboy bought his first International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA) world card and elevated his talent and travelled to 50+ rodeos per year across North America, adding important points as he went.

He competed in multiple events and was named the festival’s “Western Cup Champion” for 2025. The awards don’t stop there. Cody holds the steer wrestling record in Illinois of 3.2 seconds, and that state record still stands to this day.

The young rider was also named the IPRA Steer Wrestling Champion for 2025 and just recently competed in the IFR Qualifier in Guthrie, Okla.

Cody says he has now qualified for the International Rodeo Finals again, for the second year in a row.

Cody gives his parents and grandparents all the credit for encouraging him to reach for the stars with his rodeo ambitions, as he heads for the top of the podium.

He also says he couldn’t have done what he has without his number one cheerleader and promoter, his sister Ally, who kept him on the right track all his rodeo life so far.