A Cowboy

 

“I would have rode a pedal bike up there if I had to,” says Alan Dacyk, looking back on his first rodeo.

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Luckily for Alan, he did not have to ride a pedal bike. Instead, he joined six tough-as-nails cowboys heading to the dusty old rodeo grounds in a second-generation Dodge single cab. For that trip, the 12-year-old junior steer rider was lucky enough to hitch a ride in the box of the truck, tucked away under a tarp.

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They breed them a little differently in the North, we all know that. The West was won here, and the men cut from that cloth do not make excuses. They show up however they can, with what they have and they get the job done. It is the cowboy way, and you are not going to find someone more cowboy than Alan Dacyk.

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The Clear Prairie, Alberta cowboy was introduced to rodeo through his cousins Boyd and Owen Patton. It started in the practice pen on steers, but once he caught the rodeo bug he would climb on anything. At 14 he got on his first bull. At 15, his first bareback horse. Before long he was double dipping, competing in bareback riding and bull riding, while still jumping on steers at rodeos that offered all three.

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Over the next few years he hit the trail at BCRA, NWPRA, NRA and WRA rodeos -  buying up his pro permit before heading to school in Miles City, Montana. His passion was bull riding, but while attending MCC he began placing more consistently in the bareback riding. After leaving college, Alan moved to British Columbia and hit the trail with Wade McNolty, Hugh Loring, Jasey Hein, and TJ Corr. Across the country, there was not an animal he would not climb on - you could have saddled a grizzly bear in the chute and he would’ve got on it. 

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One year he remembers holding seven or eight amateur rodeo memberships and qualifying for every finals. He laughs that it was tough on his body but good for his pocketbook. After that season, an ongoing groin injury shifted his focus from bull riding to bareback riding. He committed more seriously to the pro rodeo trail, qualifying for the Canadian Finals Rodeo in 2004. In 2005, he clinched his first Canadian Championship in the bareback riding.

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Alan would continue his pro rodeo career until the ripe age of 39 years and 11 months, when his body finally told him it was time to hang up the rigging.

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It was the first time he let his body tell him something his heart did not want to hear.

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Throughout his career Alan says he was never the most talented, but no one would outwork him. “Perseverance was the name of my game.” He grew up in the practice pens with the Pattons and alongside men like Bobby Morrison and Gary Henderson.

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“Sometimes we didn’t even have a pickup man,” he laughs. “If you got in a wreck, someone would try roping the horse on foot. Those guys showed me the ropes. You could not be a wimp in that circle.”

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Retirement from rodeo never really means retirement from rodeo. Alan and his wife Casey, a CFR barrel racer, welcomed their son Riggs last year and are now raising a pen of bucking horses that is both nostalgic and exciting for the Canadian Champ.

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About five years ago - they began building the herd. Over the next year or so, they will start seeing the results of that work. The herd's bloodlines trace back to PRCA Hall of Fame horse “408 Nightjacket”. Alan credits the breeding programs of Ash Cooper and Dean McDonald for helping him skip the twenty years it would have taken to start from scratch. 

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This season Alan will be balancing dad life, cracking the chutes for his colts, and running his crew in the oil patch. He continues to give back wherever he can, volunteering his time at rodeo schools and helping build young cowboys in practice pens across Alberta.

 

To add just one more thing to a full plate - he will also step into a role that fits him naturally. Alan Dacyk is your 2026 Northern Rodeo Alliance Finals Chute Boss.

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From riding under a tarp in the box of a truck, laying his head on his rigging under the stars, to winning a Canadian Championship, Alan’s story has never been about shortcuts. The same values that built his rodeo career now guide him as he helps the next generation. If you are looking for someone who understands this sport from the ground up, there is no better cowboy standing at the chutes.