08/03/2026
On behalf of the Czar Lake Bullarama executive and committee, we would like to offer the family of Dusty LaValley our deepest condolences.
Dusty was a great cowboy, but a better dad and man.
You will be missed, cowboy.
Dusty LaValley embodied the true cowboy spirit his entire life.
Forty-five years doesn't really tell his story.
Lots of us can do something for 45 years.
Dusty lived 542 months; 2,357 weeks, or 16,500 days. Every one of those days he got up and chose to fight for every second.
He never gave up.
Never gave in.
Never backed down.
Not in 2001, when he was awarded the Canadian Novice Ba****ck Riding Championship.
Not in 2004, when he was named the PRCA Ba****ck Riding Rookie of the Year.
He battled his way to four Canadian Ba****ck Riding Championships in 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2011. In 2022, at just 41 years old, he became a Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductee.
But Dusty's greatest fights weren't just in the arena.
After being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2022, he approached this new battle the same way he nodded for each bronc he set his riggin' on. With courage, determination, and a smile that never wavered. To the surprise of no one who knew him, he outlived the expectations doctors gave him. Quitting just wasn't something he knew how to do.
And while many will forever remember the champion ba****ck rider, those who were lucky enough to know him, knew that there was something even more important to him than rodeo.
His kids, Austin and Vienna.
One of the funniest stories I gathered today really embodies Dusty the way I think he would want to be remembered.
When Austin and Vienna wanted to try trapping, Dusty made it happen. Part of that was making sure they got to experience the thrill of success, which he ensured by secretly pre-loading the trap with a marten he had gotten for that sole purpose.
Then when the kids didn't want to skin it, he froze it so he could reload the trap whenever they wanted to go check again.
He used that same marten for three years.
Determined, fun-loving, mischievous enough that anyone who heard it could share his grin. Above all else, a dad whose love for his family was stronger than anything life could throw at him.
Dusty's fight here may be over, but I bet he'll want the rest of us to make him wait as long as possible to join on the next adventure. The more time we give him, the more trouble he can plan before we get there.
Rest easy, to one of the most inspirational Cowboys I had the honour of knowing ~ Amber Hay, on behalf of the Canadian Pro Rodeo Historical Association
