From the heartland of High River, Alberta, Jason Glass has emerged as a titan in the world of chuckwagon racing, commanding respect and admiration at every turn. A fourth-generation champion, his roots run deep in the rich soil of Alberta’s racing tradition.
D.O.B.: December 15, 1970
Hometown: High River, Alberta, Canada
Sport event: Chuckwagon racing (driver)
Titles and Awards: Jason has four World Champion titles to his name, including the coveted Guy Weadick Award, as well as multiple Safe Drive awards. His horses have also been named to the Equine Outfit of Excellence.
Stampede attendance: 1991 to 2009; 2010 – Won the Guy Weadick Award; 2013 – Champion; 2014 – Aggregate Winner; 2015 – Beat track record with a time of 1:09.38; 2016 to 2019; (2020 and 2021 – Chuckwagon races canceled); 2022 and 2023
Notable facts: Jason worked as Leonardo DiCaprio’s double in the film, The Revenant.
In Jason’s words:
I'm 52 years old, so, I've been coming to the Calgary Stampede for 52 consecutive years, which is kind of crazy!
Once I was old enough and strong enough to handle the horses, that's when I started being more involved. It's kind of difficult because they are thoroughbred horses, you know, so they're very dangerous, very strong. They can be sweethearts one minute and then, just like that, they might flip over or jump on you. It's like they have two sides of their brain. You really got to be careful around them.
Every horse needs to be trained. We try to train them all kind of the same, but each horse has a different personality, needs something a little different. And they'll tell you! So, we start out very slowly with them. If I bought ten new horses in September, I would get them home and put them two together in each pen and let them get used to the area. And then I'll slowly put say, two of them with two other ones, and then four and then six and then eight, and just kind of leave them alone. I would watch them and not actually even touch them for a few days. They just want to be left alone. You hang out with them over the fence for a few days and then, eventually, you start touching them and hanging out with them more and then they learn that you're a good person. It's a slow, slow procedure. I'll kind of leave them alone most of the winter and just let them be a horse. And then after 2 or 3 months of that, then I'll put them in a round pen and start playing with them, put harness on them and walk behind them and drive them with, you know, lines and that kind of stuff. And then we'll take one new horse and put them on. Once they're comfortable on the cart, we'll pair them up, two new ones together. And then once they're comfortable with that, then we'll put one new horse on with three. Then, we just drive. From there, if they're doing good, then we'll start turning with them and showing them the barrels and putting a little pressure on them and see if they can handle it.
Before the horn blows, I stare at my righthand leader. I don't take my eyes off him. When the horn blows, I drive that one horse. I drive him as good as I can to that top barrel. I want his feet exactly where I feel they need to be going up to the top barrel according to the other three, because they're going to, you know, shift me around somewhat. You know, you never go perfectly where you want to go because there's four horses. When that horn blows, my body is their body. We're kind of just one, really. So, if I don't drive very good, then they don't know where to go, they don't have the proper balance. Because the bit kind of runs right through their whole body to my arms so… if I wasn't in the seat, they'd probably still go, but who knows where.