The chucks are neat, but overall I wouldn't be sad to see them go. They're nowhere close in interest for me compared to the rodeo.
That said, horses are animals. And while there are some moral considerations over whether we should subject them to an event where they may die, they also spend much of their time living pretty phenomenal lives for bred animals.
I think people target the Stampede because it's easy, and it's a small thing that they feel they could change and feel better about themselves. These same people buy cheap meat that comes from abused factory-bred animals, they own dogs that at most get a turn at the off-leash area but otherwise end up as bored docile shells of what an animal should be, they don't even blink at the idea of leather shoes or jackets that come from the skin of heavily abused animals (and treated in chemicals that increase cancer rates of workers by an enormous amount).
So, sorry, but watching hypocrites complain about the Stampede once a year gets pretty tiring. Yes, it's rough that we breed these horses to run and race and take amazing care of them, because they may die. But I'd expect the complaints to come from a vegan as the next logical step in protecting all animal life, not some random person getting fat off cheap factory protein and saying "gosh we oughtta treat animals better! I can't even watch!"
The Stampede is so far down the list of animal "abuses" people should be worried about. Pretty easy to separate the real idealists like PETA from the lazy people just looking for an easy moral position to pat themselves on the back for. Sometimes though, you actually have to walk the walk if you want to pretend like you care about animals.
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