Kate and William should not attend chuck wagon races at the Stampede

The Stampede's cruel chuck wagon races are needless.

The Royal superstars, Kate and her Willie - a.k.a. the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - have found themselves in a bit of a pickle as they get ready to embark on their first "official" foreign tour to Canada.

One of their major scheduled appearances will be at the Calgary Stampede, one of Canada's biggest tourist attractions. Calgary is pulling out all the stops to make sure the Royal cuties like the city - I hear the palace was asked to submit the couple's shoe sizes and each will be getting their own handmade cowboy boots upon arrival.

However, animal rights groups on both sides of the pond are urging the Royal couple to sidestep Calgary's big show because they claim events at the Stampede, like chuck wagon racing and bull riding, cause harm to the animals.

People I know at Calgary and Alberta tourism are very nervous because the Duke and Duchess will be followed by an army of international media on their first "official" venture abroad and you know the cruelty to animals story line will keep coming up, thus bringing unwanted attention to the Stampede.

The animal rights' folks are right, of course. Over the Stampede's history, there's been many instances where horses have died because of what they've had to endure. And the Stampede's claims that "precautions" have been taken to make sure horses, especially, get plenty of tender loving care before they are required to pull heavy wagons around a dirt track course, is a weak response.

Here's an idea - replace the horses with Stampede organizers and have them pull the carts around the ring.

The Stampede's claim that this is all part of Calgary's heritage, is a lot of horse dung. The day the car was invented, was the day the Stampede should have switched from horses to horse power and had a tractor pull instead of chuck wagon races.

Why the Palace ever agreed to put the young couple in a potential embarrassing situation is mind boggling, to say the least.

The Royals will attend the Stampede - not to do so would cause an international incident because Canada's PM Stephen Harper, often called a horse's ass, is from Calgary. But let's hope Kate and Willie don't attend the chuck wagon races or bull riding events.