Page 60 - Speedhorse May 2019

Teams consists of the rider and three teammates: a mugger, who holds the horse the rider is going to mount; a catcher, who grabs the horse when the rider gets off; and a back holder, who holds the next horse up.
Like their forefathers, riders typically ride bareback and dress in traditional garb with feathered headdresses and war paint.
RACE DAY
Each Relay team pays a membership fee at the beginning of the year and must compete in at least two accredited races in order to be eligible for the Championship of Champions at Walla Walla.
The members of a team can change during the season, with a team from, say, North Dakota hiring a new rider from Montana. However, all team members have to be Native American and they have to carry a card from a recognized tribe.
Most Relay meets are held over two days, though some are three days. Five or six teams usually compete in each race. The specifics of how the Relay races are run depends on the area of the country in which they are held.
“Typically, it’s a standing start, with the riders on the ground,” Howard says. “Some places, like Idaho, have always done mounted starts. But in most places, the rider is standing next to the horse: he cannot be on the horse and no one can give him a leg up.”
The rider has three teammates: a mugger, who holds the horse the rider is going to mount; a catcher, who grabs the horse when the rider gets off; and a back holder, who holds the next horse up.
“We take a bag of flour and make a start/finish line,” Howard says. “The horses are all up at the line. When the signal goes, the rider hops on, makes a
lap and comes back. His team is standing in their 20-foot box marked out with flour against the rail on the grandstand side, the right-hand side of track, corresponding more or less like a post position, 1-5 or -6. The rider comes back, turns his horse in, heads to his box, dismounts, remounts and takes off.”
The number of entries determine how the races are split up.
“At Gillette, it’s a two-day event, Saturday and Sunday,” Howard says. “So we have a cookout and team meeting the night before, on Friday night. We set up grills, do burgers and ’dogs, potato salad, and we draw for position on Saturday’s races. We do
the draw pretty much like on the flat track, but we draw for heats and boxes. So it’s like, ‘Okay, Alligator
Creek (team), you drew in to the first heat and you’re in Box 5. . . .’ Whoever wins their qualifying heat
on Saturday makes it into the Championship on Sunday. If you are second in your heat, you’re going to be in the Consolation, and on down the list.
“When we write up Sunday’s card, we’re starting with all the fifth-place guys first,” he continues. “Then the fourth-place and on down to where the final race of the day is filled with all the winners – all of them won a heat the day before.”
Let’s say there are 25 teams entered for this weekend’s Relay.
“We want to end up having 10-12 races on a
race card,” Howard says. “That’s the amount of time that makes sense for an event to work. We’ll run five Relay heats, and we’ll fill in the race card with Maiden races, Warrior races and Chiefs races. We have the first Indian Relay heat and then we mix in the other ones.”
The Maiden race is for girls and women – female riders only. “Maiden races have become huge,” Howard says. “They have the option of using a saddle, but that 25-28 pounds makes a difference, so a lot of them go bareback.”
Then there are Warrior races. “You have holders with the horses at the starting line,” he says. “The race starts about 50 yards back, where the riders sprint a foot race to their horses, jump on and run a lap.”
And the Chiefs race. “It’s a mounted start, not standing on ground,” Howard says. “You walk up to the line and go a single lap. And as the name implies, it’s normally for older riders.”
Regardless of what track it is on or what kind of race it is, there is no pari-mutuel wagering on Indian Relay events. Purse money comes from sponsorships and jackpotted entry fees.
“Our total added money for the whole card last year at Walla Walla was about $65,000,” Howard recalls. “It was in the neighborhood of about $20,000 in the final race.”
That’s not really the point. “It’s not so much the purse – it’s bragging rights,” Howard says. “The buckle means more than the purse.”
58 SPEEDHORSE, May 2019
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