Page 51 - Speedhorse Canada Spring 2020

anything. One of the riders told me he can feel his horse’s heartbeat through the reins. You look at every one of these guys who walk out there, when they’re getting ready for the race, look at their eyes. They have that look in their eyes that says they have one thing on their mind. They’re only thinking about getting on that first horse.
“This sport is becoming so popular because once people see this, they want more,” Ghost Bear continues. “The Indian Relay races now are not only at the grassroots-level tracks,
but also at big tracks and a lot of the bigger rodeos. Our goal is to have Indian Relay back east in places
like Kentucky, and down south in Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas, too.”
Even though the sport is centered in the Northwest and on the Northern Plains, a lot of the horses come from Oklahoma and Texas.
“A very high percentage of these are off-the-track horses, Thoroughbreds and Appendix Quarter Horses,” Howard says. “In the Northwest, Emerald Downs is their source – they go in and claim horses. They claim horses at Fonner Park in Nebraska, they shop for them in Oklahoma. We’re using 870 horses, essentially is what we’re doing. Appendix horses are the way to go for those guys.”
Each team brings three horses to a race, but most teams will travel with six to eight head.
“They might have an A team and
a B team, and if they make it into
the finals, they’ll have strategy behind what they’re doing,” Jamie Howard says. “It even gets down to what horses are the best starters and finishers. If you have a horse that won’t stand,
he’s not going to be your first horse.
If you have one that doesn’t turn in well, he’ll probably be your last horse
because you don’t have to turn in with him. Sometimes a guy needs that hard finisher at the end, to bring it all on
at full bore – not to slow down, run into the box and change horses, but
to blow on through like you would the finish at any race. Those horses weave their way into position, whether they’re first, second or third horse on that team, by how they’re working and training and what they can do.”
That brings up a point. As in any kind of high-level athletic sport and discipline, participants are operating on the ragged edge. Injuries are inevitable.
“Yeah, I broke my collarbone,” Tyler recalls. “We had the fastest time on the first day at Sheridan, Wyoming. The second day, we were going to set the fastest time again, but as I came around on our second horse for the third horse, I jumped off and kinda overjumped my third. I had the momentum to jump back on, but as we turned the angle, the horse on another team was coming out and smacked into us, and I was caught between my horse and his horse. There was no way out – I was trapped. I didn’t know my collarbone was broke until after I finished the race. I didn’t feel it until I let my shoulder drop, the adrenaline wore off, and it started throbbing and hurting.”
It’s Kamikaze on horseback. Not that it or anything else deters the riders.
“You have to be fearless,” says Donroy Ghost Bear, who owns Lakota War Path. “If you’re scared, you’ve already lost. That’s a big part of this sport. Everybody on the track is fearless – they’re all warriors.”
Which brings up another point, one that you, as a reader who has been
around horse racing and racehorses for years, might ask: Does the aspiring jockey have to work a horse before the stewards before riding a race?
“No, they just have to have the guts,” says Howard, with a laugh. “It’s amazing the courage those guys have. It’s amazing what athletes they are. It’s amazing what horsemen they are.”
Visit www.horsenationsrelay.com for more information.
“THIS SPORT IS BECOMING SO POPULAR BECAUSE ONCE PEOPLE SEE THIS, THEY WANT MORE.”
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EDHORSE CANADA Spring 2020 51