This post has been moved to OpenChutes.com. All future postings of Powwows, Indian Relay Races, Rodeos and Rendezvous will be posted there from now on exclusively. So if you’re looking for new images and posts for all those events attended this year, plus all the old posts posted on BigShotsNow.com check out OpenChutes.com. See you there!

Indian Relay Races, it is one of the most exciting horse races you will ever see. It could just have easily been called a Demolition Derby on Four Hooves. The premise is simple you start with four teams of horses assigned to their own space along the fence of the grandstand. Each team has only one rider. They begin the race like any other with the four riders racing away from the starting line, but then that’s when things go different.

They race around the track and as they approach their team of horse handlers they skid to a stop, jump off the horse they’ve been riding, jump on a new one and take off for another lap around the track. They repeat this once more, racing in, jumping off, jumping onto a new horse, take another lap and the first one across the finish line is the winner.

That’s how it works in theory. And the race does follow those rules exactly but you have to remember you’re dealing with horses that are crazy wild to run, riders willing to do nearly anything to get on that next horse, and handlers that have to control several other horses in close proximity with the team next door, whose horses and riders are also just as determined on winning as you are, and what you have is Chaos, plain and simple. Things do not happen as planned. Riders with big leads may have trouble getting on the next horse and another rider takes the lead. This may happen on every lap.There is no sure thing in Indian Relay Races, other than something really, really exciting is going to happen.

 In the animation above you can get a sense of how fast-paced and chaotic it is when the riders begin to change horses. If you notice the Blue team as they begin their switch, the horse handler is applying an old trick to manage an unruly horse. This horse had been rearing up and trying to break loose, and it was close to becoming unmanageable until the handler reached up and bit his ear, just like Mike Tyson might, biting down and hanging on until the rider could mount and be off again. Like I said Indian Relay Races are different.

In another part of the race a rider rode in fast, sometimes these horses can be going close to 30 miles per hour when they are entering into the changing area, mis-stepped as he dismounted, and got run over by his horse. Operating on sheer adrenalin he leapt up and mounted his last horse and continued the race. Unfortunately his mis-step put this lap leader into last place.

Indian Relay Races are exciting, chaotic, addicting. And in Montana you can legally bet on them if you want to lose your money. This is a cheap heart test for those of you who need to check it every so often, and it’s included free in the price of admission. If you crave excitement you will love Indian Relay Racing.