Native American tribes revive horse heritage with bareback races in
Oklahoma
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[June 01, 2021]
By Stephanie Keith
PAWHUSKA, Okla. (Reuters) - Native American
tribes from the United States and Canada converged on Oklahoma for the
Indian Relay Horse Race this weekend, helping to revive horse heritage
in the state and symbolizing a return to normal after pandemic
restrictions.
The setting in Oklahoma was particularly apt, given the state's Native
American population of nearly 10% and the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling
re-affirming that about half the state's territory falls under American
Indian jurisdiction.
Competitors race three different horses bareback around a one-mile
track, jumping off one horse and onto another between laps, often in
tribal regalia including war bonnets, with the horses painted in
traditional style.

Horse relays are one of the most popular pastimes in Native American
culture to have survived the U.S. genocide, and horse heritage remains
strong with many tribes in the western United States.
But equine traditions have been less durable in Oklahoma, where many
Native Americans were resettled in the Trail of Tears of the 1830s, when
indigenous people were forced from their lands in the southeast onto
specially designated territories further west.
Organizer Jim Stevens called the relay the biggest in the known history
of Indian Relay races in terms of tribes, people and vendors signed up
to participate. About 40 tribes competed for $140,000 in prize money.
"This was the first big event for the Native Americans since the COVID
shutdown and everybody was ready to get off the reservation," Stevens
said.
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Native Americans from all over the United States participate in an
Indian relay race over Memorial Day weekend in Pawhuska, Oklahoma,
U.S., May 29, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

The individual and team races have separate classes
of competition for chiefs, warriors, elders and women. Each rider is
paired with a mugger, the name for the person who holds the horse
still during the transition. Little kids learn by riding sheep.
The host town of Pawhuska, named after a 19th century Osage chief,
is on the Osage reservation. Pawhuska is also hosting the film crew
making "Killers of the Flower Moon," adapted from the book by David
Grann about white people who murdered Osage tribal members to get
their land rights. The Martin Scorsese movie stars Leonardo di
Caprio.
The five-day Indian Relay, held at the Osage County Fairgrounds,
ended with a stirring finish to the men's championship relay, the
premier event. The War Chiefs team from Wyoming was leading until
the final exchange, when its rider slipped off his horse and into
mud during a rainstorm, enabling the Abrahamson team from Washington
state to overtake the lead and claim the prize.
(Reporting by Stephanie Keith in Pawhuska, Oklahoma; Writing by
Daniel Trotta; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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