Young bareback horse racing teams from Alberta and Saskatchewan put on some demonstration races as part of events down at the Williams Lake Stampede Grounds.
The Tribune was behind the scenes leading up to the races, talking to team members and racers as they prepared for the day of racing.
Horses are purchased from retired racing stock to compete in the Elite Indian Relay Association, and four teams made the trip to Williams Lake to participate in the demos for Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) events at the Stampede Grounds on Sept. 30 for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
Horse owner Charles Meechanche helps to train young riders and said he started in 2017 and now goes to about eight races a summer with his team 440.
“I do it for the kids,” said Meechanche, explaining how racers need a lot of practice and balance to be able to race bareback at such high speeds. Racers usually work on their legs all winter to be strong enough for the racing and it takes a year or two of racing to get good enough to be able to compete. He said their teams usually get invited to the world championships but this year they were held in South Dakota, which was too far to go.
Racers Haiden Sanders and Joseph Jackson, both sixteen years old, were discussing which horses they would be riding as they painted their horses before the races.
Joseph has been racing bareback since he was 11 years old and riding much longer, while Haiden has only been riding horses for two years and this is his first year competing.
It was his friendship with Joseph which led to his new life in horses.
When Joseph moved in with Haiden and his mom, Haiden said he was spending all his time playing video games and sitting around bored.
He saw how much fun Joseph and his brother were having and he eventually gave it a try.
They had him ride a thoroughbred and he like the adrenaline. He didn’t even think about quitting after falling off and breaking his collar bone in his third race.
“It was too much fun to try to quit.”
While the racing is usually only on weekends, the chores are all the time and both describe their lives as school, horses and chores.
But they both say they love it.
“It’s pretty fun,” said Haiden. “I just try to ride as much as I can.”
Before the race, he expressed his hope for a clean run and that no horses come off hurt and none of his brothers or friends are injured.
“Win or lose, we’re still going home the same. We’re still going home as friends.”
Unfortunately, Haiden was run over by a horse in the second race while helping handle horses, but he was able to race again in the afternoon.
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ruth.lloyd@wltribune.com
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