Indian Relay
VIEWER DISCUSSION GUIDE
Program Synopsis
“Relay is such an unpredictable
sport that every race you
don’t know what you’re
going to be up against.”
— Kendall Old Horn, Apsaalooke
Nation, MM Express Owner/Holder
Indian Relay follows multiple teams from different tribes as they compete
throughout the Indian Relay season. Many of the teams consist of families with
Indian Relay roots stretching back generations. Bragging rights and money
are at stake for the teams that compete in the Indian Relay circuit. Each team
expresses their pride in their culture by adorning the horses with colors and
paint.
Photos from top left: Indian Relay rider Willy
Kirkaldie takes care of the team’s horses near
Hays, Montana. Photo by Charles Dye; Ivan
“Zack” Rock, rider for the MM Express team,
aboard Rabatash, at the Indian Relay National
Championships. Photo by Aaron Pruitt;
Cinematographer Rick Smith captures the action
in super-slow motion during the Indian Relay
National Championships. Photo by Aaron Pruitt.
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VIEWER
DISCUSSION
GUIDE
Indian Relay
Producer’s Notes
Charles Dye
INDIAN RELAY was a once
in a lifetime project for a
documentary filmmaker.
It’s incredibly rich culturally
and visually and it prompts
its audience to reexamine
their stereotypes about
Indians, a population often
misunderstood in this country
and around the world. Few
people outside of the high
plains region have ever heard anything about “Relay” but after
three years of documenting this sport I’m convinced that it’s
one of America’s greatest.
I came across the idea for this film via Angie Murray, the
daughter of Carol Murray, one of the Blackfeet elders I was
interviewing for my previous film, Before There Were Parks
(BTWP). The moment she suggested it, I knew this was a project
that had incredible potential. Aaron Pruitt, MontanaPBS’s
Director of Programming, agreed and together we decided to
co-produce the film. Early funds came in from the Friends of
MontanaPBS, the Montana Department of Tourism, the Greater
Montana Foundation and Humanities Montana. Vision Maker
Media then gave us a huge boost when they decided to partner
with us. With their crucial support we were able to bring
onboard the Pacific Mountain Network and finally, ITVS—a
documentary filmmaker’s dream come true.
Fundraising for this project took us two years and in the middle
of that we started production. In Browning, John Murray,
the Blackfeet Tribal Preservation Officer and chair of this
project’s advisory board, helped us a great deal by facilitating
ceremonies for the project, letting me and my crew often stay
with him and his family, and introducing us to many elders
and many local relayers, including his grandson, Myles, who is
featured in the film. Also in Browning, early on, I worked with
Wayne “Quig” Smith Jr., a Relayer, teacher and photographer
who helped me produce and even appeared in the film’s
6-minute preview—elements central to this project’s
eventual success.
During actual production, I was greatly assisted by Darren
Kipp, a talented Blackfeet filmmaker in his own right, who
among other things, brought in local cameramen, housed
this project’s core crew when we were in town to cover the
Relays during Browning’s North American Indian Days, and
closely followed one of our main teams for several months.
In Crow Agency, Dr. Tim McCarthy, a Little Bighorn College
professor who I’d worked with on BTWP, introduced me to
Kendall Old Horn and his incredibly hardworking MM Express
relay team. The importance of Kendall’s belief in and steadfast
support of this project cannot be understated. In many ways,
this is MM’s film.
In Ft. Hall, Marcia Racehorse-Robles, another of my contacts
from BTWP, introduced me to her uncle, Leo Teton, a
legendary Relayer still deep in the Ft. Hall relay scene. With
Leo’s help I met JonMarc Skunkcap, Alonzo “Punkin’ Coby and
Lance Tissidimmit. All of these guys, their families (and many
more!) deserve the highest praise for their amazing openness,
honesty and constant willingness to be such a central part of
this wonderful project.
Indian Relay Production Still
Photo Courtesy of Charles Dye
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Indian Relay
VIEWER
DISCUSSION
GUIDE
By the Numbers
1. Indian Relay teams are made up of four people and three
horses. One person is the “rider”, one is the “mugger” who
catches the newly dismounted horse, and the other two
are “holders” who keep the other horses under control
throughout the race.
2. There is no requirement for what kind of horses to use in
Indian Relay but many are from thoroughbred stock, and
the horses are ridden bareback.
3. The rules about starting vary slightly from nation to nation.
Sometimes the riders begin the race mounted and start
when a flag is dropped, at other races the riders must mount
the horse at the starter’s signal.
4. Floyd Osborne, a former jockey from the Wind River
Reservation in Wyoming says that in the early days they
only ran one heat. This is true at only the smallest events
nowadays. Most relay races are now multi-day “meets”
where one team might compete in four qualifying heats
before the final consolation or championship race.
5. The exact origins of Indian relay races are uncertain, but
some believe that the earliest competitions were connected
to both sending long distance messages or horse stealing
between warring tribes. Whatever the case, relays are a
natural part of showing off one’s horsemanship and have
been done in various ways by various tribes since they had
horses. The current method was arguably standardized
by the Shoshone-Bannocks in the 1960s, but the eastern
Shoshones (and Crow and Blackfeet) were racing relay races
where they had to move the saddle from horse to horse
long before WWII. .
6. Horses were brought to North America in the 1500s by the
Spanish. Rancheros near Santa Fe and Taos had horse herds
numbered in the thousands, but during the 1680 Pueblo
Revolt the Spanish were forced out of New Mexico and left
their horses behind. Within fifty years tribes throughout the
great plains and into Canada had acquired horses.
7. The introduction of the horse into tribal culture brought
many changes to the way the people hunted, traded,
traveled, made war, and lived.
8. Over twenty different tribes and bands of Natives lived
within the region and lived off the land and the buffalo,
hunting and trading for their livelihood. The three tribes
featured in the film, the Shoshone/Bannock Nation, The
Blackfoot Nation, and the Apsaalooke Nation are all located
in the northern and western plains where the horse culture
flourished.
Production still
Photo by Charles Dye
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VIEWER
DISCUSSION
GUIDE
Indian Relay
Ideas for Action
1. In the library or on the Internet, research how the
horse came to be a part of the Northern Plains Indian
culture. What impact did the horse have on previous
traditional and social practices?
2. Use the Internet to learn some of the rules and
regulations for Indian Relay and the different theories
about where Indian Relay originated. How do they
vary according to the sources you find?
White Calf team rider Narcis Reevis in the middle of the action during the Indian
Relay World Championahsips.
Photo by Daniel Schmidt.
Reflect & Relate
1. Horses arrived on the northern Great Plains sometime
during the 18th century. What changes do you
imagine came about within the many tribes living
on the Plains once they obtained horses? Consider
social practices, travel, hunting, trading, etc in your
exploration.
3. As a group or class, write an essay on the relationship
between horses and humans. Do you think they have
a connection, a way to communicate, a link? Explore
and identify all the ways that horses and humans
come together in our modern culture.
4. Do you have a special relationship with an animal?
Write a personal essay about the give and take
between you and your special animal. If you don’t
have an animal, chose one and write a fictional story
about you and your animal.
2. Indian Relay is a highly competitive horse race in
which many Native American Tribes participate.
During the race a rider must race around the track
mounting and dismounting his horses three times.
What part of earlier life do you imagine this skill and
this practice emerged from?
3. In the film we see many of the people adorning
their horses with paint, colored tape, etc. as a way of
honoring them. Compare the way Native American
people honor the horse with earlier practices with the
bison, the eagle or other animals. Explore the spiritual
and cultural reasons that these animals or nature in
general were honored.
4. Indian Relay teams are often family teams. Horses
seem to pull the family closer together. They must
care for the horses, practice, ride daily, etc. Compare
this way of building family relationships with the
typical American family. What are the similarities?
What are the differences?
5. A successful Indian Relay team must have many skills.
Explore all of the elements that must work together to
make the race a success.
Luke Rock (Crow) watches
the action from an earlier
race.
Photo by Christi Cooper.
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VIEWER
DISCUSSION
GUIDE
Indian Relay
Resources
Internet Resources
http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xieed/documents/text/
idc010176.pdf
http://www.shoshonebannocktribes.com/shoshonebannock-relay-races.html
http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xieed/documents/text/
idc010176.pdf
http://www.native-languages.org/plains-culture.htm
http://www.montanapbs.org/IndianRelay/
http://www.americancowboy.com/culture/indian-relayracing
http://www.thefurtrapper.com/indian_horse.htm
Indian Relay team owners Lance Tissidimit and
Alonzo Coby cool down one of their horses after
a mid-summer training session in the sandy hilles
near their home in Ft. Hall, Idaho.
Photo by Charles Dye.
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/earlysettlements/essays/impact-horse-culture
http://www.blackfeetnation.com
All content in this Viewer Discussion Guide may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational use.
Indian Relay is produced by Charles Day and is a co-production of KUSM-TV/MontanaPBS and Vision Maker Media
with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This Viewer Discussion Guide was developed by Jamie Lee, an author and former instructor at the Oglala
Lakota College, where she taught for five years. Lee has a Master’s in Human Development and has been a
communications trainer and an educator for the past 30 years. Her stories and articles have appeared in The
South Dakota Review, Winds of Change Magazine and several other anthologies. She has published three nonfiction books along with one novel and a collection of writings from Oglala Lakota College students. Her first
novel, Washaka: The Bear Dreamer, was a PEN USA finalist in 2007. Lee has written over 70 documentary programs
including Public Radio’s landmark 52-part Native music series, Oyate Ta Olowan: The Songs of the People.
Funding for this Viewer Discussion Guide was provided by Vision Maker Media. Vision Maker Media supports
Native stories for Public Broadcasting. For more information, please visit www.visionmakermedia.org.
Educational resources for this film are available at www.visionmakermedia.org/education/indian-relay.
© 2013 Vision Maker Media. All rights reserved.
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