Among the many thrills at this yr’s Calgary Stampede was the inaugural Woman Warrior Race, a women-only bareback horserace. Whereas that is the primary Woman Warrior race on the well-known rodeo occasion, the Indian Relay or Indigenous Relay made its debut on the Stampede in 2017. Each races are steeped in custom, going again centuries to when tribes competed in horse races to win buffalo hides, horses, and different valuables.
Flash-forward to 2023 and indigenous girls are thrilled to have their very own occasion, not solely to showcase their driving chops, but in addition to teach Canadians about indigenous tradition as a part of reconciliation. “There’s simply so many alternative issues that Indigenous individuals at the moment are overtly sharing as a result of again within the day, even our ceremonies had been outlawed by the Canadian authorities and we weren’t allowed to be who we’re,” Tonya Crowchild, supervisor of the TK Farrier Providers Indian Relay, informed the CBC. “To return to the place we’re at the moment, to have the ability to be proud and to share who we’re is admittedly, actually vital.”
For Lita Crawler, a 21-year-old competitor, getting the possibility to journey in a Woman Warrior race on the Best Outside Present on Earth was a dream come true. “Once I was a little bit woman, I at all times wished to compete on the Calgary Stampede,” she informed the media outlet. “I by no means thought I’d be right here driving within the races.”
The Indigenous Relay has been a crowd pleaser from the get-go, however Crowchild thinks the Woman Warrior race is an excellent larger draw. “To this point, the response to the ladies’s race has been phenomenal,” she informed the reporter. “They cheer loud for relay, however they cheer louder for the Woman Warrior.”
Watch a Woman Warrior race right here:
