Mountain River Indian Relay Team looks to 2017 season
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Steve Edwards
Four of the Mountain River Indian Relay Team's horses use an exerciser at the Hays Rodeo Grounds. The team was readying the horses and practicing during the 2016 racing season that runs roughly from June to September. Relay racing is enjoying a comeback, with more teams and scheduled events throughout the plains states. Organized Indian relay racing first began in Blackfoot, Idaho in the 1920's.
The Mountain River Indian Relay team, from Fort Belknap reservation, earned a place in the 2016 All Nations Indian Relay Championship held last September at MetroPark in Billings. It had been a few years since Fort Belknap fielded a relay team, but there is a rich tradition of racing and winning from the reservation. Two of the current team members, Byard and Dave Kirkaldie, were part of a family team that over the years won four national championships, three of them back to back in the early 2000's. In 2016 the Mountain River team finished sixth among 34 teams after earning a place in the nat...
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