Kelly O and I traveled to Omak, Washington, last weekend with a group of women to attend the annual Omak Stampede and Suicide race—where cowboys, Native Americans, and carnival freaks come together to concurrently put on Eastern Washington’s grandest rodeo, most contentious horse race, four days of pow wows, and a carnival for the kids.
- omakstampede.org
It’s far past sunset when the suicide race begins: There’s a drum roll, a gunshot, then over a dozen shadowy riders and horses crest the flood-lit hill, gallop down a 62-degree slope, and plunge into the Okanogan River. Once across, riders race to the finish line in the rodeo arena. The run in its entirety lasts maybe three minutes. The rider with the fastest time at the end of the weekend’s four runs wins $1,000.
Animal rights groups hate the suicide run and sporadically try to get it canceled permanently (most notably after 2004’s races, which killed four horses). This year—the race’s 76th anniversary—the river is high and when the horses hit the water nearly all of them go under, some screaming, as the crowd gasps and cheers in the dark. In past years, horses have snapped their legs on the steep, 225-foot slope.
Below, you’ll find an excellent video Kelly O made of the 2009 race. But during the two nights we catch the race, injuries are minimal: a handful of horses lose their riders but swim with the herd anyway, emerging on the other side and running into the arena. (The riders, who are all required to wear life vests—but not helmets—are picked up by life boats.)
Photos by Kelly O
The Colville tribal members view it as tradition. And for the dozens of tribal members and cowboys who compete each year, it’s a test of their horsemanship skills. “It didn’t matter that I didn’t win—I proved to the world that I belonged on that horse,” said Ralph, a Colville man who raced in the early ’90s.
2010 suicide racer, left.The Omak Stampede, which precedes the suicide race each night, blends Canadian, First Nations and United States traditions in honor of the rodeo’s participants and the crowd it attracts.
The arena plays the Canada, First Nations, and United States national anthems.
Bareback riders demonstrate their skill.
Princesses abound.
“I dislocated my shoulder running through the dark.” Jerian Ashley, Tonasket Rodeo Queen
“I went to the top of the suicide run. It’s not that bad. I believe I could do it. I think it’d be fun to fight for it.” Jay St Jaques, Maple Creek Indian Princess from the Nekaneet band.
“When do you head out for your European tour?” asked one of two young women who followed J.J. Harrison, the Clown, back to his trailer after Friday night’s rodeo.
“We’re losing cowboys—it’s a big expense to travel the circuit,” Jim Glover, former director of the Omak Stampede. “But the ice cream’s good.”
“Everything goes right out there and it still hurts. I’ve broke 60 bones and I have no feeling in my left arm.” Shannon Miller, 29-year-old bareback bronc rider from NM.
The Indian encampment.
“Your dad and your grandpa traditionally make [your regalia]. I like horses and stars, so they kind of ran with it.” Marvin.
This little boy likes Cars.Carnival workers lining up for work. “Have a spec-fun-tacular day” is listed pretty far down past “shower daily.”
Dave: “I needed work, so I taught my roommate how to feed my tropical fish and joined the carnival.”
“Play my game. I’ve got a bad toe.”“I met Bob at a wet t-shirt contest at a Harley rally,” says a woman named Brenda. “I knew he lived in Washington, so I left Minnesota with another dude and followed him out here. Well one day, who shows up at our door but Bob? And Bob says to the guy I’m living with, ‘Either we’re going to share a beer or beat the shit out of each other but either way, I’m leaving with your old lady.’ And then he says to me, ‘Pack your stuff.’ We’ve been married for eight years now and that’s the straight-up truth.”
“It took me 30 tries to win this.”
This horrific and despicable annual event is still going on? Breaks my heart.
That was quick.
Beautiful pictures, as always Kelly-O.
It continues to astonish me how unevolved the human race is in terms of submitting animals to horrific fear and pain for our mere entertainment. Factory farming is horrific as well of course, but at least you can find some justification (it allows wider availability of low-cost meat) even if it is morally insufficient. But just for shits and giggles? How is this not automatically considered unacceptable?
I love the WWJD sign with the cheesy soft-porn centerfold. It’s the sort of thing that should be banned outside trailer-homes. Without wheels.
@ 4, your argument in favor of animal rights is completely undercut by your snotty elitism.
I watched my beloved horse break her leg nine years ago, just from a misstep. While I believe in live and let live, this deliberately dangerous race makes me nauseated.
Great pictures, as usual, but especially the young First Nations couple. Love that one.
Yeah, it would be so much more humane if the horses got killed and eaten by a mountain lion.
whatever, those riders are showing off their bravery. it sounds exciting. great pictures too.
” but especially the young First Nations couple”
She’s totally fuckable.
We must ban everything I don’t like!
Funny how it’s liberals now who want ‘civilize’ the Indians, whether it’s horse racing or whaling.
This is what horses are FOR. I can’t stand the things, but at least someone is enjoying them. And since walking, eating, and pretty much existing is dangerous for a horse, I’m not terribly surprised things go wrong every now and then.
Awesome pictures!
Also, the suicide race is pretty unbelievable. I still can’t fathom how those convince their horses to run down that insane cliff to swim the Okanogan River. And this year everyone was able to walk away from it, including the horses. Lucky year.
Also, Bob sounds like a very romantic guy.
@8: Are you being facetious, or are you giving the race a nod just because otherwise horses would suffer “the law of the jungle?”
There’s a healthy dose of “being facetious” there, Phoebe, but I also think it’s a mistake to start thinking that animals are people.
See also, NateMan’s comment @13.
riiiiiiight, treating animals humanely means that they are people. uh huh.
Cienna why did you include the details about horses getting hurt? It was just a dare to get people to object, so that others could object to them objecting.
just leave out those extraneous details.
oh heck, i’ll bite. just for shits and giggles of my own.
the reference to “it’s ok because it it tradition” bit always grates.
.
I just got off the phone with the official spokesman of Eastern Washington. His response to your earnest concerns: “Nobody here gives a shit. Hope you all had an enjoyable Hempfest.”
Something so sad about the incredible costumes tagged by Pepsi
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogim…
@20, Is it sad? That was my favorite photo of the set and I think the Pepsi signs were integral to its appeal to me. The Pepsi signs seemed out of place to me at first, but upon reflection I think that was a racist objectification on my part. The idea that because they are beautiful Indians representing their culture doesn’t mean that western capitalist advertising means shit to them. Maybe they care, maybe they don’t. But I, from my white male perspective, decided it was out of place, or sad, because of the long history of genocide and oppression.
I think the logo adds to the complexity of the photo. But everyone who sees it will see something different and the subjects of the photo don’t look sad to me, they actually look pretty conscious of how hot they look (and they’re right!).
The fact that I went through this thought process is why this photo really does it for me.
@20 – That’s my favorite picture in the bunch. I’m sure if Mudede were here, he’d have something to say about the traditional and the modern, the West and the Even-Further-West, the new iconography of corporate whatever…
Also, those people are pretty.
21, thank you very much for articulating that. The more I look at it, the more I see what you mean.
One of the funnest things left in an otherwise sanitized, coddled modern world. Get your friends together and go next year. It is so fucking awesome.
I went with some friends to play some crazy rock festival show in Omak 10 years or so ago. In the middle of the outdoor show a truck pull broke out and then bikini mud wrestling.
@18. Considering how much a horse costs to buy, train, feed, and vaccinate, I’d be willing to bet most of them are being treated pretty humanely. Doing otherwise would be like spending about $5,000, bare minimum, on a car and then just ramming it into a wall.
A horse is a big animal. It’s also not the sharpest tack in a drawer. I’ve seen them eat themselves to death on fresh grass, on choke-cherry leaves they had the misfortune to be able to reach. An act as simple as stepping in a hole and tweaking a tendon can render them useless, and forget about it if they manage to snap an ankle. And at the end of the day, a horse is a farm animal that’s designed mostly by human intervention to be useful. This is what they’re used for.
the best part of the photo, the dancers w/ the Pepsi logo, is after the grand entry of Sunday’s pow wow, I saw them sneaking kisses. Then I overheard them say they were from different parts of the state. Long distance teen romance!
Amazing. Thanks, Cienna and Kelly O.
@5: There’s nothing snotty about pointing out the trashiness of WWJD splayed over a pair of tits.
That said, this is still pretty disgusting. How could someone love their horse and put it through such a wrecker?
Thanks for making me homesick.
Please tell me you ate an Indian Taco and watched some stick games! I bet all the riders that won the Suicide Race were Native, that’s usually the way it goes.
@25-“Doing otherwise would be like spending about $5,000, bare minimum, on a car and then just ramming it into a wall.”
In other words, it’d be exactly like being an amateur race car driver or downhill mountain biker, except using a living, feeling being instead of a car.
Kelly and Cienna, this was great! I’m from near Omak and my whole family still lives there. I’ve lived on this side of the mountains for about ten years but it will always be home. Although I’m often happy to make my homeland the butt of ridicule (I mean, who doesn’t do that? And there’s just so much to work with there), I still love it and the one thing I think almost everyone I know from there comes up with is a love of animals. Everyone seems to either have their own horses or cattle or have a family member who does. When you work with animals, you can’t help but love and respect them. I know lots of people who have been in the Suicide Race and they are all people who spend their lives and usually make their livelihoods from working with horses. The Suicide Race is a reflection of what horses and people can do when they have a highly developed working relationship; you can’t get a horse to do such a risky thing without a huge amount of love and trust between horse and rider. Do horses sometimes get hurt? Yes, horses always sometimes get hurt. Like someone said above, you may have to shoot a horse because they turned their ankle on a rock. That’s how it works when you have large animals. On another note, my moms an Indian, my dads a cowboy, and to his chagrin I’m as liberal as they come, but I can speak from the perspective of both when I say there is nothing more irritating than having people talk down to traditions they fail to take the time to understand, in the name of some kind of misguided liberalism.
I’ve been attending the Omak stampede since before I could walk. The horses that run in this race are bred to do just that. (see The Man From Snowy River) Not only are they bred for this, they love it. I’ve actually seen one horse get so excited while preparing for the race that he went down the hill without the rider before the race even started. The type of horses they race chase cattle all over the hills all year long. There aren’t usually 15 or so other horses running along side of them when they are doing this during the rest of the year, but seriously, four times a year they race down this hill. A lot of the riders love their horses and are so proud of their horses at the end of a race, having proven that they are at the top of their class for having raced and survived the Suicide Race. I would really like to see the numbers (percentages) of how many horses are maimed per year in the suicide race vs. those of thoroughbred horse racing. Besides i’ve seen more riders get injured in the suicide race than horses. This is a tradition. I don’t come to your house on thanksgiving and gripe about you killing a turkey and stuffing bread crumbs up it’s ass!!
@32 – One of my favorite memories is of watching a race while standing on the river bank on the arena side, against the fence, where the racers come up out of the river. It was like being inside of a thunder cloud, the water and the noise were so intense.
The next day while I was watching some dancing in the encampment (can you believe they used to call it “tee-pee town?”) – a cowboy limped up with a leg and an arm in casts. Someone asked him if he rode in the Suicide Race and he pointed at his belt buckle and replied, “I won last night.”
about the pepsi signs…. When folks contest in a powwow they have numbers on them so judges can give them a score. Pepsi and other orgs donates those bibs and a big savings they are to the powwow committee. Like my number when I ran a marathon I didn’t think much of it, its there and not much thought goes into who is doing the advertising. They are probably thinking they want that number to be seen as well as possible so they can go after some prize money, or enough to get them to the next powwow. Where they can see again their sweetheart from the other end of the state.
Why do some animal rights supporters express far more concern about an animal that may or may not get hurt rather than a human being that may or may not get hurt? Do they hate people? Do they think animals are better than people? Have they watched too many films that anthropomorphize animals? Are some animals more worthy of rights than other, less cute, less relatable animals? If someone can explain this to me in a convincing way, I may stop finding it so f-ing annoying!
Humans choose to participate in stupid stunts. Animals don’t.
That wasn’t so hard.
@35- I hope your slapped yourself in the head really hard after reading @36’s comment. Like so hard your ears bled.
@35: Abusing an animal’s trust for novelty is pretty shitty. The human’s life is not in as much danger as the animal’s. The human’s life also doesn’t depend on the results of this race, so there’s more interest in why the animal’s being pushed past its usual limits.
Horses are cool, except for the one that sneezed on me recently.
The race hill has always looked intimidating when I’ve driven through Omak.
How about a foot race down the hill?
Great pics!
Oh yeah, everyone’s bitching about the poor mistreated animals yet there are thousand and thousand of American children who go to bed hungry every night. Last I heard, horses can’t vote, pay taxes, drive a car or grow up to be a scientist. Find a creditable cause.
I have been to the Omak Stampede and Suicide Race over 30 times. This is a masterful event to watch. I am still amazed every year that PETA and PAWS tries to stop it. Give it up already! It is going to take a lot more than what oyu have tried to present. Its amazing that nobody can remember how many horses have been killed or injured. Or how many people. It’s not as bad as these groups make it out to be. The horses are bred to be a part of this, as are the riders. It is in their blood, their family heritage to ride in the Suicide Race. They practice all year for this event and the horses LOVE the ride. So, until you actually KNOW the background of this event. SHUT UP!
I used to live in Omak and i remember everyone getting seriously pumped about the race it is exciting, if you are at the top of suicide hill you can hop the fence after the riders take off and watch them make their way downhill. To all you animal activists i love animals, i do, i have two horses of my own and i probably wouldn’t run them down that hill, only because im not experienced enough and im too much of a chicken, but let me tell you this, the horses chosen to be ridden down the hill aren’t just picked randomly and told to go. They are carefully chosen, raised and trained. Who says theyre afraid? how would you know what theyre feeling youre obviously not them some horses could actually enjoy it i mean people race like that too, your incorporating that the horses are human and therefor feel like a human would, so doesn’t it stand to reason that they could feel things other than fear? just saying you know.