Tyler Peasley hugged his horse tightly with his legs as it danced at the start line.

This was the first heat of the Indian Relay Races at the Pendleton Round-Up. At the sound of a horn, the four mounted competitors bolted from the line and sprinted around the first curve.

The jockeys rode without saddles or stirrups, relying on nerve and athleticism as they thundered past the grandstand and around the second curve. The thoroughbreds’ hooves jackhammered the dirt track, igniting tiny dust explosions.

The event is a relay, but not in the usual sense. Instead of a baton, the jockey is passed between three horses.

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After one lap, riders headed to a pitstop area where teammates awaited with fresh mounts. Each jockey vaulted from one horse, took a running start and leaped onto the back of another. One more lap and they repeated the process.

It was pure adrenaline.

In the end, Peasley, a Colville Tribe member who rides for the Omak Express team, cruised easily across the finish line, his competition eating his dusty wake.

Some aficionados consider Indian relay racing the original extreme sport — high-octane competition featuring top-notch horsemanship and speedy, spirited horses.

This wild, fast-paced event has kept mesmerized spectators on the edges of their seats for most of the 115-year history of the Pendleton Round-Up. Each September, the rodeo draws upwards of 50,000 people and their animals to one of Eastern Oregon’s most iconic spectacles.

Pendleton Round-Up President Tiah DeGrofft often hears people say Indian Relay Races are their favorite events.

“The athleticism of the riders is mind-blowing,” DeGrofft said. “I’m in awe of them.”

The relay event evolved from a half-mile “Indian Race” listed in the first program of the Pendleton Round-Up in 1910. In 1913, the first actual relay appeared in rodeo programs.

It has been a long series of wild rides. Horses mostly follow the track, but occasionally take abrupt left turns onto the arena infield, jumping a low fence and scattering photographers and cowboys.

Much of the chaos happens during the exchanges. Each team includes a rider, catcher and holder. The catcher grabs the first horse while the holder readies the next one.

Abe Grunlose, catcher for the Camp Six team, said nerves of steel are a definite advantage for his role.

“When the horse comes around the corner and comes at you,” he said, “He’s going 35 miles an hour.”

Grunlose separated a couple of ribs a few races back, but said getting banged up is worth it when things go right.

“We like the adrenaline rush,” he said. “When you win, it makes you feel pretty good being the badass team.”

Aptly-named jockey, Ryder Abrahamson spends the time prior to each race working to remain calm. On Wednesday morning, before his team raced the third and last heat of the first day, he languidly played a game of corn hole with a team member to keep his nerves at bay.

Abrahamson, 17, loves the competition and the excitement, and especially the horses. During the school year, he spends time before and after school with his three thoroughbreds: Brawler, Mufasa and Looker. He feeds them, spends time every day jumping on and off of their backs and just hangs out with them.

To hone his body, he runs three or four miles each day and plays on the Omak High School football team.

Peasley started riding by accident in 2001 at age 14, when a team needed a rider in a hurry. They asked Peasley and a friend if one of them would fill in. Neither wanted to do it.

“We flipped a coin,” Peasley said, “I lost.”

But he won his first race, and he was hooked.

Kathy Aney is a Pendleton-based Rural Network Journalist contributing to OPB.

OPB is a nonprofit, statewide news organization with a mission to tell stories for communities in all parts of Oregon and Southwest Washington. As part of that goal, we work with partner news organizations and freelance journalists to identify stories like this that might otherwise go untold. If you have an idea for a story, live in an area outside Portland and want to work with us, send your freelance pitches to [email protected].

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/13/indian-relay-race-pendleton-roundup/