2024 Loop, Day 1: Horse Races and Indian Relays

Last year, I took a LONG road trip across America that I called ""The Big Loop". Now I'm on another exciting road trip, much shorter, that will take me into Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Oregon.

Today I attended the East Idaho Fair, in Blackfoot, to watch horse races and Indian Relay National Championships. The fair was much bigger than I had anticipated! The day was hot, but down 5 or 10 degrees from what I have been enduring recently at rodeos - yahoo!

The order of events was a mix between parimutuel horse races and the chaotic Indian Relays. One way for you to tell the difference as you view the images are to note the colorful silks used in horse racing on both the jockeys and horses.

Unlike the quarter horse races in Ogden, these were on thoroughbreds, so the distances were longer. A second difference is that there were both men's and women's events. A third is that all competitors were Native Americans. And of course the parimutuel betting.

Bonus: I had a casual, terrific conversation with an ex-jockey, who has stepped aside to allow his sons to compete.