The Indian Relay Races: The Reason to Be at WYO Rodeo

Most people go to WYO Rodeo for the bull riding. The people who've been before go for the Indian Relay Races. There is no other way to explain the difference except to say: one is a sport you've seen before in a different form. The other you have almost certainly never seen, and will not forget.

What You're Actually Watching

Indian Relay Racing is a bareback competition where teams of riders switch horses at full gallop. Each team has three horses, one rider, and two or three holders. The rider completes one lap of the track bareback — no saddle, no stirrups, nothing between rider and horse but grip and balance — then dismounts at speed in the exchange zone, sprints to a fresh horse held by teammates, mounts bareback, and races again. Three laps. Three horses. Approximately 90 seconds of the most intense athletic competition you will ever see at a rodeo.

The exchange is where it happens. Horses are spinning. Riders are running. Holders are fighting to control animals that weigh 1,000 pounds and are surging with adrenaline. And then someone is on a new horse and accelerating back onto the track before the dust from the dismount has settled.

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WYO Rodeo week accounts for 16–20% of annual revenue for downtown properties. We book this week fully, often by March. One week.

— Wyo Stays Team

The History Runs Deeper Than the Rodeo

Indian Relay Racing predates modern rodeo by centuries. The sport evolved from horse culture traditions of the Plains and Plateau tribes — Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Shoshone, Arapaho, Blackfeet, Nez Perce — where horsemanship wasn't a sport but a survival skill. The relay format specifically mirrors the way horses were used in travel, hunting, and warfare: switch to a fresh mount, keep moving, outrun whatever is behind you.

What you see at WYO Rodeo is the competitive formalization of that tradition. Teams represent tribal nations. The rivalries are real and multigenerational. The riders are almost always young — teenagers and early twenties — because the physical demands of bareback riding at speed, dismounting at a run, and remounting another horse while it's moving require a combination of strength, fearlessness, and reflexes that peaks early.

How to Watch — Where to Sit, What to Know

Sit in the grandstand sections closest to the exchange zone. That's the end of the track where riders dismount and remount — and where the most dramatic action concentrates. The straightaway racing is impressive; the exchange is where jaws drop. Watch the holders as much as the riders — controlling a fresh horse while another horse is thundering in at full speed is its own form of athletic courage.

WYO Rodeo Week Beyond the Relay

WYO Rodeo runs the full week in July — typically the second week. The parade on Saturday morning is free and runs down Main Street. The carnival at the fairgrounds operates all week. The evening performances include bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, and saddle bronc — all of it excellent, all of it professional-level competition.

But the relay races are the signature. They're what separates WYO Rodeo from every other rodeo in the region. They're what the locals talk about on Monday morning. And they're what brings people back year after year — because you can't see this anywhere else. Not like this. Not with this history. Not in a town this size where the stadium is close enough that you can hear the hooves.

A Note on Respect

Indian Relay Racing is not a performance staged for visitors. It is a competitive sport with deep cultural roots, carried forward by tribal nations who have been racing horses on this land for longer than Wyoming has been a state. The riders and holders are athletes representing their communities.

Watch with the respect you'd bring to any world-class sporting event. Cheer loudly — the teams feed on crowd energy. Photograph freely. But understand that what you're watching isn't entertainment in the way that a bull riding competition is entertainment. It's a living tradition that happens to also be the most electrifying 90 seconds in Western sports.