Fast Horse

Award Winning Documentary
FAST HORSE follows the return of the Blackfoot bareback horseracing tradition in a new form: the Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison RedCrow struggles to build a team with second-hand races and a new jockey, Cody BigTobacco, to take on the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the Calgary Stampede.

Fast Horse

Award Winning Documentary
FAST HORSE follows the return of the Blackfoot bareback horseracing tradition in a new form: the Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison RedCrow struggles to build a team with second-hand races and a new jockey, Cody BigTobacco, to take on the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the Calgary Stampede.
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Take an intimate verité visit to a fascinating and little-known world: the dangerous and high-stakes game of Indian Relay. In Blackfoot country, they call Indian Relay "North America's original extreme sport." Jockeys bareback gallop their horses around a track, jumping off one and on to another in a chaotic melee of horses and handlers at "the exchange". Accidents happen. Simply finishing a race demands masterful skill and courage.

Our cameras follow Allison and his new jockey, Cody BigTobacco, over the course of a year as they assemble a team of horses, train them for the relay race and finally make their debut at the Calgary Stampede. Their team, Old Sun, will face the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy, many of them veteran competitors from Montana. Fast Horse puts the audience on the back of a galloping horse, an exhilarating POV experience that captures the thrill and risk of this white-knuckle sport.

And through this process, we come to understand and respect the skills of horsemanship, which have been passed down for generations and remain intact. With a heart-pumping climax, experience the final race at the Calgary Stampede from Cody's own perspective. And just as promised, learn just how unpredictable and dangerous the Indian Relay can be.

Members:

Zach Cox

Credits:

Produced by Niobe Thompson
Directed by Alex Lazarowich
Cinematography by Craigery Dennis, Daron Donahue, Aaron Munson, Sergio Olivares
Edited by Sarah Taylor
Colour Zach Cox

Links:

Watch on CBC Gem.