17 Southwest Highways
Each driver is assigned a barrel. Each set of barrels has their own color, also shown in my diagram. The “4” barrel is yellow, “3” barrel is black, “2” barrel is red, and the “1” barrel is white. To make things easier for the drivers to see their outriders, each member of a “team” is wearing a shirt that matches the color of their barrel. So if you are on the “4” barrel, you would be wearing yellow, and so on.
A key part to success is placing the horse at the best position. The “right wheeler” is the horse at the back, on the right, “left wheeler” is at the back, on the left. The “right leader” is at the front, on the right and so on. Sometimes if a horse isn’t that good on the wagon, they usually become an outrider horse, which is just like running the track with a jockey, except that the outriders don’t have to be four feet tall.
Most drivers complete the track under two minutes. Good track times are about 1:13, but others have done it in less than that. The result of going fast is that you might be thrown from your wagon. Although it doesn’t happen often, at the 2007 Calgary Stampede, a driver fell out of his wagon and “started skippin’ like a rock on water”. An outrider thankfully came to the rescue by jumping into the back of the wagon, trying to get it back into control.
Unfortunately, the reins were not in the box (where the driver sits) so he walked along the tree (a piece of wood that attaches to the wagon and attaches the horses together) to get the reins and the wagon under control.
Chuckwagon racing is my favourite part of Canadian rodeos, and everyone is friendly, has a great time, and loves their horses.
Many thanks to www.halfmileofhell.com for photos!
Special thanks to the creators of Horse Isle for very helpful information about horses!
And thanks to the commentators of the 2013 Calgary Stampede GMC Rangeland Derby for very, very helpful information about Chuckwagon Racing!
And one more thank you to the drivers of Chuckwagon racing for giving racehorses a good home!