The Chuckwagon Races( The Original Extreme Sport )Photographs taken at Edmonton in 2006 and
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At the beginning, they all assemble |
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View this video at youtube.
Experience a close-up view of an exciting chuckwagon race. Analyze the high spirited horses and the tough job of the outriders. This video was taken at Edmonton, Alberta where I was able to get a close look at the action. td> |
A Minor Accident: |
One chuckwagon gets too |
An outrider is thrown from his horse and lands |
Eventually the outrider is able to walk |
A Close Look at the Performance |
A helper gets ready to catch a ride to the starting line. You get the feeling that when Honest Mur decided to pay for a chuckwagon tarp, he looked to people in his bar to help him out. Maybe, at the end of a night of drinking, the hangers-on drew straws to decide who would get the chance to drive the chuckwagon.
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The helper catches a ride. At this point, I suspected they were new at the game. They didn't look like agile athletes; and everything looked bright and clean. Maybe it was their first race? But wait, there is a little mud on the front of Marty Maxwell's hat. |
The chuckwagons line up at the start line. Honest Mur is hoping for an honest day's work. |
Honest Mur gets an honest |
As Marty Maxwell turns the barrel and heads for the track, you can see he has done this before. |
He is the first chuckwagon on |
Here, etched in stone, we see Marty Maxwell driving |
The Trials and Tribulations of the Outrider: |
An outrider works to keep the lead horses straight as the horn blows and the driver yells to his horses. |
The outrider is able to keep safely out of the way as the lead chuckwagon horses begin to turn. |
He jumps onto his horse quickly so he isn't left behind. |
In this race, the photograph shows the outrider struggling with the horses. The driver doesn't look very happy because the race can't start until the chuckwagon behind him reaches it's starting position. |
After the horn finally blows, everything takes off at top speed. It isn't surprising that |
The outrider turns the barrel and quickly heads for the track. At the end of the race, his chuckwagon will be penalized if all the outriders are not right behind it. |
When the horn blows, the job of this outrider is to throw the red stove into the back of the of the chuckwagon before the chuckwagon takes off. Behind him, a driver pulls back on his horses with all his might. |
The start of this race was a little chaotic. Before the start, the outrider has trouble with the two lead horses who appear to be falling in love. |
Four seconds later, this photo was taken and it looks like the situation is getting worse. But the horn soon goes. |
Three seconds after the last photo, this photo was taken. I am busy fumbling with my camera so in the excitement was unable to aim straight. The horn has blown and the outrider has gotten out of the way.
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Three seconds after the last photo, an outrider heads towards the camera. My camera is new so I took this photo while focused on trying to find the zoom lens button. Everything happened so fast that I am uncertain what happened, and don't know if this is the same outrider. |
This horse brushed the fence immediately in front of me and then headed back into the race. My camera says it was nine seconds between the last photo and this one. |
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Many chuckwagon races are held in the evening.
The races come to an end as the sun goes down.
Visitors since September 2, 2006:
©2006 Brian M. Brown All rights reserved.