2022 State O-MOK-SEE At Broadwater County Fairgrounds
Author: JB Howick, MT43 News
ownsend and Broadwater County have a rare chance to experience the joy of family and horses tomorrow and Sunday, September 3rd and 4th, at the Broadwater Fairgrounds as the Montana Saddle Club Association presents the 2022 State O-Mok-See.
O-Mok-See is a Blackfeet Indian word meaning: “riding big.” To the saddle clubs across Montana and across the United States, O-Mok-See has become a timed event sport for western riders who race four at a time against each other as the clock tests their speed and skill. If you're thinking, "this sounds like an obstacle course with horses..." you're on the right track! And the idea of children and adults having the time of their lives riding horses like there's no tomorrow in an obstacle course sounds like fun!
Expecting more than three hundred riders, Montana Saddle Club Association District 2 out of Helena will sponsor the State O-Mok-See at our own Broadwater fairgrounds, on September 3rd and 4th. Billed as a family-friendly event it is free to the public and frequently enjoys entire families competing in the events.
O-Mak-See Pass-Kan
John C. Ewers in "The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture" (Smithsonian Institution Bulletin 159, Washington, 1955) explained that an impressive preliminary to the departure of a [war] party was the riding big dance, referred to by Wissler (1913, pp. 456-458) as the "horseback dance or big dance." The warriors who volunteered to join the party first rode out of camp for some distance. There they changed to their war clothes, painted themselves in their war paint, painted pictographic representations of their coups on their war horses and decorated them with masks, bells, martingales, and feathers in their tails. Then they mounted and converged upon the camp from the four cardinal directions, carrying their weapons. As a number of old men and women stood in the center of the camp beating drums and singing a song with a lively rhythm, the warriors circled the camp on horseback. Then they shouted, dismounted, and danced on foot, imitating the prancing of their horses, which stepped along beside them to the beating of their drums.
Informants said there were no leaders in this dance. All warriors planning to embark on the expedition took part. The "riding big dance" was also given in former times at the Sun Dance encampment. Thus it survived as a spectacle after its discontinuance as a prelude to a war party. Informants said the Piegan had not observed the riding big dance since about 1900. Two of them expressed the wish that this picturesque and exciting dance might be revived so that younger Indians might learn of the splendor of their tribal past. In buffalo days, however, the riding big dance had as its "chief function . . . the arousal of courage and enthusiasm for war," as Wissler (ibid., p. 456) has reported.
The NSCA further explains that the Blackfoot Tribe had no written language. All anyone can do is render the sounds. There is no incorrect spelling, so long as the sound is correctly presented. The full name of the "riding big dance" is “o-mak-see pass-kan.” The second syllable of the first word is pronounced like our English word “mock”. The last syllable of the second word is sounded like our “can”.
The MSCA and O-Mok-See
Montana Highway Department artist Irvin “Shorty” Shope founded the oldest incorporated saddle club in Montana, the Helena Trail Riders (HTR), in 1938. Originally a trail-riding club, HTR soon branched out into the field of competitive “horse pattern” racing events. The initial contests were called “field days” (or sometimes Gymkhana), with the first competition taking place in 1940.
In 1944, the Helena Trail Riders were seeking a Native American name for their annual contests and requested the help of the Blackfoot agency in Browning. Alex Grant Swaney — the HTR president from 1945–46 received a letter from agency superintendent F.H. McBride and John Ewers, curator of the Plains Indian Museum, suggesting the term “o-mak-see-pass-can.” The HTR shortened and simplified the term to "O-Mok-See," which was eventually adopted nationwide.
In 1965 past and future HTR president Keith Herrin founded the National Saddle Club Association. With it, O-Mak-See and pattern horse racing became national sporting events.
Today the state-level Montana Saddle Club Association (MSCA) promotes the sport and has adopted a set of patterned horse racing events for local, state, and national competition.
All events are run in thirty-foot lanes with four lanes in the arena. At the end of the lane is the turning line. Most events involve a “property.” Property refers to any item used during an O-Mok-See event: barrels, poles, flags, etc. The MSCA approves fifty-six races for year-round O-Mok-See competitions which include riding indoors in the winter.
The State O-Mok-See held tomorrow and Sunday (September 3rd & 4th) at the Broadwater fairgrounds combines the talent of all the MSCA districts and many saddle clubs throughout Montana. It is free to the public and a great way for lovers of horses and lovers of Montana to spend time with family.
Our thanks to Polly Kolstad of Signature Montana and Curt Synness of the Helena Independent Record for their contributions to this article.
Article Images
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Image 1 Caption: 2022 STATE O-MOK-SEE
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Image 2 Caption: National O-Mok-See courtesy NSCA.
Image 3 Caption: Images: National O-Mok-See courtesy NSCA.
Image 4 Caption: Images: National O-Mok-See courtesy NSCA.
