The Mane Event Kootenai County Saddle Club’s O-Mok-See Puts Horses Through Their Courses
The woman on the public address system wanted to give things a swift, sharp spur in the side. It was time to get these horse races going again.
Just one problem. “Hey! Wait a minute!” somebody in the crowd piped. A steed was running amok about the fairgrounds.
“A horse is loose?” squawked the PA. Then the disembodied voice paused. “MY horse?”
“Yes.”
“Awwww, crap!”
But after that, things went wonderfully at the Kootenai County Saddle Club’s annual O-Mok-See competition Sunday. O-Mok-See, club president Irene Seidler said, is Nez Perce for “games with horses.” And the games were for everyone. There was racing for little girls and gray-headed men. They jumped, weaved through barrels, and ran the horses until they almost flew, manes whipping behind them like fire.
This was a Western riding competition. And you really know it’s Western when the midday ceremony includes John Wayne. Six women, tall atop their horses and holding flags, rode in a circle inside the arena. The Duke’s recorded voice said something patriotic (it was tough to hear), but anyway it ended with the pledge of allegiance.
There were about 50 riders, and judging them wasn’t always easy. When winners for some of the kid’s categories were announced, that voice on the PA got a little sentimental.
“This is really hard,” she said, the words catching in her throat. “Yes, I am getting choked up.” Everyone did so well, it was hard to leave anyone out.
Winners got to take home hardware - belt buckles and trophies. The club has riding events every month during the summer, but the prizes are what makes the O-Mok-See something to look forward to each year.
“We’ve got a lot of people from Shoshone, and there’s even people from Spokane,” Seidler said. Some of the for-fun-only events get up to 80 riders involved.
“Horses are big business in this area, whether people realize it or not.” Seidler should know. She and her husband own a Hayden saddle shop.
Whole families get into it. “I’m riding, my kids are riding and my daughter’s the junior princess,” said Diana Daum, who was getting ready to compete in the over-40 race. The barrel racing - charging through an obstacle course - is the most popular event, she said. But for her, the favorite is whatever she does well that day.
And they’re competitive. Take the key race - a gallop down the arena, through four poles, and back again in a haze of thick dust. During one of those, two horses tore at the ground like buzz saws. At the turn-around, one horse got tangled up in the poles.
The rider in front didn’t get over-confident. She leaned forward - hollered “Go-go-go-go-go!” - and turned her horse into a steam train, throttling Connie Gill’s time.
Gill, though, wore a giant smile, the kind kids get when they catch their first fish.
“First time in 20 years!” the 37-year-old beamed. “I used to do this all the time when I was 10, 11, with a $90 horse. But then marriage and kids happened. It’s cool to come back.”
This race wouldn’t be her last. The Hauser Lake woman bought a horse in the spring. A lot of horse. “He’s so fast, it’s scary. That horse, he’s just like a jet.”
“It’s a rush,” she said, laughing now. “There’s nothing like that speed, those thundering hooves.”
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