Chuckwagon racing is an equestrian

Equestrianism

Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...

 rodeo

Rodeo

Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

 sport in which drivers in a chuckwagon

Chuckwagon

A chuckwagon or chuck wagon is a type of wagon historically used to carry food and cooking equipment on the prairies of the United States and Canada. Such wagons would form part of a wagon train of settlers or feed traveling workers such as cowboys or loggers.In modern times, chuckwagons feature...

 led by a team of Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horses race around a track. The sport is most popular in the Prairie Provinces of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, where the World Professional Chuckwagon Association

World Professional Chuckwagon Association

The World Professional Chuckwagon Association is an association made up of professional cowboys and successful business people with an interest in preserving western heritage and providing exciting family entertainment. The WPCA promotes and presents chuckwagon racing as a professional sport...

 and the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association, are the two major racing circuits. The most famous chuckwagon race in the world is held annually at the Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway,...

, where the total prize money for the ten-day event tops C$

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

1 million. The sport is controversial as horses and drivers are occasionally injured or killed, prompting animal welfare groups to call for the sport to be banned.

Race format

Chuckwagon racing is a team event, led by a driver who commands a team of horses pulling the chuckwagon, and is supported by two or four outriders, each racing individual thoroughbred horses that follow the chuckwagon. Each race typically involves three or four teams, and begins with the outriders "breaking camp", by tossing two tent poles (with four outriders only) and a barrel representing a camp stove into the back of their wagon before mounting their horses and following the wagons as they complete a figure eight around two barrels before circling a race track. The first wagon to cross the finish line typically wins, although various time penalties are handed out for infractions such as a barrel being knocked over, a tent pole or stove is not loaded, wagon interference or an outrider crossing the finish line too far behind his wagon driver.

History

The first time chuckwagon races were held as a spectator sport was at the 1923 Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway,...

. Guy Weadick

Guy Weadick

Guy Weadick was an American performer and promoter. Today, he is best known as the founder of the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada.- Early years :Weadick was born in 1885, in Rochester, New York....

, who had founded the Stampede eleven years previous, invited ranchers to enter their chuckwagons and crews to compete for a total of $275 in prize money. In 2009, the total purse available to racers was $1.15 million. Additionally, drivers can earn the Guy Weadick Award, for overall sportsmanship and exemplifying the spirit of the Calgary Stampede, The Richard Cosgrave Memorial Award, named after former driver and 2 time aggregate winner Richard Cosgrave, killed in 1993, for the best aggregate time during the first 8 days of the Rangeland Derby, and the Orville Strandquist Award, named for the great cowboy Orville Strandquist, which recognizes top rookie driver (based on dollars won) during the Rangeland Derby year.

The actual origin of the sport is unknown, with many different stories offered to explain how it originated. Among them are the suggestion that Weadick first saw a similar event at the 1922 Gleichen Stampede, that he saw impromptu races between chuckwagon drivers as a kid growing up, or that cooks from two chuckwagons who had completed serving a barbecue at the 1919 Victory Stampede in Calgary then raced to the grandstand's exit, inspiring the event.
The first professional racing circuit was sanctioned in 1949 by the Cowboys Protective Association (today the World Professional Chuckwagon Association

World Professional Chuckwagon Association

The World Professional Chuckwagon Association is an association made up of professional cowboys and successful business people with an interest in preserving western heritage and providing exciting family entertainment. The WPCA promotes and presents chuckwagon racing as a professional sport...

). which sanctioned all professional rodeo and chuckwagon races in Canada including the Calgary Stampede. It operates the Dodge

Dodge

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....

 Pro Tour, a 12-event season with events held throughout Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

 and northeastern British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. A smaller governing body, the Northern Chuckwagon Association was formed in the late 1970s, evolving into the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association in 1995. The CPCA's Pro Tour hosts events in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 and northern Alberta. In 2001 in Northern Alberta the Western Chuckwagon Association was formed. They currently race in venues across the Peace region with major shows in Grande Prairie, Ab and Dawson Creek, BC. The WCA has grown to have around 20-25 drivers.

While the sport's popularity is greatest on the Canadian prairies, chuckwagon racing has been held in conjunction with many rodeos across North America.

Animal welfare

The sport has faced increasing opposition from animal welfare groups, who contend that it is unnecessarily cruel to the horses that occasionally suffer injuries requiring the animals to be euthanized

Animal euthanasia

Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...

, and want the sport banned. Three horses died following chuckwagon races at the 2009 Calgary Stampede, and a spectacular wagon crash during the 2007 Stampede in which three horses were killed and a driver hospitalized led officials in Calgary to review the safety of the sport.

Supporters of the event argue that the horses are well cared for. They express sadness over the deaths of the animals, but argue that it is a normal, albeit unfortunate, aspect of any ranch or farming operation. Calgary Stampede officials argue that they work closely with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a non-profit animal welfare organization originally founded in England in 1824 to pass laws protecting carriage horses from abuse. SPCA groups are now found in many nations, where they campaign for animal welfare, assist in cruelty to animals...

and the Calgary Humane Society to ensure that the horses are well treated.