Winning the big dance: Local riders earn national honors at O-Mok-See
Two young Kalispell riders put Smith Valley Saddle Club on the map recently at the 2009 National O-Mok-See Championships.
Heidi Schmid, 11, was the overall national champion for children ages 8 to 11 at the O-Mok-See games July 19 through 25 in Gillette, Wyo. Justin Wallace, 13, broke a national pole-bending record at the games.
O-Mok-See, which comes from a Blackfeet word meaning "riding big dance," once referred to American Indian traditional warrior games. Today's O-Mok-See events are family-friendly affairs with upwards of 50 games on horseback. The national championship featured about 20 games.
Schmid, who has been part of the saddle club for about two years but who has been riding since she was 3, has been an O-Mok-See competitor for the last two years.
"I like to go fast, and most of the games involve speed," she said.
Her love for speed helped Schmid win the national title and a new saddle.
"I had no idea I was going to win the saddle. When they announced my name and said I won the saddle, I was really excited and shocked," she said.
Schmid shares her victory with Blue, a 20-year-old paint horse, and Tasie, another paint who is about 13. Neither horse belongs to Schmid; she borrowed them from other saddle club members because her own horse is "just not fast enough" for her.
Schmid rode Blue throughout most of the national competition, but rode Tasie for a few games. She and the horses performed consistently during the six-day event and rode in three to five events each day, her mother, Susan, said.
"To make it into the top 10 is good. It's a big deal," Susan Schmid said.
Wallace didn't think so. While he finished eighth in the 12- to 15-year-old age group - after finishing ninth at last year's national championship - Wallace said this was an off year for him.
"I can do a lot better than that. I had a bad year this year," he said.
His record-setting pole-bending time wasn't part of his so-called bad year. In pole bending, riders race along a line of six poles, weave their horses back through the poles twice, and race back to the starting line. Wallace and Lady, an 11-year-old palomino, finished in 22.789 seconds, breaking the old mark of 22.8 seconds.
"I've never broken a record like that before," Wallace said, adding that he tends to disqualify himself when he sets a new record. "The pole-bending record I wanted to break. It was the only game I really cared about most."
Lady, he added, was the perfect horse for the game.
"She's only a pole horse strictly. It's just fun doing that game on her," he said. "We're good at it."
Wallace's older sister, Katie, 20, finished fifth among 16- to 39-year-old women. Amanda Schmid, Lauren Fredenburg, Skylar Johnson, Kyrsten Pilsch and Chris Wallace also won events at the national O-Mok-See championship, Susan Schmid said.
Smith Valley Saddle Club's next O-Mok-See event is Aug. 29 and 30 at the Flathead County Fairgrounds. For more information, visit http://svscomoksee.com.
Next year's O-Mok-See nationals will be in Kalispell.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com