A Rider Won Both the Horseback Charge and the Outriders Title at the Largest Equine Event in Arkansas
Carter Griffin took the Snowy River race in two minutes eight point seven seconds at a meeting that began in 1986 as a Labor Day gathering on a family ranch.
Carter Griffin won the Snowy River Race in two minutes and 8.7 seconds at the National Championship Chuckwagon Races, held at the Bar of Ranch in Clinton, Arkansas, from 29 August to 6 September 2026.
The Snowy River is a flat-out horseback charge that includes two downhill plunges and a crossing of the South Fork of the Little Red River. Griffin also won the outriders title in the Oklahoma Land Rush, where the wagon class went to Outta Nowhere, driven by Dani Fox, in a runoff.
Other champions included Pitchin' A Fit in the four-up mules, driven by Steven Strayer with Clayton Strayer and Brent Bowlan, in 52.7 seconds; Odale Comer in the mule race in 44.2 seconds; Full House in the buckboard class; 4 W in the big mules; B and B number two in the classic; Silver Bullets in the pasture roping; and Rafter D Mules of Hastings, Minnesota, in the pasture roping mules.
Each wagon team is three people. The cook loads the stove and gets into the wagon first. On the signal the outrider loads the tent, mounts and must pass the wagon before the finish line, and all three must cross together with wagon, stove and tent present for the time to count.
The meeting was founded in 1986 by Dan and Peggy Eoff as a Labor Day gathering at their ranch. They expected about a hundred people and more than five hundred came to watch eight teams. By the twentieth anniversary in 2006 it drew over 20,000 people and 135 teams, with nearly 5,000 horses and mules on the grounds.