Season 2, Barrel Race 3: Middle of the 3D

Place: Bar H Arena

Location: St. Paul, NC

Time: 16.866

Last Time at this Arena: Never been here before

Placement: Middle of 3D, but 1st in 4D for points for my District

 

This was my first time running at this arena and I think it went well. Since this was a new arena for us, I was hoping to be able to get into the arena and walk her around so she could see everything but they didn’t have open arena before the show. After exhibitions they went straight into Peewees and then the Open. This set up was very different from what we were use to seeing too because this arena is set up for Rodeo. The pattern was still standard for NBHA but it had the bucking chutes that you ride past to go in and out of the arena. I thought this might bother Rumor but it didn’t. 

My draw was #45 out of 142 riders so I got to watch some of the riders before me go. Mistake. The FD came and put water on the arena and it seemed like they put too much because horses weren’t able to get a grip with even some horses backends slipping out from under them. So of course, my being the overprotective horse mom, I didn’t want to push Rumor too much and her get hurt. After all, I only have 1 good barrel horse. 

After watching the first 20 I decided it was time to saddle up and start warming up. Rumor and I trotted and loped around the field while we waited on our turn. Finally, when I heard our names called we started to head towards the arena and as we got closer she started her normal antics of stopping and backing up. She doesn’t act completely unruly, just basically being a brat. If we’re exhibitioning or just going into the arena to ride around, she never does this. It’s only when it’s time for us to run, so it leads me to believe my nerves get the best of her. Plus at our first show, my nervousness was non-existent and we didn’t have this problem, so I really do think it might be me causing her to get nervous and act like that. So I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and know that eventually we’ll be able to walk in with neither of us getting nervous. 

Once we do get going, we trot down the alley and then get through the chutes and go. Our entrance was slightly slower then we’ve been running because I didn’t push her. Again, I didn’t want her to slip. Got around 1st with no problems, going to second I start kicking some and then get around 2nd no issues. Come out of second and I kick some more and then around 3rd no problem so I push her and kick harder. She hits her high gear and we race towards the chutes. The announcer calls out 16.866 which I knew wouldn’t be a money run but it was 3d so that was good enough for me. Not to mention, there were soooo many barrels down that day because of the arena conditions so I’m thankful we left them up and had a decent time. 

While I didn’t push her like I should have I did learn a valuable lesson and that is Rumor can handle a lot of different grounds very well. Our trust in each other grows with every show and our bond does as well. So all in all, another good show for us and I can’t complain. Points aren’t officially posted yet but it is looking like I will be in 1st place points for 4D which possibly puts me as the points leader right now. 🙂 

Here is the video:

Here’s Our Other Barrel Races this Season:
Barrel Race 1 – Wallace Arena (2D time)
Barrel Race 2 – CCRA (3D time)

So Tell Me..

How has your show season started off? What kind of showing are you doing?