Reflection Paper On Barrel Racing

Upon one’s initial glance the sport of barrel racing might seem as though it is a very basic, straightforward, and even easy sport to achieve a high level of success. However, barrel racing is exactly the opposite. To be a highly skilled barrel racer it takes far more than just agility, strength, and trust from both the horse and its rider. It takes a great deal of patience to learn, be taught, and to have trust in every aspect of this sport. This is a fast paced sport that requires a great deal of dedication, skill, and motivation from every competitor, and horse, regardless of their age or skill level. Along with the above stated skills comes an extremely high level of danger, that I sadly got to witnessed first hand. Every aspect of this

fun with and enjoy your horse. To start you should have your horse groomed and in the cross ties.

Barrel racing is a timed event in rodeos where a rider and horse try to complete a clover leaf pattern in the fastest time. It takes skills from the rider and the horse to make a good run. It takes good athletic ability from the horse and good horsemanship from the rider to take a horse safely through the barrels. The judges set up the barrels in a triangle in the center of the arena. There is normally a flagger in the ring that waves a flag when you start and waves it again when you cross the finish line. There is a person that starts and stops the timer when that flag is waved.

Rodeo is popular throughout the United States and is the official state sport for South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, and Idaho. People think we are just entertaining the people and think the animals are physically provoked to make the cowboys look more impressive (Nielsen 1). Really that isn’t true its really how good of a hand you are and how well and experienced you are riding an animal. Some people make their horses hard in the mouth pulling back to much and that isn’t a good hand on a horse. A good hand on a horse has their horses mouth super light so with a little touch of the foot and rein your horse will turn a complete circle without pulling hard.

I remember as a little kid and now being fascinated by race horses. When I was around eight years old, my grandfather took me to a farm where they raise race horses. They were out exercising Mine That Bird and a few other horses. I thought it was so fascinating! The owner walked up to and asked if I enjoy watching them, I said very shyly,” yes sir.” He took me to the barn and let me look at all the foals and I was astonished. I got to thinking what all do they have to do to get these young foals ready to one day race? I asked Mr. Allen, and he said, “there are many things that you can do but some people don’t do the right thing and they cheat their way to victory”.

Barrel racing is one of the most unique events at a rodeo. It takes a lot of time and effort to get your horse and yourself to learn the barrel pattern and know how to correctly go around the barrels. Once you start to race you’ll never want to stop it’s probably one of the most funnest and competitive things you can do. During barrel racing there are a few things you should know that will help to a successful run. Might want to have a wonderful trainer that will always be there to help, need know the gear needed for this event, and might not know but need to regular exercises with your horse everyday.

People say barrel racing is easy. Barrel is not easy, they think you just sit there and ride. What they actually don't know is that it's not that simple. A person’s first time doing barrels they gotta know it’s not going to be easy. Barrel racing is more complicated than it looks. It takes lots of time to learn and to know that steps to barrel

I took a deep breath as I walked my horse into the Greeley Stampede Arena. I told myself just to "relax." I loped a circle around the arena to make sure that my horse was warmed up and ready to go. He was ready but I was starting to get nervous. I stopped in front of the roping box to put my piggin' string in my mouth. I looked at my calf in the chute to make sure that it was number 33, which was one of the best calves out of the whole set. It was, and I was ready to ride into the box and rope my calf, or attempt to rope my calf. I began to get more nervous, more nervous than I ever had been at a rodeo.

Dirt racing is a sport that is growing heavily in popularity. The two main dirt racing series are the World of Outlaws late model series and the Lucas Oil late model series. They both work together in the way that if one has a high paying race that week the other will not race so he other series drivers can racers can have a chance at winning the money. There is 400+ tracks in America and 600+ worldwide their is 30 registered tracks in Wisconsin.With hundreds of drivers with a large majority of them being extremely experienced drivers at it.

Lisa Lockhart a professional barrel racer said, “Our horses are our teammates, our soulmates. It’s a team effort. You can’t do it without so many people behind you. People in the National Little Britches Rodeo Association takes care of each other. I compete in five events and Ribbon Roping was the only one I did well in this year. I came home with four shiny buckles and a spiffy set of spurs. I also learned that you cannot succeed in rodeo without your family or the horses that you love and care about with you.

Seven nights ago I arrived at Red Dillon’s homestead. Before sleeping that night I dined on a bowl of red chili and a cup of coffee while Red Dillon went over the agreement, he made with the agent from the reservation. After Red finished reviewing the agreement he urged me to have some more food to prepare for tomorrow's bronc riding lesson. That next day I only managed to ride two horses and before being thrown five times, but I learned how to ride with skill. Each horse has a pattern and I can gauge their pattern to find my timing and rhythm to control the broncs. By the end of the week I managed to ride two horses in succession to a complete standstill and I felt accomplished, although Red immediately set up the corral after

Everybody’s eyes were on me as if I was the only living thing for miles. Silence filled the air of the huge coliseum, so quiet that you could hear breathes of each individual. There were hundreds of people sitting in the stands. Even better there were thousands of people watching on the live web cam. It was a cool October morning, and the sun was shining brightly. I woke up and could hear the birds chirping, like they were sending me a sign that it was going to be a great day. The sun was not strong enough to beat the brisk air which was blowing. I had not slept well that night, nor any night that week actually. After all I was about to be showing at the largest single breed horse show in the world, the Quarter Horse Congress. I had been practicing that entire year for this very moment. I literally suffered through blood, sweat, and tears. Nothing in the entire world could stop me at this point. Even if there was a zombie apocalypse, I would slay them all just to have this very

Bareback riding is the first event to take place, “a cowboy uses one had to hang on to a grip (resembling a suitcase handle), attached to a leather rigging wrapped around the horse. Judges award a maximum score of 100, based 50-50 on the performance of the rider and horse” (Mihoces). They nod their head signaling for the gate men to let the horse

My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest when I heard the prior teams music finish. As I ran onto the mat, the sound of screaming fans and blinding bright lights caused electric-like currents to flow through my body. Each and every competition or performance felt like this! I took a deep breath as my coach screamed “music’s on” and my muscle memory kicked in. This was my weekly escape from reality.

The ideal time to ride came rolling around at approximately six o’clock, when a chilly breeze picked up. Unprepared and starting to shiver, my older sister notified us that she was going to grab her coat from the house. She left my younger sister and I to deal with the horses which was easy, or so we thought that it was. Assuming that it was going to be an effortless task, I took my attention gradually away from the horses, and commenced a conversation with my sister. Totally forgetting about what I was supposed to be doing, I did not perceive that Dexter spooked and pulled back on the board that he was attached to. Turning around and seeing him rear up on his hind feet, shocked me and I froze. My mind went blank for a second, and when it came back, Dexter was darting so rapidly you would assume a bear was chasing him. I could see the fear in his eyes. He was terrified of the post he was dragging behind him. Not knowing what to do, I immediately yelled at the top of my lungs for my older sister. Never in my life has my heart beated so fast. Freaking out, panicking, stressing out, I attempted to grab Dexter’s lead rope, but him being a thoroughbred caused an issue. He was too quick for me to even get near him. I knew I had to something to calm him down, I didn’t want him to get hurt. This horse means the world to my sister, and I want to slow him down