Last night we headed out to the rodeo grounds to watch a friend run barrels. Unfortunately for her (and her pony) last week in Pierre the ground was really muddy & sloppy - it was pouring when she ran - and her good gaming horse overreached and yanked a shoe loose. That would have been bad enough, but he also developed an abscess in that foot, darn it!
So last night she was running one of their mares. Bubbles had about a month of barrel training a couple of years back and has been an all-around using/roping horse since. So when she hit the arena, she was looking for a cow (grin!). For all that, they did pretty well - not enough to be in the money, but only a second off. The first barrel wasn't real pretty, the second one was better, and the third turn was pretty.
They were running 4-D, and had a good turnout in spite of the 90'+ heat. Clouds moved in by 8 o'clock or so, and it was a bit more comfortable. They were raking the heck out of the arena, but the ground must have been packed & slick underneath, because there were a lot of slips at the first barrel, and one horse flat out sideways at the second. Nobody hurt though, which was good.
K's dad asked me to video her run with their camera, which looked close enough to mine to be familiar. Unfortunately, it had a record button that I didn't know about, so what she ended up with were some not-to-great stills. Oops. Should have just used mine.
I was informed I should have brought Sunny or Rufus along and had a turn or two myself - gulp! Sunny and I had a few playday outings the year he came back from the trainer, and actually he seemed to really enjoy the whole deal. But with no place to practice and no real desire to run him, it's not high on my list of things to do. I enjoy watching, though. And I am kind of curious to see if Rufus has gamed. My guess is yes, but who knows until we try?
Anyway, it would be kind of fun to get one or both of them patterned, but I don't know about running. I've always thought barrel racing is sort of like falling off a cliff - it's not the fall that gets you, it's the sudden stop!
4 comments:
Sounds fun! I don't think I could do barrels - I have a heart attack just watching them.
But you never know...
Yeah, I know! A good run is great to watch, but a lot of the time I just feel bad for the poor horses with their mouths cranked open. Some of the bits they use... yikes!
But it's definitely a thrill.
Do it!! Do it in a snaffle and pattern up first, then speed it up.
You'll be surprised, once you get a horse patterned, there's no pulling on the mouth. They just go and you just hang the hell on :) It's the BEST RIDE!!!
It sure does LOOK like a trip! It's been years since 4-H when I had the confidence (and the horse) to take a barrel pattern flat out. Not sure I'm up for the thrill these days, though!
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