The Barrel Race

I am in deep need of some humor in my life right about now, so I'll tell a slightly humorous story. The photo above is of a humble arena by a sale barn in my home town. I doubt it's used anymore, but I'm sure it was a busy place in times past. I know one time it saw a lot of action, when it was used for the 4-H horse show.

Nowadays my home town has a nice setup for fairgrounds for the County Fair. The old airport hangar has been turned into a nice livestock barn, a nice smaller show ring has been added, and an excellent arena has been built nearby. But back when I had Trigger as a 4-H horse project, that wasn't in place yet. The general exhibit building alternated each year between two towns. For our horse exhibits , temporary pens lined the "alley" road that went through the City Park. And for the horse show, this sale barn arena, shown above, was used.

The horse show regimen hasn't changed much through the years. It still consists of showing at halter, riding, and "games" such as pole bending and barrel racing. Two things they have now that I wished they would've had back then are trail class and bareback riding, that would've been fun to participate in. (Yes, there was a time I could ride bareback like nobody's business!) But back then, I took part in about every horse class, I think, except for pole bending. I showed Trigger at halter, I rode, and we did .... the barrel race.

Ah, the barrel race!!!! What sweet, fond memories! Ha, ha, ha, ha. Remember, I was a "town kid" with a bad case of horse fever. Whenever we'd be going somewhere, I'd notice every horse along the way. This included seeing an occasional barrel set-up for practice near a farm house here and there. Well, that was on a farm, where there was room, and where there were barrels. I was not on a farm, I didn't have a lot of room, and I had no barrels! So this was where I "improvised."

The block I lived on at the edge of town was all family. One lot wasn't built on, so was fairly open. Though I didn't ride my horse in any of my aunt's and uncle's yards, I did ride through this open area some. No one cared and it wasn't a problem. But as I mulled this barrel racing thing over in my mind, I came up with a plan. As I sat on Trigger one day out by the barn, I saw something. I saw three things sitting at just the right distance to make a barrel pattern. To the right, a metal "frame" thing that sat in a pickup bed to hold livestock (just reposing there in the grass by the alley). To the left, a big yard light pole (the huge, telephone pole kind). Then far in the middle .... a cedar tree. I kid you not, my barrel racing practice consisted of a frame, a pole, and a tree!!! But practice we did, and we at least had the pattern down so it was familiar.

But unfortunately .... barrels were NOT familiar!!

OK, so time came for the horse show, and we plowed through the various events. We didn't do great, but we didn't do poorly either. Time came for the BARREL RACE. So .... we waited our turn at the gate, and suddenly, it was time for us to race! We went through the gate and galloped to the first barrel. Now remember, Trigger was spooky about things he wasn't familiar with. He was NOT familiar with barrels! So as we sped towards that first barrel and got to it .... "Snort!!!" Ears forward!! Nearly stopped!! It was as if he was saying, "What in the world is this THING???" (Dad said later he figured Trigger might've thought there was feed in it. ha ha) So we shied and danced around that barrel, and somehow took off for barrel number two. Same thing! Snort!! Shy!!! Dance!! We did that silly routine with all three barrels. Thankfully, we at least didn't knock any down and finished the race. We also provided plenty of entertainment for the spectators that day. I was so embarrassed, but at least we made it through.

Though we only got red ribbons that day, we did really well for us. It was a great experience, and I'm glad we participated. But that was our ONE AND ONLY BARREL RACE.