Barrel racing is by far one of the most popular rodeo events, especially when it comes to girls that like to ride and love to rodeo.  There is just something about speed and kicking up dust that a girl enjoys once in awhile. 

Barrel racing is a time event and the fastest time is the winner.  Barrel horses have increased their speed and accuracy so much that professional races are timed to the hundredth of a second. 

The basic pattern in barrel racing is a cloverleaf pattern and the rider can choose to either start from the right or the left.  The idea is to go as fast as possible around the barrels, but without knocking one down.  If a horse knocks over a barrel, it is a five second penalty and that’s a time you are not going to be in the money with that time.  It’s all about speed and winning times these days are thirteen to fourteen seconds.  The time will vary depending on the size of the arena. 

The training of a barrel horse is taken very seriously and some of the best are selling in the range of $50,000.  That’s not to say that you can’t be competitive with a horse that doesn’t cost that much, but if you want to go to the National Finals Rodeo, you are going to need one fast pony. 

There are many trainers around that can help you train your own horse for barrels and the main concern for most barrel horses is that they get bored turning barrels so you need to keep them preoccupied with other work such as trail riding or ranch work.  There was once a belief that once a horse was trained for barrel racing, you couldn’t do anything else with him, but that is not true if you have a good trainer and put a good foundation on your horse.  Some of the best barrel horses were purchase for high school rodeos and before they knew it they were running at the NFR.  It’s all about your goals and perseverance.

The National Barrel Horse Association is located in Augusta, Georgia.  The NBHA has over 23,000 members and affiliates in Canada, Italy, France, Panama and Brazil.  The sport has definitely become an international event and experience.  The NBHA has also revolutionized barrel racing.  They pioneered the divisional format that allows riders of all skill levels the chance to compete against riders and horses of their own skill level and allows riders the opportunity to try to win some cash.  To date, NBHA has paid out $8,038, 986 and added money is approaching $2 million.  The NBHA is a great way to get started as you can compete with various levels and build to higher levels as your skills and speed increases.