Barrel RACING

Although barrel racing may look less harrowing than some other rodeo events“ it certainly is not for the faint of heart.” The horsemanship skills and competitive drive in the fast and furious event make it a crowd favorite.

In barrel racing, the contestant enters the arena at full speed on a sprinting horse. As they start the pattern the horse and rider trigger an electronic eye that starts the clock. Then the racer rides a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels positioned in the arena, and sprints back out of the arena, tripping the eye and stopping the clock as she leaves.

The contestant can touch or even move the barrels, but receives a fivesecond penalty for each barrel that is overturned. With the margin of victory measured in hundreths of seconds, knocking over one barrel spells disaster for a barrel racing competitor.