It’s a scary title, I know but this has described the summer of 2023. I would have settled for something a little less expensive, although this is something every barrel racer has gone through at one time or another.
So, let’s get into the details…
Our season started out in the beginning of March, living in Pennsylvania we RARELY get to ride during the winter months. Unfortunately, we only have an outdoor ring, and the footing isn’t the best, it really holds onto water and gets super sloppy. So even if it warms up and isn’t snowing, we still can’t ride unless it has a couple good days in a row to dry out. (Cue laughing) We started out with a couple barrel races after working on some conditioning at home. Our runs weren’t that great, about the same as we ended the year before. At this point we had a little bit of resistance in the alley but nothing significant and we were lacking forward motion around the barrels, specifically the second barrel. It has been our enemy. As we continued going to more shows and started with the rodeos in May, our alley issues became, well, an issue. Stinger started popping up and spinning away from the alley, but he would go in with another horse beside him. The barrel pattern was about the same every run.
And then we got to Memorial Day. I was super excited to wear my flag pants and we had a clean run the week before at a rodeo and this was the last run at this arena before the slot race. We had significant trouble trying to get to the warmup pen. My Aunt got on him and he reared up and gave her a bloody nose. When it was time for my run he was really fighting in the alley. I finally got him in, and he had a decent first barrel and….. then I hit the dirt. Instead of turning the second barrel he reared straight up. Thankfully I only got my pants dirty and some cool pictures but 100% do not recommend (we love our photographers who don’t put the camera down even when things go south). He had never done anything like this before, so it was then that we decided to make a trip to the vet.
Our first appointment was June 4th. We went in for a lameness exam at a performance vet, not really sure what to expect. Other than the alley issues, Stinger never looked visibly lame. After a long day at the vet, we left with injections in his hocks and front coffin joints and a plan to slowly come back to work, hopefully ready in time for the slot race June 24th. And then at our first show back I fell off not once but twice. He did the exact same thing again, and when I got back on to trot through the pattern just to make him do it, he was bronc bucking before we even got to the second barrel. After that I rode in the practice ring, and he still wouldn’t make a right-handed circle. I knew the injections would not magically fix our problems, but I was so frustrated leaving that show. We ended up going to a weeknight jackpot to see if we could make a run as the slot race was Saturday. I managed to make the pattern by trotting the first barrel but our second was perfect at a slow lope. He even went up the alley without much issue but with his buddy walking with him.
Slot race #1. We signed up for two slot races over winter, not expecting to have issues like we did. The first one wasn’t full so I wouldn’t have been able to sell my slot. I was already paid so I went anyway. We basically just wasted $1000; I didn’t fall off this time I just could not turn that second barrel. It was a really tough day. I was super frustrated with Stinger and myself and at the same time I tried to be happy for my aunt. She won about $3400 for 2nd in the 3D. After this run we started noticing sort of a locking stifle with Stinger so we went back to the vet.
After vet trip #2, we started a round of Adequan injections and scheduled a visit with the other vet for a chiropractic and acupuncture visit. The locking stifle kind of resolved itself and now only shows up occasionally or when he hasn’t been worked consistently.
Vet trip three was interesting as I had never seen either therapy done on a horse before. At first Stinger didn’t want to stand and was anxious, eventually he actually relaxed into it. The vet described him as a ‘red personality’, which really explains a lot. We didn’t find anything significant and decided he may be having some attitude issues.
After a lot of thought and back and forth I decided to let a friend of mine run in my slot for the second slot race. At this point it didn’t make sense to run myself and this gave us a chance to possibly make some money back. She ended up with a knocked barrel, but had an AMAZING run. We still went up for the weekend as my aunt was running. It was actually my first time staying in the trailer overnight for a show and we had a lot of fun.
In the meantime, I had fallen off two more times at shows, not even while running the pattern. I had completely lost my confidence. One day I was getting right back on and the next I didn’t even want to lope a circle at home. It happened so fast that I didn’t even realize it was gone until it was too late. Stinger was becoming dangerous to ride away from home and I didn’t know what else to do.
I was able to send him to a trainer for two weeks for a little bit of ‘bootcamp’ as we like to call it. I’m so grateful for this time as I learned so much and I feel like I got my horse back. I was able to go down and ride him and get a lesson on what to work on. He did give me some trouble during my first ride, but once we reestablished who was the alpha, it was smooth sailing. I was able to take him to our county fair for the first week in September. For the first time all summer I was able to ride him to warm up, I rode outside in the grass, and even ran poles and the other gaming classes. Our barrel run did give me trouble, but I was extremely nervous and didn’t ride the way I should have. We even placed in a couple classes, and I had FUN.
I decided not to enter any rodeos for the rest of the year as I was working on getting my confidence back, which is a lot harder than it seems. Our show season had come to an end just as we were getting our act together. We went to a jackpot, and completed a good exhibition run and ran poles and then to a fun show to practice going up the alley. He had no issues at the fun show (we didn’t run barrels, just fun classes) and I couldn’t have asked for a better show to end on.
If you have read this long, I hope that you stay and follow our journey. I feel like 2024 is our comeback year and even if it is not, I will be sharing it on here. I am more determined than ever to follow the yellow brick road to reaching our goals.
The Barrel Racer's Journal 