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Barrel Racing

Everyone loves a race, and that makes barrel racing a crowd pleaser. As the women of this event speed around the course, their fierce determination and physical prowess exemplify the true spirit of the cowgirl. The horses of barrel racing are specially trained animals from racehorse stock. Like the jockeys of horse racing, barrel racing cowgirls must show intense focus and an intuitive rhythm with their mounts as they race the clock to beat times measured in hundredths of a second.

The demands of barrel racing are:

  • The horse and rider enter the arena galloping at full tilt, triggering an electronic eye that starts the clock running.
  • The cowgirl guides her speeding horse around a cloverleaf pattern of barrels and races back past the electronic eye, stopping the clock.
  • The contestant may touch or move the barrels, but if one is overturned, a five-second penalty is incurred. That kind of error is disastrous in an event measured in hundredths of seconds.