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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1162
  
Location: White Mountains of AZ | dream_chaser - 2015-02-04 1:35 PM
I was raised with horses (4-H, breed shows) and my mom was a riding instructor in the area. Apparently I wanted to barrel race since I was young since one of my "show & tell" days was how I barrel raced (far from anything big more like fun shows or goofing around with friends) Back then rodeos were the only other option and my mom had no desire to haul me around. I had a Marlene McRae VHS Id watch constantly, and anytime we went to the Canadian Finals Rodeo with youth groups I knew I'd be there some day. When I got to college I carried a NFR picture of Kelly Yates & Firewater Fiesta everywhere! I got a chance to barrel race at my first rodeo in 2005 on a borrowed horse AND I survivied but I know it wasn't pretty LOL. That same year I finally had money to buy myself a horse to maybe try to barrel race with. She was an unbroke 3 year old I got for $800. Yep unbroke, why, because I couldn't afford a finished horse and I was stubborn enough to think I'd train my own and start competing! 10 years later WOW have I learned so much and keep learning, I still have goals I need to reach but know I'm closer to them then I was 10 years ago! My success this year is the fact I've raised and trained my current prospect and JUST to get to enter him is beyond surreal and I feel very blessed!!
Sounded determined!! HA |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| FLITASTIC - 2015-02-04 1:54 PM My Mom is a 6X NFR qualifier so I was raised around it. Rodeo to rodeo when I wasnt in school and riding barrel horses all the time. But I was fortunate when I was a kid to get to run her finished horses at Junior rodeos so it made it really fast and really fun.
Very cool  |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
 
Location: Phoenix | I grew up with both my parents rodeoing. It was a given that I would start with her leading me around the barrels at barrel club. I Jr. Rodeo'd and HS rodeo'd.....about college time I didn't have a finished barrel horse and started breakaway roping and caught that bug and now that's what I mainly do. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Roxy Curtis/Mcdarland |
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Expert
Posts: 5290
| Rolling J - 2015-02-04 12:26 PM
FLITASTIC - 2015-02-04 1:54 PM
My Mom is a 6X NFR qualifier so I was raised around it. Rodeo to rodeo when I wasnt in school and riding barrel horses all the time. But I was fortunate when I was a kid to get to run her finished horses at Junior rodeos so it made it really fast and really fun.
WOW!!! You are one very lucky girl  May I ask who your mom is?
One lucky guy. Guy. Lol. |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | I grew up riding and training. My grandpa started polo horses and random horses that came through sales that he liked, to turn for profit. He had is own style and could have one going quick. I was starting our colts when I was about 8 by myself and was putting first weight on babies at around 5. I have modified his style to what I need, and he yelled at me eery time I started a new one up until he passed.
I was 12 when we he decided to take me to a "playday" becuase his buddy's daughter was goign to them. The first one I went to I had to study the riders before me so I knew the patterns (barrels & poles). I took my pony and we actually placed the first time out. After a few years on the pony, Grandpa decided I needed something faster so we went and bought another colt. That horse made me, and taught me so much.
Now I have my own hores all of which I have started, and take a few sane outside horses a year. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1162
Location: White Mountains of AZ | clover girl - 2015-02-04 2:31 PM
I grew up riding and training. My grandpa started polo horses and random horses that came through sales that he liked, to turn for profit. He had is own style and could have one going quick. I was starting our colts when I was about 8 by myself and was putting first weight on babies at around 5. I have modified his style to what I need, and he yelled at me eery time I started a new one up until he passed.
I was 12 when we he decided to take me to a "playday" becuase his buddy's daughter was goign to them. The first one I went to I had to study the riders before me so I knew the patterns (barrels & poles). I took my pony and we actually placed the first time out. After a few years on the pony, Grandpa decided I needed something faster so we went and bought another colt. That horse made me, and taught me so much.
Now I have my own hores all of which I have started, and take a few sane outside horses a year.
Awesome story!!! :) |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11492
Location: 31 lengths farms | Grew up riding whatever my dad could afford to put me on, first was a Shetland pony, then a POA. My poor POA somehow survived me, good thing he was tough. I hung around kids who had horses and their parents ranched for a living so my pony was drug more than once with me roping something that was bigger than he could handle. I'd get kicked out of the branding pen and told if I was going to rope to go grab one of the horses...nothing doing, I believed Monk could do it. He was so glad when I outgrew him and got to be my brothers pony who at the time hated riding, LOL!!! I started showing 4-H and our leader had a rule that if you did gymkhana you had to show Pleasure classes too. Me, I just wanted to do anything that involved a horse or pony or anything with a mane and tail. When I outgrew the POA, I moved up to my sisters Welsh/Arab and got a taste of a little success at the 4-H level in gymkhana and I'm a bit of a adrenaline junky so fast was good with me. Then from him I moved to a QH/Arab mare that I leased for the first 2 years I rode her and then my mom bought her for me for my 16th birthday/Christmas present and what was a hobby fun thing to do became an obsession. I'm not really much of a barrel racer, I just own horses that I love to ride be it at a reined cow horse show, sorting , barrel race, gymkhana. My first love is barrel racing but I will settle for turning a cow back on the fence and circling one up in a stock horse class too if a "tub busting" isnt' available. Running across the grass at the Pendleton 4D race two years in a row is the highlight of my life. So far :-) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1162
Location: White Mountains of AZ | run n rate - 2015-02-04 3:29 PM
Grew up riding whatever my dad could afford to put me on, first was a Shetland pony, then a POA. My poor POA somehow survived me, good thing he was tough. I hung around kids who had horses and their parents ranched for a living so my pony was drug more than once with me roping something that was bigger than he could handle. I'd get kicked out of the branding pen and told if I was going to rope to go grab one of the horses...nothing doing, I believed Monk could do it. He was so glad when I outgrew him and got to be my brothers pony who at the time hated riding, LOL!!! I started showing 4-H and our leader had a rule that if you did gymkhana you had to show Pleasure classes too. Me, I just wanted to do anything that involved a horse or pony or anything with a mane and tail. When I outgrew the POA, I moved up to my sisters Welsh/Arab and got a taste of a little success at the 4-H level in gymkhana and I'm a bit of a adrenaline junky so fast was good with me. Then from him I moved to a QH/Arab mare that I leased for the first 2 years I rode her and then my mom bought her for me for my 16th birthday/Christmas present and what was a hobby fun thing to do became an obsession. I'm not really much of a barrel racer, I just own horses that I love to ride be it at a reined cow horse show, sorting , barrel race, gymkhana. My first love is barrel racing but I will settle for turning a cow back on the fence and circling one up in a stock horse class too if a "tub busting" isnt' available. Running across the grass at the Pendleton 4D race two years in a row is the highlight of my life. So far :-)
I wanna run that Pendleton 4-D race !!!! It will happen! |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I came out of the womb loving horsese lol. My dad had horses and rodeo'd long before I was born or before he even met my mom (who is 60 and never been on a horse). I started riding lessons at age 6, riding english. Then moved around to several barns, trying western pleasure, hunt seat, dressage, and then finally I started just taking general riding/horsemanship lessons from a lady who barrel raced. I had a blast just trotting around barrels and poles in the indoor. I ride best when I have a physical objective (like a jump, barrel, etc.) after I moved I started dressage lessons again and bought my first horse (at age 19). I then moved to my current barn where there is no trainer. They do have weekly Cowboy Mounted Shooting practice there weekly though so now I'm hooked on that. I still give my sister lessons, as she's a barrel racer (and much more of a speed demon than I). I'm sure I'll be hitting up some races with my new boy just to get comfortable running/competing before running/competing with guns. |
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 No Name Nancy
Posts: 2715
Location: never in the right place | I live in New England and the burbs, when I was 12 I asked my Dad for a horse. He asked who was gonna clean the poop and I told him, he was. No horse for me. Fast forward years later, my 7 yr old was taking lessons and I wanted to ride too. Started taking lessons and got bored with WTC so the instructor said there are games you can do, so she taught us to barrel race. Loved it from the start. All 3 kids rode lesson horses but I was the only one that stuck with it and got my own. started barrel racing in 1987 for real, did ammy rodeos and actually won some money. Now at 66 I still ride and love to barrel race but not as fast. Not bad for coming from a very non horsey family. I was just born in the wrong part of the country. sigh!!
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | QH<3er - 2015-02-04 3:01 PM dream_chaser - 2015-02-04 1:35 PM I was raised with horses (4-H, breed shows) and my mom was a riding instructor in the area. Apparently I wanted to barrel race since I was young since one of my "show & tell" days was how I barrel raced (far from anything big more like fun shows or goofing around with friends) Back then rodeos were the only other option and my mom had no desire to haul me around. I had a Marlene McRae VHS Id watch constantly, and anytime we went to the Canadian Finals Rodeo with youth groups I knew I'd be there some day. When I got to college I carried a NFR picture of Kelly Yates & Firewater Fiesta everywhere! I got a chance to barrel race at my first rodeo in 2005 on a borrowed horse AND I survivied but I know it wasn't pretty LOL. That same year I finally had money to buy myself a horse to maybe try to barrel race with. She was an unbroke 3 year old I got for $800. Yep unbroke, why, because I couldn't afford a finished horse and I was stubborn enough to think I'd train my own and start competing! 10 years later WOW have I learned so much and keep learning, I still have goals I need to reach but know I'm closer to them then I was 10 years ago! My success this year is the fact I've raised and trained my current prospect and JUST to get to enter him is beyond surreal and I feel very blessed!! Sounded determined!! HA
That's a good word too  |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| I grew up on our family ranch. Mom rode with me till she was about 7 months. Then they had me on a horse again when I was 4 days old (the truck broke down on the way to house, so Grampa fetched me to the house on BayBay while Dad walked to get the tractor to pull the truck in) I rode with my Dad daily doing cowboy stuff until I went to college, I was the hired help.
I went to town to a horse show and accidentally outran my friend's expensive pole/barrel horse on my $450 paint cowpony. He'd never seen either pattern. She was mad. I was hooked, mostly entertained that I could outrun my friends. We were 12, my horse was 14. He was the greatest little cowpony alive that just didn't know any quit.
I got a Sharon Camarillo book and memorized it. My first official barrel colt ran an 18.1 on a standard pattern in 2002 at a local American West and ran in the 1D that day. He was 4. I've never gotten over the feeling of pride and happiness. I was so happy I cried. I've made more bad runs than I've made good ones, and I'm ever so proud every time I clock well against tall company.
I get rehooked every time I do badly, or do mediocre, or do wonderfully!! It's my passion and I just can't seem to stop! I'd like to claim I was sick, but that would probably mean there was a cure, and I just don't think that there is. |
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 No Tune in a Bucket
Posts: 2935
Location: Texas | My family has always had horses. I got my own horse when I was 12 we joined a riding club that had playdays. We were not very fast but we were having fun. After a few years I got a better, faster horse and we were going to a playday every weekend and I was pretty successful at that thru high school. Of course, I got married soon after and had kids and that greatly limited my riding time. I had sons who were not all that interested in barrel racing for some reason. Imagine that. But they are all pretty good team ropers. My oldest son has 2 daughters and thank goodness one of them loves barrel racing. Well actually they rope and barrel race. A few years ago I started looking for a young horse to mess with so that I could ride with the girls and found (by accident) a gelding that has turned into something really special. Probably the nicest horse I have ever owned. Granddaughter is doing well at hs and ammy rodeos on him, so now I am without a horse again. lol We went to the QH show at Ft. Worth this week and the pleasure horses were working out in the arena. After watching them for a hour or so, it confirmed I made the right decision with barrel racing.
Edited by RocketPilot 2015-02-04 8:23 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
Location: Lost in the swamps | I have loved horses for as long as I can remember, it was never I want a Barbie at the toy store, it was I want a toy horse! My parents are from the city. Never been around horses!but My grand mother had horses behind her house. I was back there every chance I could get. My mom eventually got me riding lesson when I was young from an old cowboy we knew. Later they bought me a pony after I wouldn't quit begging. I progressed from there and never looked back! My mother said I was marked in the womb! A old friend of hers asked her when was she having her colt? Little did he know it was a filly;) |
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Expert
Posts: 1586
Location: west of East Texas | My family got a couple of scrub horses on a lark before my memory starts so I don't know any different. From the scrub horses, we moved up to some that could actually do things like drill teams and trail rides without killing anybody. From there they moved us kids into 4-H, shows, playdays, etc. When I was 7, two AWESOME show horses (one halter, one reining) fell into our hands and my parents focused on that with my older brother. When I was 10, my brother got his drivers license and I got his horses. Every weekend was a show, a rodeo, a playday, usually a couple of each. I took horses to college but didn't win consistantly and my funds were too tight to lose. After a couple of years I sent the horses home and concentrated on school and career. I moved to Houston after graduation and ended up paying someone to let me ride their horse, even though I was doing him a favor. Four years of the big city and I was packed and headed back to rural-ville. I got a colt out of my college barrel horse but started and stopped so many times doing things like having kids that she was 12 before she won her first check. I brainwashed my kids into riding at birth so that I won't ever have to quit again. (insert evil laugh here) |
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I AM being nice
Posts: 4396
Location: MD | My mom trained All Around Paints as a business and always had a barrel horse around for her "down time". Mom was also a 4H leader in our area. Us kids were in the 4H, but the only class that Mom would let us compete in in the show ring at the 4H shows was Grooming and Conditioning. That left the speed events. We all bumped around on one of my Mom's good old horse Nutmeg for a long time. She brought me from barely jogging through the pattern to cruising through. Fast forward a few years. We had moved to FL, mom had gotten injured and was no longer riding and I had shifted my focus to the Hunters, Jumpers and Big Eq's as a Junior. I was riding with a very gifted trainer who was also VERY hard to ride for. One day, I walked down the barn aisle, loved on a few of my favorites and broke down crying as I realized that I just didn't care anymore.
I sent most of my horses off to be campaigned, went out and bought a couple of barrel prospects and set out to see if I could find the fun in riding again. For the next 6 months, I hauled to jackpots all over and enjoyed myself. My horses weren't as ready as they should have been. We dang sure weren't winning any big money, but I was slowly starting to enjoy the little bits of progress. I looked forward to going and playing with my horses and getting to visit with friends. After those 6 months, I brought the H?J horses back home and was able to resume showing them with a newfound perspective. I still hauled those couple of barrel horses whenever my schedule allowed, much to my trainer's annoyance. As they kept moving up the ranks, I began setting one weekend a month aside to go to larger barrel races. Soon, that became two weekends a month. When Dad walked into the barn one day and realized that it was no split down the middle, with one side being full of barrel horses/prospects and the other side containing a few Lrg Jr Hunters, 2 Eq horses and a few Jumpers, he chuckled. I sold out of the show horses pretty quickly thereafter. |
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 Mature beyond Years
Posts: 10780
Location: North of the 49th Parallel | Didn't come from a horse family and in fact my grandpa bought me an unbroke 2 year old when I was around 14 or 15. Yeah, green + green = black and blue. Eventually my parents learned they needed to mount me on semi decent horses. Went through a couple and fell in love with one. Supposed to be my HS Rodeo horse. Found out he had many all around AQHA points after a near career ending injury. So I started showing Western Pleasure and AQHA. Got bored of riding slow horses and sick of the politics and money needed to get to the top. Bought an unbroke 2 year old with decent reining bloodlines. Started riding colts in exchange for lessons and board for a reining trainer and although I got taken advantage of big time, I got to ride a lot of really, really, really nice colts and learned a lot. Moved to college, still had my reiner except she was super inconsistent in the show pen. Tried working cow horses. Still one good run and then the next one was absolutely horrible, so I decided that if I was bored, I mind as well pull her sliders and make her a barrel horse and if she was inconsistent, I could win money (that was seriously my logic). She's 8 now, still inconsistent but my proudest moment was when she ran 1.4 off of an arena record and out ran some nice futurity and rodeo horses on her 3rd run on the clock. Ive had a couple knee surgeries and not ridden much for the past 2 years so that's why she's still inconsistent. She'll make a better rodeo horse than jackpot horse, though.
Edited by bccanchaser16 2015-02-05 1:46 AM
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7264
| I showed halter and pleasure and it was too political, so I switched to speed events, (which I found is VERY political too when it comes to draws in rodeos). |
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
| My mom ran barrels, and my parents ran the local riding club. I started out doing the 5 and under playday events being led by my parents, then graduated to riding solo on my first pony. My parents split and the horses were sold, but I could not get over my horse fever!! Finally was able to get another horse in Middle School and have had horses ever since. I always go back to barrel racing. Its just fun,
plus I have no roping skills! lol. |
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