I just finished riding 200 horses through the pattern. Well, actually there were only 192. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do it alone. My buddies were all with me as we rode each horse from the sidelines during each run of the Pacific Coast Barrel Racing Association 2003 Finals in Riverside, California.

It amazes me that after all the work and time we put into running our own horse that we can still find the energy to sit on the sidelines and make these runs by proxy. When you sit down and think about what goes into running your horse at a big event, well, the whole thing can be downright overwhelming.

Think about it….you get up at some ungodly hour of the morning and get hooked up, loaded, and on the road. Then you drive for two hours or so to get to your destination and unload, brush, groom, tack, etc. In the meantime, you’ve still got to check in at the show office, get your clothes together, and find some time to say your hello’s to your buddies.

After this it’s off to the warm up arena. In my case, it’s more like the rodeo arena because I’m still on a relatively green horse. I think that some of my buddies actually try to time their warm-ups around mine so that they don’t have to get in my path should my horse get possessed by the devil during our warm-up. I don’t blame them, but sometimes it gets a little irritating when they all give you that "your-horse-is-a-jackass-but-we-better-not-say-anything" look on their faces. After all, they are my buddies and that’s just what buddies do when you’re competing against one another for some really awesome money and prizes. (That concept in itself is another article in its own right.) But like I said, buddies are good at figuring out what you want to hear. If you want the cold, hard truth, you gotta pay for it.

You’ve warmed up your horse (or in my case, survived another tantrum) and you wait patiently for your name to be called. The gate opens and you hear your buddies and friends wish you luck from the sidelines – of course, you never imagine that they’re riding your horse out there! They cheer you on and coach you from their seats while they carefully try not to knock over each other’s drinks and snacks during all the excitement.

You make a good run but it’s not quite good enough. Somewhere in the crack between the 2D and 3D seems to be the best you and your horse can do today. You know you made some mistakes and so you try to replay the run in your mind while you cool your horse down and tie her back up at the trailer. Of course, you’re buddies who couldn’t tell you what to do BEFORE your run are now surrounding you telling you what you should have done out there (and how well they rode your horse for you). They all get that same look on their faces they gave you earlier in the warm-up as you brace yourself for their assessment.

"Why did you sit up before the timers?"

"Why didn’t you run harder in between?"

"Your second barrel looked awesome, but what happened on three?"

"You need to change bits!"

You shrug it off and now it’s your turn to get back to the stands and take a shot at riding some more horses with your buddies. This is the next best thing to riding your own horse!

"Look at that one – she pulled on her horse too hard and broke him in half"

"Oh no! She turned him right into the barrel!"

"If only she’d given him a little more pocket."

"Oooohh! That horse doesn’t like that bit at all – look at him toss his head!"

Then it happens. You see a run and everyone is suddenly silent. Then they start to cheer as the horse and rider sink into each turn and shoot out of each barrel towards the next. You know this is going to be the winning run when suddenly the third barrel tips and falls to the ground. You can hear a long low echo as everyone in the stands yells, "ooooohhhhh!" Her time would have been a half second faster than anyone else’s that day.

"I knew she was going to do that!"

"Can you believe what her time would have been?"

"Who was she? I’ve never seen her before?"

"Was that Scamper?"

It never ends. And thankfully so. I couldn’t imagine going to a barrel race these days and just riding one horse. Without the support of our friends and families I don’t know how we’d ever get through the peaks and valleys of barrel racing. Sometimes you’re on top of the world and sometimes, everything unravels and you feel like you’re starting from square one. It’s so hard to explain to people outside of the sport why barrel racers are always routing for each other while still competing against each other for the same prize. I like to think that it comes from the place in our hearts that only finds the joy in winning when we know we’ve just out run our best competition on their best day. How will we ever do that unless we all get a chance to learn how to be our best when that opportunity arrives? And more importantly, how will we ever do that without the support and help of others.