# The Barrel Horse Chronicles



## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

Hello! It's been quite a while since I've been here and my other threads are so old I figured it better to start a new one. Let me start by introducing myself, my horses, and this new journal.

My name is Kate, I'm 17 and live in NE Kansas. I've been riding for 7 years now and barrel racing for 3 years. I have two horses and other farm animals you might see throughout the journal. I'm also a working student at a Morgan Western Pleasure / Western Dressage barn, so I've done a little bit of pleasure, driving, saddle seat, and English riding - not competitively though. I'm also a beginning photographer - mostly horse shows - and am having fun learning to do that. My future plans? I have no idea. I graduate in the spring and am struggling whether I want to pursue a DVM license or Doctor of Chiropractic license ... either one, I want to end up doing chiro/massage on horses. 

Now to introduce my horses ...

The one you'll probably see most of the time, as this is "barrel horse chronicles", is Star. She is a 2009 AQHA mare who's lovable, dorky, and occasionally a witch. Her registered name is MH Black Poco Beauty. I started her on barrels after I bought her two years ago and started competing last year. We've been working with a trainer for a few months now and I'm excited to see how far we go in 2018. BUT! 2017 has already been more incredible than I thought and we've made huge progress this year. 

Mh Black Poco Beauty Quarter Horse

My other horse is Roman. He is a 1996 Arabian gelding. His registered name is Shah-Romaahn and I've owned him for 7 years. He's a pretty cool dude and, although he really likes to make me mad, he's the best horse I've known. He is just a trail horse but my sister is learning to ride on him and is starting to show on him. He's not trained to do barrels or anything but they have fun anyways. 

Shah-romaahn Arabian

So this journal. I'm going to frequently post about our journey through the remainder of the year and into 2018. I'm excited for 2018 and see great things for Star and I. Besides that, I'll also post about Roman, things around the farm, my life, photography, and more!

I always love talking to others so feel free to comment anytime or shoot me a PM!

Follow my social medias:

*INSTAGRAM:* @ksbarrelracer
*SNAPCHAT:* @Kate8136


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

Subbing!


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I'm subbing as well. Any pictures of the horses to get us started again?


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

*State Finals Recap*

I wanted to do a recap of the Kansas NBHA State Finals we competed at a few weeks ago. We only started seriously competing back in March, so to be able to go to State was amazing. You only needed to attend 3 district shows to qualify. We started taking lessons with a trainer in late July who completely turned us around and we've improved a lot since then. 

Thursday night we went to do exhibitions. I had gone to this arena a few weeks prior to just do a ride session but never before. My trainer was there doing exhibitions also so he gave us some pointers on what to do during our exhibitions. She did really good ... worked on a couple things but ended on a great note. Also that night, we met up with a lady who does equine massage and gave Star a massage. She'd been running for 3-4 days straight, so I wanted to make sure she was feeling great. She actually LOVED it and did not move a muscle. The lady said most horses are jumping away from her. 

Friday was the first go. All day long I was watching the livestream to keep track of the timing on the Open. I decided not to stall her out there so we had to drive an hour (one way) to get to the show. It took 6 hours to do the Open (300 entries), so we ended up waiting for a couple hours. Thankfully they have a warmup pen outside the main arena. And now I know why people hate warm up pens. Like GEEZ. I didn't run until probably 9pm. 

I had been having problems about losing my stirrup (ALWAYS AT THE 1ST...) so I wasn't feeling very confident that that wouldn't happen. And I did NOT want to screw up a run if I lost one. So I talked with my trainer and decided to rubber band my feet this once. WORKED! We had a really nice first run and ran a 19.819. I was farther down in the 4D and didn't qualify for the short go that day.






Saturday was our second run. I was feeling a lot more confident after Friday's run. I still decided to rubber band my feet but I felt more confident to push her faster. We went in there, nearly tipped the 1st, but made a much better and faster run. Watching it still gives me chills. We placed 7th in the 4D with an 18.570 but didn't qualify for the short go. They only took the top 5. Oh well, it was a great experience and I'm excited for next year.






So there's the recap!


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 said:


> I'm subbing as well. Any pictures of the horses to get us started again?





JoBlueQuarter said:


> Subbing!


Of course!!

The black one is Star, and the bay is Roman. Thanks for subbing!!


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

Handsome fella, and beautiful mare!


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

The horses got dewormed, weighed, and measured yesterday. Star is roughly 1100lbs and 15hh, Roman is 900lbs and 14.2hh. I also cleaned and reorganized my tack room. It's so satisfying to do that....although my room is a mess and I have no desire to clean that. :lol:

I have a lesson on Wednesday. I haven't had one in a few weeks because of both our schedules and stuff. My next two weekends are so busy. This weekend we have a 4H field trip and I'm getting my hair permed on Saturday. On Sunday, we're going to a benefit race for police officers, so that will be really cool. And then next Saturday, my work is doing an open house and I'm helping out / doing some riding demonstrations, and then my aunt's birthday party is the same day. 

I'm hoping to get my driver's license this week. Trying to get my dad to come driving around the town with me so I can become familiar with the streets...and I also need to get back to studying. Then I'll be able to drive to work for the Open House and to the party afterwards so my parents won't have to drive me. 

So that's my next two weeks. Might ride Roman tonight.


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

*Lesson - 10/18/17*

Hey guys! 

Today was a beautiful day and we had another great lesson. We've kind of been slacking since State: she got a week off after State as I went out of town and since then we've just be doing trail rides. But she didn't miss a beat today and picked right back up where we were. My trainer also tried a new bit on her today which worked great and we will probably use that this weekend. I think I'm going to ride with my trainer and friend to the race, but I haven't decided yet.

He also put vetrap on my stirrups to give me more grip. I can lose my stirrups easily. So that definitely helped and I also made sure to keep my heels down throughout the run.

Our runs from today.


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

*Boys in Blue Benefit Race - 10/22/17*

So this race ran way longer than I expected and I'm not sure why it was so slow. They had 190 entries in the Open and it took 5 hours, plus they started an hour late. I got there at like 4ish and didn't run until 7pm. But I set a barrel for most of the Open class just for something to do. Anyways....

Once we got closer to the Battle of the Ages (youth/senior combined), I went and got Star groomed and tacked up. Unfortunately it stormed this weekend (we got 3 inches at home) so the grass area where everyone parks/warms up was wet and muddy from all the trailers and horses. We managed to warm up in a somewhat good area, stretched her legs, and then waited for our run. 

She ran really good!! Had nice turns on all three barrels. We were slower than last time, but we're working on trying to get that speed. I'm so proud of her! After that, we loaded up and headed home. I'm tired. We ended up placing 10th in the 3D, out of the money I'm sure, but there's always next time!






Also, exciting news!! My friend, who's trainer is one of the district directors, asked me to be the photographer at their fundraiser/halloween show next Sunday. OMG ME!! I'm stoked and hoping to make it.

That's all for now.


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## UpNorthEq (Oct 7, 2013)

Star has made so much progress Kate and it is because of you! You stuck with her through thick and thin. The best is still yet to come for you two I believe


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## Roman (Jun 13, 2014)

*So not a journal keeper...*

Wow, totally forgot about this...

Since my last update in October.. we went to one show in November and December. So here is your quick and way overdue update.

November 10, 2017 - Lesson






November 12, 2017

This was a really good race. To start off with, my friend ran right before me and had two horses. Her mom was running the gate so I had to hold her horse while she was running, quickly hand off, and make my run. She had a really solid run and my riding was a *tad* better. But we ran an 18.323 which was freaking amazing! We ran an 18.4? in August but tipped the barrel so I was really happy to have a clean and fast run. We placed third in the Youth 3D and brought home some money.






December 10, 2017

There was a different setup at the barrel race, similar to State. I liked it but I messed her up coming into the first. I pushed her over to head straight towards the barrel instead of angling in like she was originally set up to do. We still had a GREAT first. We could be tighter around that 2nd but I'm always afraid we'll hit it so I have her come in wider. We'll work on that. Just need to push push. We got faster though! :happydance: 18.167, placed 2nd in the Youth 3D and won $$.







After that she was off for like.....a month. Thank you bipolar Kansas weather. It just really cold for a while, I ended up buying her a blanket. I think I only rode her maybe 4 times in the past month. But she deserved the break after a great year. The weather is warming up (temporarily :x). I loped her through the pattern a few days ago and she did great. We may have a lesson tomorrow depending on if I can get my trailer out (it's muddy). We shall see how she does there and then hopefully we will run at our first race of 2018 Sunday.

I have big goals this year. Hoping to qualify for Youth Worlds, year end awards, State Finals again (and place), among other things. I'm super excited for this year and hope ya'll come along for the ride.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Definitely looks like you are having a lot of fun.


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## ChasingDreams (Nov 14, 2017)

Love it! Nice runs 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

*This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.*


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