Sunday, September 27, 2009

At Least It's Out Of The Way

I don't even know what to say about today's barrel run.

It was crap!

It was fast!

But it was crap!

I don't really know what I was expecting of Moon today. It's been 3 months since we last ran barrels. The last two runs we had were under less than ideal circumbstances and both times he bowed his shoulder badly coming out of 1st-which put him in a less than ideal position going into second.

I fixed the bow today. I wore spurs. Problem was, he set up on 1st a bit on my(something he has never done before), so I inadvertently spurred him, making him lunge the rest of the way around the barrel. He came in pretty hard and we bumped the barrel. But he didn't bow that shoulder out.

I absolutely could not get him into position for second though. He was adament he was going to dive around that barrel. We didn't tip it. But he was so close that my left leg was rubbing the barrel ALL THE WAY AROUND IT. I just kept telling myself-don't kick, don't move that leg. If I would have so much as wiggled my toe that barrel would have gone down.

He got out of it in good shape though, but didn't have a smooth turn around 3rd either. Kind of ran to it, started to dive, but I had his number then and had him lifted up pretty good, so he sort of just rolled back on himself and came out. We bumped that one too.

He ran a 17.506, which was good enough for the 5th fastest time out of 25 horses. He was right in there with the 2nd through 4th place horses. Their times were between 17.2 and 17.4.

The first place horse came from nowhere and blew the doors off everyone else. She came very, very close to the arena record. She ran a 16.4. It was a beautiful run.

Like I said though, I don't really know what I was expecting of Moon. I was pretty sure he would bow coming out of 1st-so was expecting and prepared for that. Setting up before turning 1st kind of threw me off and I really feel like I rode poorly after that. I kinda felt like a rag doll up there. I'm out of practice too-LOL.

After the barrel race, I saddled Moon back up and went in to do a little slow work to see if I could figure out why he was so out of position. All it took was loping him up the each of the barrels and letting him turn them was all I needed to figure it out. He's flipping out his hind leads and trying to dive around the barrel rather than pushing from his hind leg. It's a problem I've had with him before. With the way Moon is built, it's natural for him to want to do that. Fixing it again won't be anything more than suppling him up and spending time loping some small circles. He just needs to get his condition back. The first place he loses muscle is in his hip and he is sorely out of shape.

I sure met a bunch of super nice ladies today though. Nicest bunch of barrel racers I think I have ever met. Good competitors too. No gunsels in this bunch. They were all good riders on good horses. Yikes!

Actually, it's good to go to barrel races where the competition is a bit stiffer. A lot of these girls run Association and WPRA. If Moon made a crappy run and still ran at the top of the pack, that gives me hope we can compete with a faster crowd. At least I have that "first run" out of the way, didn't completely embarrass myself and know what I need to work on for next weekend.

Sorry no video this time. I was going to ask the gal I was visiting with, but she ran right before me so didn't bother. Next time! I sure like having video to watch too.

10 comments:

Carroll Farm said...

I am sure that was not what you were looking for out of Moon, but way to go on the time. Not too shabby for the last couple of runs and the time off in between. Can't wait to hear about the next ones...

Unknown said...

Congrats on that time! Next week will be better - Moon was off for some time.

cdncowgirl said...

Well if those ladies run Assoc & WPRA then you should feel darn good about 5th place... crappy run or not :)
My goal is to eventually get to that level. Right now I'm neither rider enough or mounted enough to get there. But it takes time right? lol

One thing I have to say, its SO nice to hear someone like you review their run. Someone that doesn't automatically blame their horse or the ground (sooo many barrel racers seem to do that).

Leah Fry said...

Fifth place isn't to shabby! If he can do that after not having run barrels for such a long time, I'm sure you can look forward to better things from him.

Michelle said...

I agree! Sounds pretty darn great considering the circumstances. I know how fast those turns come up after you've been off patterns for a while, and I'm really impressed with your ability to determine the problem so quickly and know just how to fix it. Great job, glad you had fun!

Mikey said...

Dang girl, 17.5 is great! I think you guys did awesome!! I can't wait to see how you do in the bigger leagues. Go all the way!!

Paint Girl said...

Sounds like you had a great time, even though it wasn't the greatest run. I am sure you guys will get way better, and be running at the very top soon!!

Vaquerogirl said...

NIce that you could do a little self searching and find the hole. Finding them is usually not so easy- and that makes them hard to fix. I know you'll fix it up,especially since it sounds like you were aware of this problem before. If you've gotten fifth- the upper level will be just a tiny stretch more!

City girl turned Country Girl said...

Well I think that's great despite the few problems! At least you know these issues can be corrected.. Can't wait to see how he does in the future!

Andrea said...

Girl, imagine what he would have gotten if he had run well!! Dang!! You should feel good knowing that you two can keep up with the rest of the pack! Awesome! And I am glad you figured out what Moon was doing wrong. Those ladies better watch out next run!! lol!! Sounds like you had a great time.