BHN Youth Forum contributer Melissa McHann shares her strategies for pushing forward in the face of defeat.
Summer is the season of barrel racing and there is seeminlgy endless number of races to pick from. As you get ready to hit the road running, take a minute or two and see if you are where you should be with your skills as a barrel racer.
Preparing for the coldest winter months is an important, yet sometimes difficult job. One thing I do for winter is start getting my blankets out and washing them, making sure they don’t have any holes. I also make a count to make sure I have enough blankets for all my horses.
Have you ever wondered how horses in the wild run over rocks and boulders and survive, while we’re afraid to let our domesticated horses walk across a gravel driveway for fear of injury? I always wondered how this came to be, so I started doing some research.
You never know where life will lead. If you are dedicated and work hard to achieve your aspirations, you may be lucky enough to live your dream. Take, for example, an 11-year-old girl with a love for horses, but no horse. Who would have thought that, eventually, she and her husband would be teaching barrel racing clinics all over the United States? But she is. Her name is Vicki Rienhardt.
In the last couple of years, I’ve been hearing more and more about EPM. EPM stands for Equine Protozoa Myleoncephalitis. EPM is basically when a horse contracts a bacteria and experiences inflammation of the spinal cord.
In barrel racing, there are a few key components—a horse, boots, jeans, tack and a saddle. The most important requirement would, obviously, be your horse, but I believe the second is your saddle. Everyone knows what a saddle is, but did you know that the saddle can sometimes make a huge difference in the way your horse runs, and even how you ride?
When you become a barrel racer, you gain a passion that is life-changing.