Compiled by Abigail Boatwright
Taylor Langdon
You can’t ever give up. If you can dream it, it can be achieved. You’ve just got to keep pushing, no matter how difficult it gets. There have been times where I know I have wanted to give up. You’ve got to keep pushing forward, have faith in yourself and your course. There’s nothing you can’t achieve. It’s a special deal when you finally get there.
Taylor Langdon and Vegas Firefighter won the 2016 AQHA Senior Barrel Racing World Championship. Photo by KC Montgomery Photographics.Kathryn Lyn Garen
I feel like if I can do it, anybody can do it. Just hard work. The first year I qualified Isaws A Mark, I showed at the AQHA World Show and froze up. I got my rear handed to me. From that point on, I just thought, you know, they are going to have to outwork me if they’re going to beat me. I worked hard, and I poured everything I had into it. I would’ve never in a million years imagined I would’ve had the success I had on him, but if you work hard and keep going, it’s amazing how things come through.
Pete Oen
I think there’s no right and wrong way to barrel race. I think there’s a lot of different ways to train a horse to win. Different trainers have different styles. Sometimes you have to mold to the horse; the horse is not always going to mold to you. Hard work and determination and trial and error; you don’t always do everything right. I think as I have gotten older and become more of a horseman, I have learned from a different horse every single year, so it’s not that everything is textbook perfect, the right and wrong way to do the barrel racing training. Trial and error and just be confident and, if you need help, go seek it. Don’t be embarrassed to find help if you think you need it. This is one of the stories where I can say dreams come true. It’s something we all hope for, and I have always wanted it and worked hard. Hard work and determination is a very big part of people’s success.
To read full event coverage from the AQHA World Show and these champions’ stories, be sure to pick up a copy of the January 2017 issue of Barrel Horse News.
Abigail Boatwright is an award-winning journalist based out of Texas. Email comments on this article to [email protected].
