Community & Business
6 July, 2022
Pittsworth Barrel Race draws a decent muster
Pittsworth Campdraft Association says popularity is growing for its barrel racing event, held recently at the Pittsworth Arena.
The June 25 Barrel Race was the fourth to be held in Pittsworth and organisers are delighted entries are growing each time, with competitors travelling from Chinchilla, Tenterfield, South Burnett and Gatton regions.
Our arena and facilities are one of the best available to riders and their horses, nothing like an arena that you can allow your horse to race to its best ability.
Barrel racing is an integral part of rodeos throughout Australia and the local events cater to Open, Juniors, Beginners (new to riding), 5 to 10 years ridden and leds.
Barrel Racing technically started in 1931 in Stamford, Texas, as a figure eight pattern and wasn’t changed to the clover pattern until 1935.
It was being staged as a judged event by 1949.
The barrels are placed in a triangle shape with the base closest to the alleyway (where the horses and riders enter).
Barrel racers enter the arena at a full run, speeding towards the first barrel, choosing to go either right or left.
After making a tight and complete circle around the first barrel, the rider must then race on to the second and third barrel to complete the cloverleaf pattern.
Finally, the crowd cheers as the rider and horse bolt towards the finish line in hopes of stopping the clock with the fastest time. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
In fact, there are many things that factor into a great barrel run.
Long hours are put into practice to fine-tune both
the horse and the rider’s skills.
The duo must be entirely in sync because one wrong move can cause a barrel to fall, resulting in disqualification.
When a winner is determined by thousandths of a second, a fault like that could easily put them out of the money.
This is our fourth event. The next barrel race is scheduled for August 13th and we are assured that the numbers will even be higher.
- Pittsworth & District Campdraft Association secretary, Deb Standing
