Key 3 – The Line to the 1st Barrel
If you have been anywhere near a rodeo arena during the barrel racing, I’m sure you’ve heard the announcers talk about “the money barrel”. They are referring to the first barrel and they aren’t wrong in saying that, but there is more to it.
The line you take to the first barrel (and how fast your are travelling on it) ultimately decides whether you are going to make money or not.
Why is this? Well the line you take to get to the barrel determines how you finish the barrel.
The big difference in the line to the first barrel is that is unlike every other line we take in the barrel pattern, it isn’t straight, it is an arc. Depending on the pattern setup – you may have to travel straight a ways before you start your arc, but there should never be a straight line coming into the barrel.
With over half a million runs under my belt with the intervaltiming.com system, I have seen less than 1% of the population effectively manage a very straight line to the first barrel, clock it and turn it, so although we are going to talk about it as a possibility, it isn’t worth digging deeper.
We are constantly being given contradictory information (sometimes from the same source) on what the “right line” to the first barrel is. The reason for this isn’t complicated, but when we get into it, you are going to wonder why no one else understands or teaches the ACTUAL information you need to make an informed decision to get “The Money Line” handled.
Your horses skeleton, the size of the pattern and your horses ability to hold their posture are the 3 determining factors that dictate the success of your line to the first barrel.
So your next question is – OK what does MY horse need? Well that folks, is what I wrote an online workshop about how to measure your horse and figure out how they are built to work.
You see, we would like to use the catch phrases like “style” when we describe our horse, but their “style” happens because of their skeleton. It ultimately decides the greatest portion of your horses strengths and what will be a challenge.