a day at the barrel races.

Don't forget to click the pic.

Last nights sunset.

I spent a lot of time yesterday over at the covered arena watching the barrel racers which was a nice break from what I normally do every day, which is not much of anything. I really enjoy watching the skill and athleticism of the girls and their horses.

I didn't take a lot of pictures during the day because of the difficulty of getting a decent picture with the lighting being what it is at the covered arena so I spent most of the time just enjoying the show assuming I would have plenty of time to take some pictures later in the day when the sun light wasn't so harsh, and take a few more pictures today, because after all it is a three-day holiday.

The mistake I made was assuming that a three-day holiday meant three days of barrel racing, so when I moseyed over to the covered arena yesterday afternoon I was shocked and disappointed to find there wasn't a horse, a cowgirl, a horse trailer, or a bale of hay anywhere in sight, every single soul had packed up and disappeared like they had never been here.

What this means is I didn't get many pictures of the barrel racers and the ones I did get are nothing to write home about because of the horrendous lighting conditions at the covered arena. So my pictures instead of being random pictures of 40 different horse riders are going to be a dozen or so pictures of the same four or five contestants that I took while I was mostly watching the competition and not trying to get into position to get a decent picture.

Changing the subject a little, you may wonder how did I stay safe and follow all the CDC rules about being around crowds while watching the barrel race? Well first of all it was an outdoor event and that helps me  feel better right off the bat. Second, the event arena is pretty large, and lastly there was only about 75 people there, and not all at once, so people were spread out all over the arena.

There were no spectators..... except  me of course, it was competitors and their families only, so I just stayed off by myself and I seriously doubt if I was ever closer than 20 feet to anyone the entire time I was there. I carried my face-mask in my pocket, but no one there was wearing one, so I never put mine on. The fact is the only time I see anyone wearing a face-mask around here is when I go to the store during the Geezer hour, other than that nobody wears them...... I take that back, every single person involved with the high school graduation the other night was wearing a mask. but other than that people I see walking around everywhere, or working here at the Fairgrounds aren't wearing masks.

So the riders are gone, the horses are gone, the flies are gone, the roach coach is fully stocked up with Italian sausage......after all some horses didn't perform up to expectations, and now everything's back to normal..... I'm bored.

                          theboondork

Sometimes you have to wonder how a horse can stay on his feet making a turn as fast as their going.

The horses get in some really weird positions to turn as fast as they do going as fast as they are.

Quick starts, quick turns, it's all about speed.

if you want the quickest time you have to get as close as possible going around the barrel without knocking it over, you can make the barrel move you just can't tip it over. It's hard to believe but she didn't knock the barrel over, in fact this young lady and her horse are performing perfectly.

this girl looks awfully young and small to be handling a horse the way she does, but my guess is she's probably been sitting on a horse for most of her life.