Barrel Horse News Editor Bonnie Wheatley goes down the fence for the first time • Photo by Rich Goddard / High Desert ImagingBlank. It’s not what you want your mind to be when asked to write a blog. In my line of work, I get a barrage of ideas about riding and training coming my way, and I confess my mind gets a little overloaded at times and goes a little blank. The same thing can be said for showing horses. There are so many little details to learn and remember; it takes a great deal of focus.
Several weeks ago I entered my first National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Non-Pro Bridle class, where I went down the fence for the first time. Blank is not what I wanted to be when I rode in there – mind you, this coming from a person who, in my first two NRCHA outs, missed the markers and got my circles backward. Going down the fence was not something I planned to tackle until I got the circles sorted out. But at the urging of my dad, Jack McComber, who has a lot more show pen experience than I do, I entered the Bridle rather than the Limited. He told me it was a waste of my horse to keep entering the boxing classes because this horse is exceptional down the fence. So I entered up – and he was right.