Personal Narrative: Barrel Racing

As a barrel racer, I have gone to a lot of shows and rodeos with my pony. My pony was diagnosed with moon blindness, caused from a bacteria called, leptospirosis, that got into his eyes. As he starts going blind he relies more on me, especially with barrel racing because he has to watch out for the barrels so he can turn tighter and not tip them over, but he can not do that because it is very hard for him to see.

In the beginning of the summer, the pony would not move at all or go really slow when asking him to run the barrel pattern. After many attempts of trying to get the pony to walk with me on top of him, he finally started to get more confidence and knew that I would not let him run into anything while on him. During training, the pony knew the arena well enough so he would not bump into anything. After building up speed and getting better times, I thought that we were back in barrel racing. I entered the pony and I in the minnesota rodeo.

When showtime came around, we entered in the barrel racing games.

It was a rodeo in Minnesota, with a lot of entries. It was our turn, and we were just entering the arena. I could tell the pony was scared and breathing differently. As I try calming him down before we take off, he rears up and flings me right off his back. I lay there on the ground and he is scarred running circles. People there were trying to catch him but he could hear them and take off again. Finally, I go up and talked to him saying “Its okay, you were just scared.” He heard my voice and slowly came towards me and I slowly walked towards him. After I got him, I explained that he was blind and has not been in a show since. I was still counted as disqualified because he did not complete the pattern and did not have a rider on

him.
It was the last rider of the night, and the pony and I were outside the gate. As I was watching, they called my number again. Parents of the other riders were arguing and upset that I got a second chance to race again. As the leader of the rodeo told the parents about my pony, they calmed down and let me try one last time. As I went into the arena for the second time, I turn to the man at the gate. I asked him if I could walk him around the arena one time before racing and he told me that It would break the timer. I look down the arena at all three of the barrels and he the man at the gate behind me say “you got this kid, that pony trusts in you.”
Seconds after hearing him, I kicked the pony and he took off. Using my legs to steer him we turn around the first barrel, pick up speed around the second, and ran straight down the middle after the third. Everyone was cheering and clapping loudly. I looked at the clock and saw fifteen seconds. It was our greatest time yet in all of our shows and rodeos. I had not only won but, I had gotten high point too.
When receiving money and a new belt buckle from winning the race and high point, I had not only learned that my pony was completely blind and could still be ridden in games, but that he trusted in me too. Since then, we have gone to the Iowa State Large Animal hospital, and have tried many medicines to try and save the remaining vision. Trust is the one thing keeping my pony barrel racing with me, according to the vet.