Barrel racing comes to Boundary County
Photo by MARK STICKNEY Stacie Watts, organizer of the Split Second Barrel Racing Summer Jackpots, has more than 20 years of barrel racing, team roping, rodeo, and horse show production experience.
BONNERS FERRY — Barrel racers will take over the Boundary County Fairgrounds Arena on Saturday, Aug. 25, for the first installment of the Split Second Barrel Racing Summer Jackpots and spectators are welcome to come to watch for free.
The day begins with time-only exhibition runs at 10 a.m. This allows the competitors to get their horses in the arena to get a feel for the ground conditions and set their game plan for their competitive runs.
The fun begins at 11:45 a.m. with the PeeWee and lead line riders ten years old and younger. The real action will begin at 12 p.m. with the Open class for all ages. The Youth for those age 17 and younger and the Novice for horses and riders that have won less than $500 in barrel racing competition will wrap-up the day.
The event is sanctioned with Barrel Racers National 4D. Divisional barrel racing, using the 4D format, allows riders of all skill levels a chance to win money and prizes in barrel racing competition and encourages riders to improve their skills and work toward the higher Divisions.
The divisions are determined by the speed a horse runs the cloverleaf pattern. The Divisions are split using the designations: 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D. The fastest time sets the divisions and is designated as the 1D. The 2D would be 0.5 seconds slower than the 1D time and the 3D and 4D add 1 second and 2 seconds respectively to the fastest time. The divisions can change at any time based on whichever horse and rider team runs the fastest in the class.
The Aug. 25 jackpot is the first of three jackpots to be held in Bonners Ferry. Additional dates at Sept. 29 and Oct. 27. Everyone is encouraged to come down and root their local barrel racers to victory.
Seeing a need for locally produced barrel races, Split Second Barrel Racing is the culmination of several years of jackpot production experience by Stacie Watts. Stacie has over 20 years of barrel racing, team roping, rodeo and horse show production experience. She served as NBHA California District 7 Director for 13 years, as well as produced WCBRA, Run2Win, BRN4D, and open benefit barrel races as well as American Cowboys Team Roping Association and Open team roping. Additionally, she served with the Russian River Rodeo Association as a consultant and produced their open team roping and WCBRA sanctioned barrel races.
About Split Second Barrel Racing Split Second Barrel Racing was formed to create professional, well run, time sensitive, fast moving barrel races employing tried and true techniques that come only with hard work and experience.
Information: www.facebook.com/splitsecondbarrels