Industry Insider: An Interview With a Barrel Racer

INDUSTRY INSIDER

an Interview With a Barrel Racer

by Jackie Emory, Staff Writer

There are many different interests in the horse world, and barrel riding is just one. Read about that life in an interview with a local, nationally ranked champion.

You wouldn’t guess the blue eyes, blond hair, and freckcan Youth Champion, Reserve State Champion, and National Champion. les belong to a rough and tough barrel racer, once ranked 5th in the world. This city kid turned nationally ranked barrel racer is Blake Worland, a guy who stumbled into the world of horses and barrel racing.

“My grandma bought my first pony when I was 11,” he says. “An evil one at that.” Blake had never even considered riding horses. He was a city kid after all, playing basketball and soccer.

“Then I found a talent outside of what everyone knew,” he says.

He traded in his evil pony for a competitive barrel racing horse and started winning “left and right.” A year later he was the 5th ranked barrel rider in the world. “From 2004 to 2006 was my big winning streak,” he says. He can rattle off titles that include All Ameri“Winning,” he says, “is almost an out of body

experience. You hear the crowd screaming your name, but it’s all a blur.” After winning all of those titles, it’s understandable how it might become a blur. Blake says there were “fist pumping moments” and times when he thought he just missed the mark, but still came out winning.

There came a point when being on the road was too much for Blake. “I just wanted to be a kid again,” he says. So in 2003, he started his freshmen year at The Barstow

School and retired from serious riding, focusing instead on school.

His parents always stood by him, including his decision to take a step back from barrel racing. “I couldn’t have done this without my parents,” he says. “They were so supportive, from driving me to the barn or to a competition, they were there for me onehundred percent.”

Now a junior at Drury University majoring in psychology, with a double minor in criminology and global studies,

Blake doesn’t have as much time to race. “I miss it all the time,” he says.

He bought his latest horse, Moon, in 2009, and the two of them have already won a national title. “Barrel racing is so much fun,” he says. “These animals somehow become your best friend.”

Blake adds that while his friends see him as quite sociable, around a horse he’s a different person.

“The adrenaline rush I get when racing is like no other,” he says. “Going 20 to 30 miles per hour into a turn is amazing. The agility these animals have is incredible.” And the best part about this sport, he says, is “The clock never lies. You just always have to do your best to beat that clock.” n

Blake Worland. Photo: Feasler Photography