b"Running the RaceTo Look or Not to Look? That is the Question.By Betsy Nunn SCENARIO #2howfastdouwannab@gmail.com, facebook.com/Willnunnp3, youtube.com/user/howfastdouwannabL ots of you grew up withhad nearly made the finals a couple of times at this point, the mother hanging off theonce at the tender age of 10 in 1984, and I had a horse fence yelling, Look!!! Thenbreak my leg nearing the end of the season. I think I won it happened again! LOOK!!rookie of the year and ended up in the top 20. In 1998 I She would ultimately yell itagain ended up in the top 20 but my horse broke her splint yet one more time at the third barrel, Look!!!We allbone and that year I think I had hit some barrels at the came from the school of thought that if you were in thebeginning of it. At the end of 1998, I was humbled but turn and you looked to your next barrel that your horseexcited for the next year. I rodeoed the next year as well would finish his turn better.Is this really true or didand then ended up selling my horse. I came home and my our moms make that up somewhere along the way? folks suggested having Ed help me. It blew my mind thatthey were humble enough themselves to think Ed could Why, if we are not finished with the barrel we are stillhelp me. At that point, they had taught me most of what in the midst of, at that very moment, are we looking atI knew. Ed had helped lots of friends of mine who had another barrel? These are all questions I asked myself,become champions plus we had known him for years. He maybe 20 years ago as a friend by the name of Ed Wrighttaught me a bunch. His wife Martha has won a ton. Ed watched me work a horse one day. Betsy, what are YOUcommenced to ingrain in me the three landmarks around doing? That is old school, he exclaimed as only Ed coulda barrel and I figured out that I would miss the last one, at do and anyone who has ever had him line you out, canpoint #3, if I turned and looked which had caused me to completely understand what I mean. When Ed got on youhit barrels in the past. about something it was because he thought you had better within you. He had a way of getting after you but he madeHERE ARE EXAMPLES OF WHAT I AM you like it.He may have even said, Charmayne doesntTALKING ABOUT: I made a really nice futurity horse out of OBD Toot Sweet turn and look! And how many barrels does she hit? NotToo that year. I won quite a bit on her, went on to derby many! That was back in the late nineties and here we areSCENARIO #1her and win at the rodeos on her too. She went on the in the year 2020. You will notice the round circles and the numbers aroundwin quite a bit in the Sierra Circuit with her new jockey the barrels. When I am at my X my eyes are at point #1.as well. Her turns were round and solid. Really navigating When I am at point #1 my eyes are at point #2. When Ithe turn and as I say, just staying in the moment, sure SCENARIO #1 am at point #2 my eyes are at point #3. As I cross pointchanged the game for me in a big way. I dont go nearly as #3 my eyes are at my next X (which is my rate point). Asmuch as I went back then but my horses do not hit many I go through this process at each barrel it breaks it downbarrels, to which I attribute these things I am sharing with and almost slows it down in my mind. I am able to makeyou. Again, I do not claim to know it all, but for me, this a smoother more consistent turn whether I am workingwas something that someone taught me that really stuck. a horse or competing. Every horse is similar but alsoIt made things so much easier. I am so grateful for that different as far as where that particular horse likes to be toand that I am continually learning. make the fastest turn for him per se, this is just a general look at what I do. I've seen a lot of individuals hit many barrels in their careers. I sit back and watch and as they turn and look-SCENARIO #2 they drag that horses front end back around the barrel You would have more sharp corners in your turns ascreating a corner and thats where they hit the barrel. I turning and looking seems to create more of an edgy turn.have heard people say, Well if I hit it on the backside Its a riskier turn. Its easier to be in the penalty zone withthen thats ok. Really? Do they pay anything for plus 5?! this turn. When you look, as a horse is at point #2, youIts still a down barrel folks. Whether you say, I tipped miss point #3 because your eyes are on the next barrel.I knocked or as I say, I ran one square over, it still isnt Your face is literally looking at the next barrel and yourgonna win a dang thing and thats a bummer in itself, body is twisted in the middle as well, instead of looking atfor sure, any way you slice it with what it costs to play the path you want to go at the moment. That horses frontthe game these days. Not to say that I never hit a barrel end is drug across the backside of the turn. You have takenbecause sometimes things happen and on occasion I do away his forward motion and stopped his feet in a senseturn and look by accident since its literally been in my hence hitting the barrel on the way around because youbrain since I was a little kid. I just chose to do it differently were not round. You made that round turn into a trianglenow. I believe when you learn something that you think is with a corner, not a circle. going to work in life or in our game, you start to practice it. You keep practicing it and then it just becomes part of From that point forward, my training program changedyour natural routine. You make it your own. Then step and I no longer hit many barrels. It took a while but myback, start watching and notice that maybe someone else muscle memory seemed to change. I rode and worked lotsat the top of their game is replicating that same idea and So is it wrong to turn and look? I dont think its wrong atof horses in a day and changed how I did things. Turningso it makes sense from that standpoint as well. all. In fact, I still do on occasion as I think its literally still inand looking was one of the things that changed for me. I my muscle memory. I see lots of folks still ride one like thatnever really thought to myself, Ok dont turn and lookDont rush your turn. Be present as to what you are doing-so please dont mistake my preference these days for lookingbut with my chin tucked, looking at those three points onsuch as life. Stay in the moment, my friends. Until next down on someone who does things differently than I do.the ground around the barrel, I was able to make a moretime, Slow down, pay attention and look at what you are round turn instead of making a corner and therefore thedoing, as my dad Jeff Lemaire would always say to me, on I believe a persons eyes need to be a step ahead in theturning and looking became almost non-existent.a weekly basis, growing up and I think that applies here as turns. Ed taught me back then to navigate my turns. Iwell. Be blessed.14 March 2020"