POLE BENDING

Each contestant begins from a running start, and time begins and ends as the horse’s nose crosses the line. A visible starting line must be administered and pointed out. An electric timer or at least two watches are used, with the time indicated by the electric timer or the average time of the watches used by official timers to be the official time. The pole bending pattern is to run around six poles. Each pole is 21 feet apart, and the first pole is 21 feet from the starting line. Poles are set on top of the ground, six feet in height, with no base more than 14 inches  in diameter. A horse may start either to the right or to the left of the first pole and then run the remainder of the pattern accordingly. Knocking over a pole  carry a five-second penalty. Failure to follow the course shall result in disqualification. A contestant may touch a pole with his or her hand in pole bending. However, if the course has been altered from the original pattern it will result in a NO-TIME run.  Between pole bending and barrel racing my favourite is pole bending.  This year at my first show i came fifth place for pole bending i had a time of 30 seconds and when i did barrel racing at the show i fell off head first and had a sprayed neck and a concaution  but its still very entertaining people say that if u can hear everything around you your not going to have a good run but if you hear nothing you will do fine.