Finally! For More Than One Reason…

Shuttle and I won our first 2D money this weekend. We finally put together the nearly perfect run, and we ran and ran fast. It must have been relatively smooth, as it didn’t feel fast, but she didn’t make a lot of mistakes either. 2D runs will get us to the NFR if we choose to go that route. Hershey, an outside horse I have, also high loped to a check in the 4D.

Let me explain this “D” system right quick. The NBHA started it several years ago to encourage more people to barrel race. Prior to a D system you had open horses, green horses, $500 novice horses (which means they’ve won less than $500), $1500 novice horses, $2500 novice horses and $5000 novice horses. Once you got past the $5000 in earnings, then you had to run as an open horse against horses that might have been to the NFR. Not every horse can run as fast as Shuttle or the horses that are making the NFR. Some, no matter how hard they try will always run a second off the fastest horses.

This is where the D system comes into play. The 1D or first division is the fastest time of the day at a competition. The second division or 2D is the next set of horses that ran half a second slower. The 3D is horses that ran a second off the 1D horses. And a 4D horse is a full 2 seconds off the time of the 1D horse.

I hope that made sense.

Also tonight, my mare, Streakin Iron, has begun bagging up (which means she’s starting to produce milk for her baby)! We’ll be on baby watch starting…oh, now! The muscles around her tail head are all jiggly and wiggly and she could probably foal any day now. She’s a maiden mare, which means this will be her first baby. I’m so excited I can’t stand it! Her due date is technically May 29th but she can have the baby 3 weeks prior to 4 weeks after that date.