06/10/2026
Educating yourself to be a more knowledgeable member of your horses healthcare team might just be the ticket to a longer - healthier - happier performance career
Well, so far, this week has been interesting.
This weekend I made a reel about the things that go into taking care of performance horses — soundness, appetite, hydration, gut health, recovery, conditioning, travel stress, veterinary guidance, and all the little details that matter when you haul and compete.
Somehow, that turned into people saying I was advocating for drugging horses, poisoning horses, masking pain, and endangering the future of barrel racing.
Which is honestly ridiculous.
There is a big difference between responsible performance-horse care and running an unsound horse. There is a big difference between working with your veterinarian, following medication rules and association rules, supporting recovery, and keeping a horse healthy — versus masking a problem and forcing a horse to compete when they should not be competing.
I am not making recommendations for anyone else’s horse. I am simply sharing what I do with my own horses, under the guidance of my veterinarian. And that would vary based on the rules of where I’m competing.
One of the reasons I talk about this is because I did not always know what I know now.
I high school rodeoed. I was competitive. I had good horses. And I still did not understand, until college, what it really meant to support a performance horse.
I did not know that managing inflammation, recovery, soreness, maintenance, and veterinary care could be part of helping a horse feel and perform their best. I did not know that until I had to take a horse to get his joints injected for the first time, and my vet started explaining what appropriate support looked like before I ran him.
I also had a really good rope horse in college that I had to retire earlier than I probably should have because I simply did not know enough yet. Looking back, I wonder if his career could have been extended if I had understood more about maintaining a performance horse, managing inflammation, and asking better questions sooner.
My vet did not know that I did not know — until he knew that I did not know. Then he took me under his wing, taught me how to hit a vein, when to use Bute over Banamine, and gave me anatomy lessons every chance he got. He was the best.
That is exactly why I talk about these things now.
Because there are people out there who are trying hard, who love their horses, who want to do right by them, and who simply have not been taught what responsible performance-horse management can look like.
That does not mean throwing medication at every problem. It does not mean running an unsound horse. It does not mean ignoring pain or covering up lameness.
It means learning. Asking questions. Working with your vet. Knowing the rules. Understanding recovery. Understanding inflammation. Understanding that performance horses are athletes, and athletes need thoughtful care.
I have spent my life with horses. I do not believe in making a horse run through pain. I do not believe in ignoring what a horse is telling us. I also do not believe good horsemanship means pretending performance horses do not need thoughtful management, recovery, conditioning, nutrition, veterinary care, and support.
Barrel horses are athletes. They deserve to be treated like athletes, not machines.
That means listening to them, conditioning them properly, keeping them sound, knowing the rules, using qualified professionals, and putting the horse first — even when it is inconvenient.
If we want to protect this sport, we need to be honest enough to talk about horse care with nuance. Screaming “abuse” every time someone mentions recovery, veterinary-provided drugs, or responsible management does not help horses.
It shuts down the exact conversations that could help people do better. That has always been my position. It will continue to be my position.
And for everyone who understood the actual message and followed along this week — thank you. I’m glad you’re here.
I hope to shortcut you what it took me years to get sorted.
