Three large drums are arranged in a giant triangle like an arrowhead aimed at the far side of the indoor arena.

Then a horse and rider explode across the starting line below the base of the arrowhead in a thunder of hoof beats and a contrail of flying dirt.

Slowing just enough to sling themselves around the first drum, the pair kicks in the afterburners, driving for the second one.

Once around that, they fly for the third and round it as tightly as the first two, tracing the tight “clover leaf” course that defines this sport.

Finally free from further turns, they blast back over the starting line at a full gallop to finish the run.

This is High Desert barrel racing, and like the Pony Express it brings to mind, it’s all about speed.

“Barrel racing is such a precise sport, the difference between winning and losing is 1⁄1000th of a second,” said Colleen Kingsbury, 25, of Powell Butte.

Only the closest athletic partnership between just the right horse and the most dedicated rider can hone a performance to this keen an edge, a combination that may take many years and thousands of dollars to realize, Kingsbury said.

“It takes a match that many of us barrel racers are looking for our entire career and (we may) be lucky to find one horse that fits that special bill,” she explained.

Kingsbury ought to know. She began barrel racing in rodeos at the age of 4 and has won more than 40 prizes — typically saddles and belt buckles — over her 21-year career, and is now competing through the National Professional Rodeo Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association, she said.

And there is money to be made in the sport, too.

“Jackpots only include barrel racing and not the other (rodeo) events. The prize purse can range from a local jackpot of $80 all the way up to national jackpots of $100,000,” she said.

Over the 2011 season, Kingsbury placed seventh out of 118 Oregon competitors and won more than $2,000 — the third highest amount in the state — according to results from the Oregon Barrel Racing Association.

Training for the top level of competition can be long and intense, according to Madras resident Mitzi Shepherd, 36, secretary/treasurer of the OBRA.

“A lot of people think we just go out there and run ’em around all three barrels, but there is no ‘ram ’em and jam ’em’,” Shepherd said. “It takes a long time to train a barrel horse.”

Training typically begins when horses are 3 years old, and they might not compete in their first race until they are 5 or 6. The most competitive riders — they are all women in Oregon — ride their horses five or six times a week and for 45 minutes to an hour each session, Shepherd continued.

The result is a mount that can make instant adjustments while racing by responding to nuanced cues from the rider’s reins and knees, she said.

The majority of barrel horses are registered quarter horses — they tend to have thicker bones and be more sure-footed than many other breeds — and breeders have developed championship barrel horse bloodlines over the past 20 years, according to Shepherd.

Still, she said, “If you have a horse that wants to do it, it doesn’t matter how they’re built or bred.”

“If you watch the Top 15 horses at the National Finals Rodeo, they’re all different shapes and sizes. You have some horses that are tiny and fine-boned and you have horses that are huge. It’s a very individual thing for each horse,” she continued.

Kingsbury is focused on a future as a top-level professional barrel racer and believes she now has the special horse partner who can take her there: Cinco.

“I got Cinco in 2010, and he was very successful both regionally and nationally. Last year I seasoned him and won quite a bit of money and a few rodeos,” she said.

“It is my goal to someday qualify for the National Finals Rodeo, but I have some benchmarks I want to reach first to build both myself and my horse’s competitiveness,” Kingsbury continued.

“My goal for this 2012 rodeo season is to qualify for the Columbia River Circuit Finals. There is a tough group of women that compete in this circuit, (but) I have faith in my horse and have been working very hard. We’ll see where we go from there,” she said. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Columbia River Circuit Finals rodeo takes place in Redmond in November.

So what is it that riders find so compelling about the sport?

“There’s a partnership between you and our horse,” Shepherd said. “You’re going at these barrels at 35 miles an hour; you have to trust them and they have to trust you. It’s (a) huge adrenaline rush, and that’s what so addictive about it.”

Resources

For those considering the sport, barrel racer Mitzi Shepherd suggests watching one of the five Oregon Barrel Racing Association events scheduled in Madras, Prineville or Powell Butte during the month of March. The complete schedule, including dates, times and locations, can be found on the OBRA website, www.oregon barrelracing.com.

For those thinking of buying their first barrel horse, Shepherd advises: “Find a horse that’s been there and done that and knows how to take care of its rider.” Shepherd can refer first-time buyers to local OBRA members in Sisters, Bend, Redmond, Prineville and Madras to assist.

Contact: bmcshep3@gmail.com.