Anchorage Daily News

BUTTE -- On summer Wednesday nights, the land around Nan Skewis' Saddle Up Corral in the Butte fills with pickups and horse trailers.

It looks like an old-fashioned roundup, complete with paints, Morgans and quarter horses sporting rhinestone-set bridles, with women wearing button-down Western shirts and toddlers stomping around in palm-sized cowboy boots.

These weekly barrel races, held jointly by the Alaska Barrel Racers Association and the National Barrel Horse Association, are low-key until the stopwatch starts. Then the all-female riders shed their smiles for laser-eyed, muscle-bunched concentration.

"Just quit thinking about it and ride!" someone yelled at Tamie Vickers, the president of ABRA, right before Vickers' horse, Marbles, knocked over the first barrel in a too-tight turn. Vickers' face twisted in disappointment -- she was disqualified, knocked out of the standings and a chance to add points to her total -- but she hissed at Marbles to finish the 16-second run.

Nearby waited Vickers' 9-year-old daughter, Bryce, sitting on Cash, her mother's prize-winning horse. Bryce's earliest memories are of being on the back of a horse; she started barrel racing as a lead-liner -- or sitting on a horse led by adults -- at 2 years old.

"I like it. I like being around all my friends," she said, wearing a pink riding helmet, a turquoise Western shirt with rhinestone buttons and a giant belt buckle that proclaims her the 2006 PeeWee barrel racing champ.

Champions for children and adults are identified by the highest number of points garnered throughout the May-through-August racing season.

Since there often aren't enough children her age for competition, Bryce usually pits herself against the adults. Her best time so far is 15.8 seconds, pretty respectable considering the arena record is 14.6.

Or it was, until Shelly Bindon broke it with a 14.4 on her mare, Cinder, later that evening. This summer, Bindon lives and breathes barrel racing.

She brought up an East Coast cousin to care for her two young daughters while she trains two horses -- Cinder and K.A.S.H -- four to five hours a day, three or four days per week.

The other serious racers think nothing of pouring all that time into a 15-second weekly race. In fact, it's this intensity Skewis says has resulted in the decline of barrel racing in Alaska.

The Lower 48 has more competitions and bigger purses than local clubs can front, she said. "The sport is drying up here. People are moving Outside; the rodeos are better there."

Skewis' arena is for sale. She wants to move somewhere competition is easier to reach.

A sale will leave the barrel racers without a home next year, a problem with no easy solution. Vickers explained that most local arenas are built for English-style riding or lack the deep earth necessary for barrel racing safety.

"The ones that are (suitable) run about $150 a night," Vickers said. "We're such a small association, that's where we're suffering."

So ABRA is doing outreach to families like the Van Bergens, who recently bought a horse for their four daughters to share. Tazz is a trained barrel racer, and his former owner gave free lessons and use of a trailer until the family got their own.

"They really welcomed us in," mom Jennifer said as her daughter, Khrista, waited to race.

"It's a family event," Vickers said. "We're all supportive of one another. You don't see that in the Lower 48 very much; people are pretty competitive and are all business."

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