How a Little Slip Gave an Incredible Gelding Named “Eyemora” the New Title of the “Reichert Riderless Barrel Racer”
The striking 13-year-old gelding named Eyemora has all of the ingredients needed to lay down a perfect barrel racing pattern: impressive speed, uncanny agility, spot-on timing, precision turning, and quick reflexes. But at the first annual Dash For The Cash Barrel Racing event at the 2013 Reichert Celebration over the weekend, there was one thing missing… a rider.
We had the chance to chat with Eyemora’s missing rider, Chris Martin, to uncover the backstory behind this intriguing photo that was captured by Shane Rux Photography.
“Eyemora is a 13-year-old gelding that was trained by Virginia Evans of Nebraska,” Martin says. “He was sent to me to market and sell. I sold him to his current owners, Bobby and Denny Ralls of Weatherford, Texas.”
“I’d just gotten him back to start riding him, and I entered him in the barrel racing at the Reichert. I switched bridles before [the class], and I had just too much bridle on him. When I got to the first barrel, I just tripped him up. He completely fell down, and I fell off. My foot got hung up in the stirrup, but luckily it came undone. He ran off to the second barrel and turned it like he was going to finish the run.”
Not only did Eyemora turn the second barrel, he kept on going. He turned the third barrel and ran for home leaving Martin in the dust, quite literally. Martin is 33 years old and has been training horses since he was in high school. He says he’s seen a situation similar to this one happen only once before.
“I’ve seen it happen one other time, up in Oklahoma City, but I’ve never had it happen to a horse I was riding,” he says. “It takes a special horse to get up and not give up. That says a lot for the foundation instilled in that horse. I’d love to take credit for it, but Virginia is a phenomenal trainer. It just shows the repetition and time that was put into this horse. No matter what [happens], the horse just has to get gritty and keep on going.”
What made this particular riderless run so astonishing is that Eyemora not only completed the pattern; he did so with exceptional style and perfect timing.
“I was on the ground, and I was just starting to look up,” Martin says. “He was in perfect position to turn the second barrel. I couldn’t have turned that barrel that good if I would’ve been on him. He is so solid and makes the same pattern every time, so it wasn’t surprising that he could do that. It was just surprising that any horse would do that. He did turn the third barrel a little wide and then ran out the gate. He definitely finished his pattern.”
Unfortunately, Eyemora’s efforts went unrewarded, as far as the class payouts are concerned, because of the pesky little rule which states that a horse must have a rider in the saddle for a time to be counted. However, we hope this brief article serves as an even higher commendation for this special horse.
Martin was very pleased with the success of the inaugural Reichert Dash For The Cash Barrel Racing event and is planning to return again, hopefully with Eyemora in tow, next year.
“I thought they did a good job of getting it kicked off,” he says. “I visited with Mr. Reichert and told him that we enjoyed it and we are really excited to help him promote it.”
