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ITV News
14-07-2025
- Sport
- ITV News
Teenage Bradford cowgirl faces ‘nerve-racking but fun' US competition
A teenage cowgirl from Yorkshire has said travelling to the United States to compete against the world's best riders will be 'nerve-racking but fun'. Eloisa Atkinson, 15, will ride in the National Barrel Horse Association Team Teen and Youth World Championships in Georgia. The schoolgirl, from Bradford, said: 'It's a really big event with over 2,000 riders, so it's really big and it's kind of nerve-racking, but it'll be fun.' Representing Lincolnshire's 4 Strides Equestrian centre alongside teammates, Eloisa will take part in the barrel race, a 'speed event' in which riders have to navigate a cloverleaf pattern between several barrels in the fastest time possible. She said: 'I've been doing it four years now. I started on my little pony, Lily, and then obviously I grew out of her. 'My mum had horses and then, when I was young, she just sat me on one and then it just kind of went from there. 'I've just always done it and always loved it.' The teenager has previously taken part in events in Malta, South Africa and the US. She said events in the US were a 'higher standard". 'You've definitely got to step your game up a bit,' she said. Riders who qualify for the final will receive a buckle, with prizes such as saddles for those who finish in first place. For those who compete in the world rankings, prizes can be millions of dollars. Asked whether she saw herself going that far in the sport, Eloisa said: 'Yeah, I'd like to, but then, it's not always possible. 'I'll just keep it as a hobby kind of thing and just enjoy it how it is.' Peaches will not be travelling to the US with Eloisa, and instead she will be hiring a horse for the event on which she will only be able to practise for around an hour before competing. 'I've only had Peaches a year, it's just a year from the other day, and when we first got her, she was really fat, sat in a stable for nine years, hadn't done anything, and then we brought round, lost all the weight, got fit, built some muscle up,' she said. Asked what makes a good barrel-racing pony, she said: 'They've got to be fast, agile. 'They've got to listen as well, like you don't want them just running off, because if you get too close, you want them to listen to tell them to move out.' Sally Heron, of 4 Strides Equestrian, said: 'This is the youth and teen world championships (for) riders of 18 years and under. 'There will be two-and-a-half thousand youngsters barrel racing for a week, so it's going to be chaotic. 'It's going to be busy and but very exciting.' She added: 'The UK is such a small island and in barrel racing, the UK really holds its own. 'We've come home with belt buckles, prize money. 'It's really, really put us on the map.'
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Yorkshire cowgirls to face world's best in barrel racing contest
"It's the adrenaline rush I love. It's the best", says Eloisa as she tacks up a pony called Peaches, before swinging into the saddle and trotting out from a barn into an arena dotted with metal barrels. As she and Peaches then set off at a gallop, kicking up dust as they go, the 14-year-old, in a wide-brimmed hat and jeans with a large silver-buckle belt, looks every inch the Wild West cowgirl - even though all this is taking place in the perhaps more mundane setting of Mirfield in West before, a tractor had sprayed water onto the soft surface of the arena before the three large barrels were rolled into place, arranged into a cloverleaf Eloisa and Peaches expertly and skilfully swerve around each of those obstacles before charging for the whole thing takes less than 20 seconds - and that is the aim of barrel racing: it is all about speed over style."When you first experience the speed, it is quite scary when you're going towards a wall and you've got to spin round a barrel, but it's so much fun," explains has taken a long time for barrel racing to get all the way to West the 1940s, it was a mainstay of the US rodeo scene, as women and girls sought to give cowboys a run for their money in a traditionally male-dominated top barrel racers can earn thousands of dollars in prize money, and one of the biggest annual competitions is the National Barrel Horse Association Teen and Youth World Championships in is that contest, taking place in July, for which Eloisa, as well as 18-year-old Anna Turner, from East Yorkshire, are now making their final preparations. Sally Heron, who runs 4 Strides Equestrian UK in Lincolnshire, and who has put together the team including Eloisa and Anna, says the championships are "absolutely enormous".Once they arrive in Georgia, the Yorkshire pair will pitted against the "best in the world", she says."There will be 2,500 youths and teens between the ages of 13 and 18, racing for the entire week," Sally explains."There'll be two arenas running, and they get through three every 60 seconds."Sally says she discovered barrel racing while living and working in America and realising she "wanted to be a cowgirl"."The Western way of training horses is very different to the English way," she says. "I love that way of training.""I love the American lifestyle and the cheering and the clapping and the support, and the warm fuzz that goes with that," she in the UK, Sally now has her own barrel-racing business and she introduces other riders to the says she is "now a fully-fledged cowgirl". 'Lot of effort' For Anna, from Bridlington, it will be her second time competing at the event, and she knows it will be last time she took part it was "unlike anything I've ever experienced", she says. "The atmosphere's huge, and the crowd really gets behind you - and the louder the crowd cheers, the faster the horses run."Although the sport is based purely on speed, many teams enjoy dressing up both riders and says: "Bling is definitely part of it. We have our own team colours and dress up our horses."You can get breastplates, boots and saddle pads. It's all part of the fun."Including plaiting up, it can take up to an hour to get your horse ready."Some of the kids even put glitter on their pony. A lot of effort goes into it." Practice over for another day, Eloisa goes back to the barn for Peaches to be untacked and loaded into a van for the return home. Peaches will not be going to the USA, with the team instead loaning ponies on which to arrival in Georgia, there will be only one day for Eloisa and Anna to acclimatise to their new while she may be nervous, Eloisa says she is most certainly looking forward to taking part in the her, the excitement at being involved in such a fast-moving and spectacular sport is clear to see."You come off and your legs are shaking. It's exhilarating," she smiles. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
