Five Tips That Could Change Your Barrel Racing Career with Tricia Aldridge

We sat down with one of the hottest topics on social media, Tricia Aldridge, and talked all things barrel racing.

Tricia and Adios at the 2024 Young Guns League in Guthrie, OK | Lexi Smith Media/Photo Courtesy of Tricia Aldridge

As followers on social media have become deeply invested in the journey of Adios Pantalones and Red Hot Barrel Horses, Tricia Aldridge has remained incredibly open about her experiences. She has documented her own rise in the barrel racing industry as a futurity trainer, reaching an incredible high last year. With Adios, she earned over $558,000 in the 2024 futurity season.

With Adios' futurity year over, Aldridge felt the stallion deserved a chance to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo. We caught up with Aldridge between runs to discuss horses, training, and some of the wisdom she has gained on her path to success.

#1 - Not all great horses were standout futurity horses.

Aldridge told us about the newest addition to her trailer, "I just bought one as a backup for the summer. I think a lot of people are like, 'I don't know why you bought that horse,' but just because someone didn't haul them all over the country, doesn't mean they're not good horses. He is so cool. He's from Iowa, so he's run on every kind of crappy ground there is and probably has a leg up on the horses from around here on that."

#2 - Who you surround yourself with matters.

Jamey and Ashley Hunt play important roles in Aldridge's inner circle. Jamey will campaign and continue to season Aldridge's futurity colts when she and Adios hit the rodeo road.

"It's super awesome to have friends like that. Jamey's also been a really big person for me to bounce ideas off of and keep my horses all going the right way. I think at this level, you have to have that kind of help."

"Adios has been getting ridiculously close to the second and at Elite, I tried to grab it. Ashley was like, 'If you don't get your hands down, I'm taping them to your saddle!' so I went in the second round and didn't move and ran the fastest time of the whole week."

"Sometimes that's just what you need to hear, especially when you're driving so far and it's a mental thing, you really just have to go out there and make that same run and have that kind of confidence in your horse."

#3 - Less is more.

Does a trainer really need 10 head of horses in the trailer to be successful? Aldridge does not think so.

"It's been a long process to scale it down enough to be able to leave. I think it's important not to have all those things on your plate when you're trying to achieve these kind of goals."

"When you look at the best, someone like Kassie (Mowry), has always had one or two older horses that she's running and one or two futurity horses. I feel like if you have a good horse, all the average ones take away from that one that could be great."

"I learned that when I had Sway. I hit $150,000 in barrels on her, because I was riding other horses that weren't her style. Before I started running Adios, if they didn't ride like him, I sent them home or sold them. I didn't want any reason not to ride that horse to the best of his ability."

#4 - You do not have to do it all.

While it can be easy to think you are only successful if you are the one taking the wins, Aldridge feels it is just as important that someone else can win on a horse after you.

"I think people are afraid to send them off to someone else. Pritzi for instance, I was riding her and won $50,000-$60,000. When I started riding Puma and GoPro, they were a different style and I started hitting barrels on her. My timing was off, so I sent her to Jamey and he won another $30,000-$40,000 on her. It's amazing because so many people couldn't believe I sent her off, because I'm a trainer. I thought, 'Well, it's better that I not ride my other horses poorly and she could win a bunch of money with Jamey. I own her, it doesn't matter who wins on her.' I have no qualms about sending them to somebody that can win on them."

#5 - The best piece of advice of all.

"Just move along and keep trying to find the unicorns."

We love watching Aldridge and Adios and cannot wait to see what win we report on next from this amazing duo.