WPRA Announces New Partnership With Revolutionary Technology

The Women's Professional Rodeo Association has announced a new partnership with Alan Woodbury on a timing device named BY A NOSE.

Winston Churchill said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Alan Woodbury has seen opportunity at many turns in life. A proven entrepreneur, successful horse breeder, and now inventor, Woodbury is changing the world one task at a time.

Woodbury's latest accomplishment includes new technology for a timing system. According to the WPRA, BY A NOSE was developed by Woodbury specifically for professional barrel racing. The term used for the name came from the world of horse racing, which coincidentally is where the idea also arose.

Woodbury has been in the barrel racing world in some fashion for over 40 years. He recognized a need for a more accurate timing system and started researching and gathering data. Woodbury was at the race track in Ruidoso, New Mexico, some time ago when he was introduced to the individual who analyzed film to determine race winners. Often, the race is determined "by a nose."

Woodbury took advantage of the meeting and hired him to film more than 700 barrel racing runs at major rodeos nationwide. The pair then used state-of-the-art technology and analyzed the timer heights and nose heights, starting and finishing the run. When the data was finally amassed, Woodbury designed a tripod that will always be a standard height and cannot be adjusted. 

The next step was to develop a "canister" to sit on top of the tripod to accurately start and stop the time of differing heights of horses' noses. It doesn't matter whether the horse is tall or short or whether they run with their heads up or down.

The Montana Circuit Director, Dillon McPherson, told the WPRA, "We were excited to put the BY A NOSE timers into action at the Montana Circuit Finals. They definitely created a buzz, and everyone, from contestants to spectators, was interested in learning more about them. They were well received by our circuit members, and we are anxious to get more in the field during the 2024 rodeo season."

The WPRA has agreed to distribute more than 50 timers to be used at pro rodeos across the country. Woodbury also hopes to have an additional 100 units available for purchase sometime in March 2024.