Kristin Yde • Barrel Racer

Kristin Yde • Barrel Racer Call or E-mail for prices

4X American Semi-Finals Qualifier • 2016 & 2017 SRA Champ • 4X IFR Qualifier • 2016 SEBRA Champ • 2025 BBR 1D Finalist • 2025 PWR Pro Finalist • 2022 NBHA Open World 2D Champ • WPRA/IPRA/SRA/BFA/BBR

Alright, barrel racer confession booth.What is something you do that you KNOW you would tell a student not to do?Because...
09/05/2026

Alright, barrel racer confession booth.

What is something you do that you KNOW you would tell a student not to do?

Because apparently I can preach professionalism, proper footwear and being prepared all day long…

…and then ride half my horses in sneakers. 😂

Trainers are really good at saying:

“Sit up.”
“Quit looking at the barrel.”
“Use your legs.”
“Give yourself more room.”
“Don’t wait until the last second.”
“Put your stuff away when you’re done.”

Meanwhile, somewhere five minutes later, we’re probably doing at least one thing we just corrected somebody else for.

So no serious answers required today. I want the harmless hypocrisy.

What’s your “do as I say, not as I do” barrel racer confession?

A good trainer shouldn’t want a student dependent on them forever.The goal is to build riders who can eventually think, ...
09/03/2026

A good trainer shouldn’t want a student dependent on them forever.

The goal is to build riders who can eventually think, feel and make decisions for themselves.

That means learning how to warm up their own horse instead of always having someone else get one ready for them. Learning what their horse feels like on a good day so they can recognize when something feels off. Learning when one needs more work, when one needs less, and when the smartest thing they can do is leave it alone.

It means being able to walk into the arena without someone telling them every single move to make.

Of course there are times a trainer needs to step in. Sometimes I need to get on one. Sometimes a student needs more direction. Sometimes we need to go back to the basics and work through something together.

But the end goal should always be progress toward independence.

I want my students to understand WHY we’re doing something, not just memorize instructions.

Because eventually I want them to be able to make a run, come out of the arena and tell me what they felt before I tell them what I saw. I want them to recognize their own mistakes, recognize when their horse needs help, and start figuring out what adjustment needs to happen next.

That’s how you build horsemen—not just riders who can follow directions.

And honestly, I think one of the biggest compliments a trainer can get is watching a student handle a situation correctly when you never had to say a word.

At what point do you think a trainer should start stepping back and making a student figure more things out for themselves?

Being professional is easy when everyone else is being professional.The real test is when they aren’t.When someone takes...
09/02/2026

Being professional is easy when everyone else is being professional.

The real test is when they aren’t.

When someone takes a cheap shot. Makes assumptions. Talks about you instead of to you. Misrepresents something you said. Acts sideways at a show. Or says something that makes you type out a response, reread it, and decide maybe that one should stay in the drafts. 😂

This industry is small.

The person irritating you today may be standing beside a future client, sponsor, horse buyer, producer or opportunity tomorrow. And while you can’t control how someone else chooses to conduct themselves, you absolutely control what people learn about YOU from the way you respond.

That doesn’t mean being a doormat.

You can correct misinformation. You can defend yourself. You can set boundaries. You can say, “That’s not what happened.”

Professionalism doesn’t require silence.

But it also doesn’t require a response to everything.

Sometimes no reply is the best reply. Not because you don’t have something to say, but because you recognize there’s nothing productive waiting for you on the other side of that conversation.

Knowing when to speak up is important.

Knowing when to let someone show everyone exactly who they are without your assistance might be even more important.

And trust me, there are days when that takes considerably more discipline than riding ten horses. 😂

What’s harder for you: keeping your mouth shut or keeping your fingers off the keyboard?

Enjoy the most fitting photo of my face saying things when my mouth doesn’t 😅😂

What actually makes you STOP scrolling when it comes to barrel racing content?Is it training advice you can actually use...
09/01/2026

What actually makes you STOP scrolling when it comes to barrel racing content?

Is it training advice you can actually use?

A smoking fast winning run?

A wreck you know you probably shouldn’t watch…but you’re watching anyway?

Behind-the-scenes barn life?

A controversial opinion?

Horse shopping/sale videos?

Futurity and rodeo results?

Bloodline and breeding talk?

Or, if we’re being completely truthful here…is it the gossip and drama? 😂

We talk a lot about what people should post on social media, but I’m more curious about what people actually want to consume.

Because there’s a difference between something you’ll watch for three seconds and something that makes you stop, read the whole post, jump into the comments, or send it to a friend.

So barrel racers—what gets YOUR attention? And what kind of content are you scrolling right past every single time?

I think being coachable can actually get harder the better you get.When you’re learning, you expect correction. You know...
09/01/2026

I think being coachable can actually get harder the better you get.

When you’re learning, you expect correction. You know you don’t know everything, so someone telling you to change something doesn’t necessarily feel personal.

Then you start getting better. You win some. People compliment your riding. You figure out what works for you.

And suddenly it gets a little easier to only listen to the opinions you agree with.

But getting better at something doesn’t mean you eventually graduate from needing outside eyes. If anything, the details get smaller and harder to recognize yourself.

Being coachable doesn’t mean blindly taking every piece of advice somebody gives you. It means having people you trust enough to tell you what you NEED to hear instead of what feels good to hear — and having enough confidence in yourself to listen without immediately getting defensive.

The goal isn’t to reach a level where nobody can correct you.

The goal is to reach a level where you’re experienced enough to know which corrections are worth listening to.

Do you think people become more coachable with experience — or less?

I think there’s a big difference between being coachable and being easily influenced.Being coachable means you can liste...
08/30/2026

I think there’s a big difference between being coachable and being easily influenced.

Being coachable means you can listen, ask questions, take constructive criticism and apply something that makes sense for you and your horse.

Being easily influenced means changing your entire program every time somebody with a fast horse tells you what THEY do.

New bit this week.

Different feed next month.

New exercise because you watched somebody warming up.

Change your approach because of one bad run.

Then change it again because somebody else gave you different advice.

There is SO much information available to us now, and that can be an incredible thing. We have access to great trainers, veterinarians, farriers, nutrition information, videos and educational content that people would’ve killed to have years ago.

But at some point you also have to develop your own feel.

Especially as a competitor.

Listen to people you respect. Keep learning. Ask for help when you need it. Be willing to admit when something you’re doing isn’t working.

But also learn your horses well enough to know when something DOES work — even if somebody else would do it differently.

The goal shouldn’t be to have enough confidence that you never take advice.

It should be to have enough knowledge that you can tell which advice actually applies to the horse underneath you.

Do you think social media has made riders MORE educated… or just more likely to second-guess themselves?



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08/30/2026

Sunday funday, cleaning the trailer, doing water, w**d eating - the work never ends on the ranch & we love it!

I think one of the hardest parts about having multiple goals in this industry is accepting that they don’t always cooper...
08/30/2026

I think one of the hardest parts about having multiple goals in this industry is accepting that they don’t always cooperate with each other.

I want to rodeo. I want to futurity. I want to go to the big super shows. I want to keep developing my own young horses. I have training horses that deserve the same consistency whether I competed the night before or not. And somewhere in the schedule, I’d also like enough sleep to actually function like a normal human.

The problem is that every goal has a different demand.

Rodeoing can mean driving through the night, running on whatever sleep you can get and being right back to work the next morning.

Futurity horses need consistency. You can’t just disappear for a week every time there’s somewhere else you want to enter and expect a young horse’s program to stay exactly where you left it.

Super shows require days away from home, but they’re also opportunities to run against great competition, make substantial money and see exactly where your horses stack up.

Then there’s the actual business that makes chasing those goals possible. Training horses still need ridden. Lessons still need taught. Horses need fed and cared for. Clients deserve communication. The barn doesn’t magically shut down because there’s a rodeo three states away.

And then there’s the part we probably ignore the most: ourselves.

You can only run on four hours of sleep, gas-station food and caffeine for so long before your riding, decision-making and patience start paying the price.

So I’m learning that chasing everything doesn’t mean doing everything, every week.

Sometimes rodeo gets the priority. Sometimes a futurity horse needs me home. Sometimes the right super show is worth skipping something else. Sometimes staying home, riding my horses and getting eight hours of sleep is probably the most productive decision I could make.

I don’t think balance in this industry means everything gets equal attention.

I think it means knowing what needs the MOST attention right now without forgetting where you ultimately want to go.

For those trying to compete at a high level while also running a horse business — how do you decide what gets the yes and what gets the no?

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