It's Tradition
Rodeo was created to celebrate and challenge the best ropers and riders who lived out on the range. It's a very traditional part of America that has transformed into entertainment with the biggest show obviously being the National Finals Rodeo. Some days though, when I walk into an arena I think to myself... "Really, they don't have a timer display?" or "Why is the payout taking so long, isn't is automated?". Then I remember that rodeo is one of those things that is a bit behind the times, and it doesn't really bother people too often. But what I keep in mind is that this same answer says "OPPORTUNITY" all over it.
Ghost Videos are one of the small changes that could make a huge break in the barrel racing world. If we are able to better analyze a run and perfect the muscle memory of running our horses faster than ever before, we are going to see people out perform each other faster. We are already breeding faster horses, now we can see a step by step comparison to some of the fastest riders in the world and see where we are losing time.
Imagine this: We set up the NFR pattern at an arena and set up the ghosting videos. We run the pattern a few times and take the footage and compare it to Hailey Kinsel. Now we will never be Hailey and Sister, but what we can do is observe our own horses strengths against the winners strengths. Maybe Sister is faster around the barrels vs between them or vise versa... now we have something to work with. Using this technology allows us to view our horses strengths so we can put our horses in the best situation to win. Now imagine being someone like Hailey Kinsel and running this formula before each race. Knowing the tiny mistakes or body placements we made that we can improve upon gives Barrel Racing an opportunity to take us to the next level of riding.