Tom thinks barrel racing has improved a lot over the years. The reason that barrel racing is so much better now is because of the Division concept. Nothing has done more for the sport, it's helped everyone; The trainers, the promoters, the tack and trailer business, the demand for barrel horses, and it has given US, the barrel racers, So many opportunities to run at quality shows. I'd also like to say that thanks to the early pioneers of the Sport...Martha Josey... The Green Brothers...... Bobby Stivers (just to name a few) for helping make Barrel racing what it is today. We as barrel races owe them a lot. They have taken the sport to a whole new level.
His most
memorable event was winning the Ultra Pad in Memphis, Tennessee in 2000.
His current horse is Honeysuckle Sea. "Honey" is out of Paradise Sea (who is out
of Northern Sea) and by Maudie's Joak (3 time NFR World Champion Barrel Horse). Tom rode
Honeys' dam Paradise Sea for six years, but had to put her down at
the age of sixteen when she broke a leg. Honey, he says, was "almost like
riding a ghost." She was very similar to her mother and he surely has a soft
spot for her.
Tom currently rides in "NBHA, IBRA, and just about everything out there. I just
love to barrel race." His favorite places to race are the
Midwest and the South. He says the South is great for its atmosphere, the
competition, and all the good horses.
Being semi-professional, Tom still spends six months a year at the steel mill
where he has worked for seventeen years and has been
taking a six-month voluntary layoff for a couple of years. He also runs the
family trust and that includes a couple of farms he
manages.
For anyone who hasn't met Tom: Get to know him - he's proof that barrel racers
are the nicest people.