By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

When Natalie Longshore was a senior at Callaway High School, she sat down with her guidance counselor to discuss her future.

Her response to the question concerning her career plans was probably one the counselor hadn’t heard before.

Longshore is a barrel racer, which basically involves a horse weaving its way through an obstacle course of barrels.

The rider with the fastest time wins the event.

“My counselor asked me what I wanted to do, and that’s what I told her,” said Longshore, who graduated from Callaway this spring.

Longshore envisions eventually becoming a professional at the sport and competing at the top level.

She’s off to a nice start.

Longshore has shown an acumen for the sport since taking it up earlier this year, and in October, she was the top rider in her division at the National Barrel Horse Association Georgia State Championship in Conyers.

“I’ve never won anything that big before,” she said. “I was mainly just going to get practice in, and I won.”

Longshore has been interested in horses for much of her life, and she’s been riding since 1998 when her grandparents “got me a little mule.”

It wasn’t until this summer that she got hooked on barrel racing, though.

It was a friend and fellow rider who introduced Longshore to the sport.

“I was kind of scared when she took me,” Longshore said. “But I kept doing it and I knew it’s what I wanted to do.”

Barrel racing is all about speed.

During the event, three barrels are set up, and a rider enters the arena at full speed and weaves in and out of the barrels.

The rider gets as close to the barrels as possible without knocking them over, which is a time penalty.

It’s all over in a little more than 10 seconds.

Longshore said it was the speed of the event that caused her the most concern.

“The first (tournament) I went to, people had fallen off their horses,” she said. “I thought, oh God, I’m going to fall off. Luckily, I went in there and (the horse) knew what to do.”

She said her horse C.J., which she has had for about two years, has found his niche.

“We just didn’t click at first,” she said. “He didn’t really like me. He threw me off a lot. In June when I barrel raced, we clicked. It’s like he realized that’s what I wanted to do. You can’t separate us now.”

The NBHA state championship in Conyers is by far the biggest tournament Longshore has participated in.

Longshore grew up in Hogansville, and she was raised by her grand parents, Robert Longshore and Patricia Longshore.

Robert Longshore is the pastor of The Lighthouse Church in Hogansville.

Natalie said her grand-parents have been enormously supportive, and that her parents have been there for her as well.

Her mother lives in Indiana, and her father lives in Franklin.

She lived in Indiana for awhile, but she couldn’t wait to get back home.

“There were no animals, and I’d rather be around animals than people,” she said.

Next up for Longshore will be a rodeo on Nov. 21.

That event is sponsored by the Troup County Saddle Club, which is where Longshore often rides.

“We ride over there a lot, anyway,” she said. “I’ve never done a rodeo before. That’ll be really exciting.”