How this 14-year-old plans to compete in the barrel racing world finals on a horse she’s never ridden

Racing around the backyard on a horse called Storm is Tyler Morton’s after-school sport.

The 14-year-old sneaks out of the family classroom on a cattle station in western Queensland and into her barrel-racing arena.

Sometimes, her two sisters will join her for some friendly competition.

“Ever since we were little, we’ve been thrown on horses,” Tyler said.

Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider run a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels.

The fastest time wins and can be determined by just thousandths of a second.

While her parents are seasoned horse riders, barrel racing is a skill that Tyler taught herself through hours of watching YouTube videos — sometimes when she was meant to be in her distance education classes.

“I started googling videos, how the best way was to get your horse to be able to do it.

“Then I just went out in the backyard and practised.”

Tyler’s hard work has paid off and next month she is to compete in the United States at the World Junior High School Rodeo Finals.

She’s one of 25 Australian teenagers who will go up against more than 1,000 competitors.

Hire a horse, hope for the best

The Mortons live and work on Baratria Station, more than an hour away from the closest outback town.

Tyler, Storm and her family have travelled to rodeo events in Queensland and New South Wales, sometimes journeying for days to get to competitions.

But taking a horse to America is too expensive, so Tyler will have to leave Storm behind and race with one she’s never ridden before.

“It’s nerve-wracking,” she laughed.

“There’s kids that are already in America, they know their horse, they know everything that’s going to happen.”

Tyler will be scouting for a horse that “knows how to turn tight and has a lot of power and speed” — the markers of a good barrel racer.

‘Horses can have a bad day’

Her mum, Meg Morton, said she would be “nervous as heck”.

“You just want the horse to perform for them because like anything the horses can have a bad day or moment — or make a wrong choice. So can the rider,” she said.

“Even if she doesn’t win, she can walk away and say I did it on my own merit and I got there myself.

Residents in the surrounding towns of Longreach and Winton have donated to a fundraising campaign the Mortons started for Tyler’s expenses.

“Everyone we talk to or run into are just so excited for Tyler … and to have someone out here in the outback that’s going to go over there to represent Australia,” Ms Morton said.

Racing for a living

Tyler wants to go to a rodeo college in America after she finishes school and hopes to make a living from racing.

“You have got to be good and go to rodeos every single weekend … if you’re good enough, you’ll be winning and the money they have there, you can live off,” she said.

Her parents are supportive.

“It’s daunting because obviously we would miss our girl if she moved overseas but you’ve got to follow your dreams,” Ms Morton said.