This seems pretty obvious when you look at the picture, but this can happen really easily, even to experienced racers. Check your own tracks to make sure you aren’t taking extra steps on the way to your first barrel. The tracks didn’t show up as great in the picture (and the curve looks more exaggerated than in person) but the purple line shows how the rider circled around the end of the arena and let the horse push his shoulder out around the corner and ended up approaching the first barrel wider than needed. The green line shows a potential correction. The pink x shows how with both approaches we are aiming and entering the barrel at the same spot. If your horse can handle a less “swoopy” approach, this would be an area to shave some time off the clock. Less strides = less time = bigger paycheck.