ProFile: Sharin Hall

From RFD-TV’s The American, to the Diamonds & Dirt Barrel Horse Classic, barrel racer and trainer, Sharin Hall from Kingston, Okla., has burst into the spotlight, but she’s by no means a stranger to the barrel pen. As a lifelong competitor, Sharin, originally from Sunbury, Ohio, was born to turn three barrels. Her father, Jackson Hall, was a barrel horse trainer. Sharin’s mom was also into horses, so it was only natural their daughter would saddle up as quick as she could.
Every cowgirl has that one horse who really lights the fire, and for Sharin, that horse was T’ Heck, a winning barrel horse of her father’s. She was 8 years old when she started running barrels on the horse. “I won on him until I was 13. I basically learned how to ride and sit right on a horse, and then when I was 16 my mom bought my first horse to train for myself,” Sharin said.
Since that first training project, Sharin has learned how to help shape different horses, while allowing for their individuality, and she’s made a career out of the skill. “I’ve learned that not every horse is the same, and you have to adapt sometimes to their style and their way of doing things, all the while asking for what I want.”
Initially, Sharin’s grandmother stressed a college education, but Sharin quickly realized that a 9-5 desk job wouldn’t be something she could do long term, so she practiced cosmetology at first. “I did that for 10 years and rode my own horses, and then when I was 28 I got a phone call and got a job offer in Oklahoma training horses, so I took the job,” she said, eventually branching out into her own full time training business that’s still thriving today.
It’s a profession where the biggest challenges are, in some ways, also the rewards. “The challenge has been when you pour your heart and soul and everything you have into a horse and develop it into a winner, and it gets sold or it goes back home, you separate from something that you love and created into a winner,” she said but added, “I love it though when they go on to win, that is probably the most satisfying thing that I experience in what I do.”
Over the years, in addition to her training program, Sharin has competed in multiple futurities and pro-rodeos. She has a strong faith in God, and remains close to her family. Sadly, Sharin’s father passed away in December of 2011.
In 2013 she organized an annual memorial barrel race in Ardmore, Okla., in his honor.
To balance the difficulties of saying goodbye to horses she’s trained, Sharin is starting to ride more of her own horses these days, such as the breakout star of the Diamonds and Dirt, a mare named Bulleva Sharin co-owns with attorney Brad Oesch. They bought Bulleva in Oklahoma City. It didn’t hurt that the Bully Bullion breeding in the mare appealed to Sharin. “I picked her and just loved the way she felt, it was a good fit. We’ve just gotten better and she’s gotten better and more confident to the point of winning the slot race. It was my first slot win. It was really special to be on something I part owned, and I just feel very blessed,” Sharin said of her win at Diamonds & Dirt, where she and Bulleva took home over $110,000.
This year also brought success when it came to RFD-TV’s The American. Sharin, riding a client’s horse, Streaking Ta Fame, whom she trained, was the only qualifier to make the final-four in the Shoot Out round, where she ended up third. In the long go, she ran the second fastest time of the entire rodeo against the world’s fiercest competition.
“It’s really a lifetime experience. I think that the American is a golden opportunity for someone who is not able to be on the road and rodeo all year. It’s a great opportunity to be able to run at that money,” she said.
Sharin plans to continue to rodeo on some of her mares and young horses this year, as well as continue down the futurity trail with Bulleva.
It’s that don’t stop attitude that embodies Sharin, explained her apprentice Stevie Ann Tucek, who previously traveled and trained with NFR barrel racer June Holeman and chronicled her tales of inspiration for the rodeo world.
Now, Stevie is finding inspiration in Sharin. “Sharin has amazing will power and drive and gives 110 percent all the time. I believe her having this mindset, faith, and hard non-stop 18-hour days, is what has gotten her to where she is, and where she is going.” Stevie said and added, “She is a great teacher and has passed down some of her techniques that I will cherish and apply in my career for a lifetime. She has a gift, and she knows what she wants from life: to live it to the fullest, and make herself better each day. We could always use more Sharin Halls in this field.”
And if Sharin has anything to do with it, that field is only going to get faster.