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Critique me(:

6K views 45 replies 21 participants last post by  BarrelRacer23 
#1 ·
Here are some pictures, of me and my 3 year old mare at her 5th show in her life.:)







And here's a video of a run on speed barrels I did about two days ago. (Sorry it's not the best)



Feel free to tear me apart, I don't get offended easily. I'd like all the help I can get! I also have a question, my mare is SO ratey that I have to usually whip her twice right before the barrel, is there any way I could get her more freed up?
 
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#2 ·
you should NOT be running a 3 year old like that. That is my critique. Your going to ruin her before she's even done growing. Gah!!!
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#12 ·
If I don't whip her at the canter she'll try to cut the turn instead of taking the extra step around. It has nothing to to with asking for speed. I don't want to get her un the habit of cutting the turn and knocking barrels when I actually do start running her. If I was asking for speed I'd tap her between barrels and at the beginning of the run.
 
#15 · (Edited)
agreed, that is going at YOUR speed not hers. If your "legs just don't do the trick" find somebody who can actually ride her and won't ruin this poor girl before she 15. and yes running her a few ties COULD ruin her her joints and ligaments aren't done goring and she could easily blow one and if that happens she's done. I pity your horse. Don't make an innocent animal suffer because you're impatient.
 
#17 ·
I'm sorry I want my horse to have a solid canter on the barrels beer fore she starts running? I don't think you guys understand what I'm talking about. I'll get a video tomorrow of her working to show you. I'm not ruining this horse, I'm making her listen at the canter.
 
#20 ·
I'm in the "don't run her" bandwagon.. I'm one of those people that thinks you really shouldn't be doing ANYTHING somewhat hard on a horse till they're 4, and introducing whatever more strenuous work to them when they're 5. I know one jumper who, at only 5 years old, has bad arthritis. He's been jumped since before he was 4, which, as has already been said, is just as hard on them as barrels.
 
#21 ·
OK, folks. She understands that we don't approve of working such a young horse. We don't need to go on about this.

Now, if some of our barrel racers can get beyond this and offer some position/tack/turn advice, we may bring something positive away from this.

Please, let's not belabor the point that has been made so that we lose a new member who can really benefit from the good advice on this forum!!
 
#22 ·
Alright.

She is only 3.

So, put a snaffle back in her mouth, put away the barrels, hang up the whip, and go back to dry work. You can say its all perfect and good, but she's 3, if you think she is perfect, there is going to be holes that show up later as she would have been pushed too far for her age and too quickly.

What she needs is some nice light miles, trails in particular. Go out in a field and work on body control, moving the hip and shoulder independently, softness throughout the body, get her working off of your seat more than anything else, teach her how to leg yeild, side pass, counter arc, get her nice and soft in the bridle.
Stay at a walk or a trot.
You can also work on loping biiiiiiiiiiig sweeping circles, picking up correct leads as you as for them, get all of her transtions nice and smooth.

Then, in Spring or so, bring out the barrels again when she is physically ready for barrel work.
 
#26 ·
I do all of that with her. If you read my replies you would see that I've only ran her a handful of times. All I ride her in is a snaffle, accept for the handful of times I've ran her. I know what I'm doing. Shes a very broke horse. Knows all of the exercises your talking about, including flying lead changes. She picks things up super fast. I'd appreciate if you'd actually read my responses instead of containing on going on about how running her is bad. I know. That's why I've only ran her a couple of times for fun. But if I canter barrels I'm going to make her do it right and not die on me. You guys seem to think she just turned 3, when if you read my replies you'd realize she's pretty much 4.
 
#23 ·
Running your girl will ruin her at this age =/ I know because my horse was worked and ran at age 4 as a barrel horse. Now my horse has an attitude issue,granted her neck has been out but she has been worked too hard too fast at that age. Even her new osteopath can tell by just looking and feeling her body.You don't want that for your mare..let her be a horse and find riding enjoyable. Your horse shouldn't be running the pattern at this age. I know three yr olds who are just being introduced to barrels and then put away and occasionally show them barrels again. You will overwork her mind.
 
#31 ·
Yes they are listening (reading) but do not agree with what you are doing. That is a very very big difference. You just don't want to hear the responses when they do not agree with you. Moral of the story, you asked for critiques, you got them. Slow down, take it easy on your very very young horse and enjoy many many years of running on sound legs. There is still much you can do with her for training that won't be so stressful on her mind and joints. It is hard to wait for such a long time to get to the goal. Running is fun but it isn't worth pushing her hard now so that she is blown and ruined for years to come. Maybe it isn't everyone else that isn't listening.

I hope that you do hang around on this forum. I believe that there are a lot of people here with a ton of experience that you could benefit from. Nothing wrong with making mistakes and learning from them. Just don't KEEP repeating them. Good luck with your horse, she is lovely.
 
#27 ·
Seriously? She just put a nice long detailed response of things you should work on and you still get an attitude. You come onto a board like this for advice, so take it. Everyone has told you their thoughts and you've been nothing but defensive, arguing with everyone. All I'm saying is just to consider doing what has been suggested and take her off barrels for a little while and work her elsewhere. You'll end up with a better, more sound horse in the long run. Barely 4 year a old is still too young to run.
 
#28 ·
Wrong forum to post on. I start all mine at 3 on barrels, slow letting them pick up the pace thselves. The majority of the barrel world does. Some are pushed to hard for futurities, but not not every one.

I'm not going to critique the video other than she handles herself well. I don't do any of the gaming events. Just barrels and poles.
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#32 ·
I honestly don't think its that bad I'm not sure why people are freaking you about. you said this was the first time you ran her which isn't really that bad. Just keep up with the work off pattern and maybe practice the pattern once a week or even once every two weeks no running just trotting, getting her to move with your leg around the barrel. maybe for the rating thing trot her past the barrel a couple of times so she doesn't think your gonna turn it and have her wait tell you give her the cue to turn (sitting in your saddle) or maybe sit a little later insted of earlier if shes really ratey. Good luck with her shes super pretty
 
#34 ·
A young horse is on the path to get ruined. Would you rather have a sound barrel horse that had to wait an extra year before running or an unsound barrel horse because you wouldn't wait a year? I had to wait 4 years before even considering putting my horse over a jump. Precautions need to be taken.

Side note: Please use proper punctuation so people have an easier time reading what you are trying to get across. Usually I wouldn't respond to posts I can't understand.

Thank you,
Kylie
 
#37 ·
smh. Some people should just stay away from horses. I refuse to start any horse other then basics and solid ground work until a SOLID 4-41/2 yrs old. Unless you want your horse to be shot by the age 15yrs old i would just slow down.. Youll get much more out of her and a much happier horse.
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#38 ·
Just be a little bit more patient and teach her some foundation for barrels. WAAAAYYYY too many talented horses get rushed and get sour, if not prematurely injured.
INSTEAD, this winter you could teach her to trot between the barrels and then walk as close as humanely possible around the barrel. Get her to understand that it is isn't the running, its the collection that enables a horse to turn REALLY sharp around the barrel, ending in a straight line to the next one, ditto, then straight to the end of the pattern.
ALSO, teach her to do barrels in BOTH directions. I commented on a Hunter thread about this: If the horse could do this without you, then we'd be training them to run patterns with a doll.
INSTEAD get her to listen to YOU, the rider, and you need to slow down.
Horses will learn a job and be like that dog that WON'T STOP BARKING bc he's learned to do it.
 
#40 ·
INSTEAD, this winter you could teach her to trot between the barrels and then walk as close as humanely possible around the barrel. Get her to understand that it is isn't the running, its the collection that enables a horse to turn REALLY sharp around the barrel, ending in a straight line to the next one, ditto, then straight to the end of the pattern.
Walking as close as humanely possible to the barrels does not teach collection and is what you DON'T want to do; especially at slower speeds. They need more room at slower speeds, otherwise when you speed it up, they've got no run to "suck in" to that barrel turn, and you end up losing all your speed.

Either way, not a good idea to walk as humanely close to the barrel as possible during the turn.
 
#39 ·
Feel free to tear me apart, I don't get offended easily. I'd like all the help I can get! I also have a question, my mare is SO ratey that I have to usually whip her twice right before the barrel, is there any way I could get her more freed up?
Ok, ok, we get that the horse shouldn't be run so young. That's one piece of advice given many times now. Albeit, OP you did say that you don't get offended and you'd like some advice, you are being given advice.

As for freeing her up, I think really working on getting her cues down to a T and really hot off your leg will help with this. Figure eights, serpentines, go all over the arena and make her react to your slightest whisper of a cue whether it be a turn, leg yield, etc. will all aid in your ultimate goal. All of those things can be accomplished and practiced at the walk and jog, though.

Good luck, she's sure a cutie.
 
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