Barrel Question

Cheyenne, my mare runs nice patters most of the time. But if we go somewhere and the pattern is kinda small and close, she kinda loses interest and won't run her best... it's like she gets bored...any tips?

If you normally run regulation patterns, and then you go to small shows that sometimes don't keep regulation lengths, there is a chance that your horse knows this, and so she doesn't have as much "go". or she might not be able to start/stop that fast....so she just doesn't move as quickly.

try running smaller patterns at home and see if she improves.

Well said. I don't know that much, but i would say she might feel cramped, and therefore doesn't go all out. My college friend said her horse is like that, and races the best in a certain arena, due to it's size, and doesn't do well in smaller places.

But running smaller patterns might help, don't push her to hard. There was this woman who was lungeing her horse in a pen that was too small, and one day, he went bonkers and tore the metal panels down to get out :/

Sometimes horses just like to run in larger arenas because it's big, open, and clear. If they always run anyway, they want to get up and go even more. My gelding gets really excited in larger arenas than he does in the smaller ones.

A good barrel horse can run any size of pattern, large or small.

I agree with justsam......work on the smaller size pattern at home and continue doing it with slow work, keep her mind on that pattern, if she is losing interest make her listen to you. Make her trot or lope around a barrel to get her focused once again, then try the pattern again.

The best thing to get a horse focused at a show or rodeo is alot of walking, and if they have a warm up ring, then warm her up doing figure 8s, and serpentines

i have the same problem but i think i know what causes it because acouple of weeks ago i was practice with a small pattern and i didn't have shut down time and he came down hard on me and now my horse wont run full out unless he has shut down time. Kansas barrel racer i dont know what you would consider a good barrel horse but i would consider my horse pretty good even though he just started last year i bought him off a guy out west as a NCHA horse and he is awesome at cutting but it seems like because he is soo good that what i have the money to compete with him in bores him so i just started doing some big gaming shows with him.

Buddy, A good barrel horse is throwing out consistent times while having a level head, no matter what size the arena is or how large the crowd around him is. Thats what I train horses to become, thats how my horses act.

Its been a minute since I've done any serious barrel racing... but... I would say that more exposure and more trailering to a variety of arenas and pattern sizes should help. Also, make sure you arnt PRACTICING the barrels too much, don't wear her out on them. Set up a smaller pattern at your place and work her maybe once or twice a week on it and then take her out to do some fun stuff...

buddy has his good days and his bad days though and im sure all horses do but he usually throws consistant time in whatever size but i think because of all the cow exposer he has had it think that he might think the barrels are boring. In his mind hes probly like what am i supposed to do with it, it doesn't even move!