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Pursuing Barrel Racing!

2650 Views 28 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  MacabreMikolaj, 
free_sprtd
I am so excited to be finally in a direction of a sport. I am working with a trainer to get me up to par to compete in barrels. I am so excited! There is so much I need to work on, but I suppose I can't expect it all to come together in 2 lessons :p. Anyone have any tips/suggestions, things to remember or watch out for? I am a tall girl and I know that can work against me, and at the moment I have octopus arms lol, I need to control 'em. Anywho, I'm stoked!
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free_sprtd
Paintspwn thank you for the advice! I am more focused on control and leg cues, pocket distance, and the horses body language than the time I get. If I learn to cue my horse at the right time, not have him bog out around the turn, and we both have heart, then that's all I care about :).

thank you all for the advice! That pants thing is a good point! I'll be sure to remember that~
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free_sprtd
MacabreMikolaj said:
Forgive me for being confused, but was that meant as a joke? :-| Or did I take it in the wrong context? Because that's possibly the worst advice I've ever heard in my life. I'm pretty sure it's doing that that creates the monstrosity of a barrel horse we see competeing nowdays - just hurl him at a pattern with no training and hope for the best!

I'm not calling you down, just whatever trainer said that either needs a kick in the pants or needs to learn how to re-word his statements!
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I didn't want to be mean, but I was wondering the same thing. But that's how most barrel racers have their training.
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PaintsPwn
MacabreMikolaj, just like in any sport - if you watch it, and you do it enough, you get better at it. Don't get me wrong, he's not saying "Go out there and be an idiot!" No, there's too much work to be done at home, and a horse who's been out in the pasture used for light riding isn't going to run a good set anyway.

But the only way to track your progress is to go out and get timed, even you just trot or lope the pattern. It gets you and your horse out there to get use to the possible chaos of barrel racing horses.

Speaking of which, it's probably a good idea to park out by yourself at shows. I'm just sayin', some of those horses are crazy.
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kevinshorses
MacabreMikolaj said:
Forgive me for being confused, but was that meant as a joke? :-| Or did I take it in the wrong context? Because that's possibly the worst advice I've ever heard in my life. I'm pretty sure it's doing that that creates the monstrosity of a barrel horse we see competeing nowdays - just hurl him at a pattern with no training and hope for the best!

I'm not calling you down, just whatever trainer said that either needs a kick in the pants or needs to learn how to re-word his statements!
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I think he was talking about making better barrel racers not better barrel horses. Big difference there.
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kevinshorses
PaintsPwn said:
Speaking of which, it's probably a good idea to park out by yourself at shows. I'm just sayin', some of those horses are crazy.
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That is good advice for any competitive riding.
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MacabreMikolaj
PaintsPWN - Ok, I think that was my problem then, the guy needs to learn how to word his statements better. We have enough idiots in barrel racing without them being encouraged to "just go out and run the pattern!" Because unfortunately, we have way to many people with the mentality of "I paid to compete, we're going to try and win damn it!"

But I agree, it's a good method IF you've spent time at home developing a good reining type horse. Once you have that foundation, showing them a pattern shouldn't matter, because they're fine tuned to listen to your aids. I'm just having nightmares of these kids careening around a pattern on an out of control horse because not only does it not know the pattern, it's never had a proper foundation either.

In these cases, it's worth your while to look up some fun gymkhana shows in the area. Little cheap events where you can school for very little money and get your horse used to the atmosphere, and get yourself timed before moving up to actual ladies barrel racing events. In my area, when we hit the gymkhana in Morris, I actually saw several competitors cross entering from gymkhana barrels to the actual main stadium barrel racing. Some were annoyed, but I thought it was a great chance to time yourself against people who ARE good enough to be winning the main events. When you pay $3 for a class, does it really matter if you lose as long as you've walked away with knowledge?!
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free_sprtd
kevinshorses said:
I think he was talking about making better barrel racers not better barrel horses. Big difference there.
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That makes more sense thanks for the clarification.

Macabre-You have great advice, I take it all to heart and will keep it in mind. I went into my lesson today with much more knowledge than I had.
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MacabreMikolaj said:
But I agree, it's a good method IF you've spent time at home developing a good reining type horse. Once you have that foundation, showing them a pattern shouldn't matter, because they're fine tuned to listen to your aids.
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What's funny about this? My Dad used to show AQHA from the 70s to the early 90s. He was at the world show or whatever it is one year and they asked if he had a horse that could show in the barrels just to fill up a class. Apparently, the bigger the class, the more points are awarded or something. I am not sure how the whole show thing works. Anyway, he agreed and entered a little mare named Showboy's Graydoll that he was showing in the junior reining and team roping. In a class of 20 at the world show, he took 3rd on a horse that had never run the pattern in her life. IMHO, that's what a person should aim for, a horse that you can use for trails or working cattle one day and then compete on and win the next day.
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MacabreMikolaj
That's an awesome story smrobs, and exactly exactly what people should be aiming for. With what barrel racing has become, a finely tuned reining horse should realistically have no problems entering that ring and making them all eat dust just because a solid foundation is WAY more important then drilling a pattern into a horses head.

It's the same as when me and Shay-la competed in the gymkhana. We did it strictly for fun, our horses had zero gymkhana training and we were competeing against regional champion barrel racers. I guess that should have been my first clue that we'd do well :lol: The ONLY event those horses could actually do was barrel racing. They lost their damn minds so badly coming into that ring, they were completely uncontrollable. They couldn't understand where the hell the pattern was, and why the rider was asking them to STOP at a barrel (flag race). I was flabbergasted.

Me and Shay-la, and a couple junior riders who rode English were about the only ones who could control our animals. We were the only ones who plodded quietly into the ring and waited for the cue. We were the only ones who didn't have to deal with rearing and bucking and balking and gaping jaws from having a death grip on the reins.

After watching that, I vow I will never seriously barrel race a horse without working with a reining trainer first. I will never seriously barrel race a horse without working different disciplines as well. I will never let my horse walk through that gate on his hind legs and then race him anyways!
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