BARREL RACING? help?

Question

what are realy good exercizes for barrel racing.

Answer 1

Set up cones in a 3x3; equal spaced.

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Go in straight turn left around the cone; which should bring you back facing a cone across the square.

Then straigh to the cone straight in front and turn right      

In the end you will turn left around the middle cone & right around the end cones.  

This helps to control the shoulder.

         -    ll

         -    V         >   v

        O  v O   ^  O v

     v  <  v    <      <

     v O  v O   ^  O

      >   >     >     > v

        O v   O  ^  O v

__>   >  ^ ^ < <

    

Also do bending. Start on ground. with lead rope and halter. take lead rope are start near the head and run hand up lead rope up to withers. Make sure the line is tight. Hold is untl the horse turns his head in and holds it there for seconds. Release and praise. Do it on the other side.

Do it riding too. Start near the bit and slowly/ lightly pull back to your jean seam.

To help the horse learn the pattern. Walk the pattern.  AGAIN and AGAIN.  Make sure you go VERY wide and come in close but not hitting the barrel.

Then trot around a barrel but turn the going around into a circlish turn. Then head to the next one. Do that for all.

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Then do the same same thing at a canter.

Slowly make the circles smaller around the turns.  

Also train the horse to gallop at a certain noise. So the the horse will learn to GO when you make that noise.

Answer 2

Repetition is the key. Just work your horse on the pattern. Bending and flexing are also helpful!

Good Luck

Answer 3

A LOT of uniform circles to each side. Stopping exercises that teach your horse rate and that when you sit in the saddle you are wanting to slow down and the horse acts accordingly. Flexing their heads from side to side to develop a lot of "rib" which means they bend at the rib and not the neck when you're going around barrels. Make sure your horse doesn't start "shouldering in" to barrels which means that they are bending at the rib rather than the neck. A great DVD for you to get would be Clinton Anderson and Sherri Curvi's Barrel Racing success DVD if you need some good exercises. You can find them half price on ebay. Hope that helps!

Answer 4

For horse or rider?

Horse:

Flexing. A barrel horse need to be able to flex. Bending necks and riding circles helps.

Rider:

Basically, just be in shape. You need to be able to help your horse around the barrel.