Barrel <span title="Racing?????????????????????????">Racing???????????????????...</span>

Question

I have a 7yr old stud. I been training him barrels (on and off) for 6 yrs. He acts like he knows the barrels but waits til i guide him to turn. Also when we practice or for real, He want go faster then a gallop on the straight aways and on the turns he'll go into a trot.It don't matter what i do to him, thats as fast as he will go. So how can i get my horse to go faster and learn to turn the barrels without giuding him? Please help?

Answer 1

Sorry he is NOT a BARREL horse

One have him cut, then see how he is  

Answer 2

first thing QUIT RUNNING YOUR HORSE. horses learn things through repetition.  start back at the basics. trot your horse through the entire pattern until he turns on his own. do this over and over again. do NOT run him. try to keep about a 4 foot pocket around the barrel during your slow practices, so that when you really go to run, he can turn tight and you KNOW he&#039;ll be far away from the barrel just from learning to leave a pocket.

after your horse gets the idea of turning around the barrels, you can do figure 8&#039;s around the first two barrels at the canter, really work on keeping him going around the barrel, remember if you make WIDE turns and leave a big pocket, its easier for an inexperienced horse to continue cantering around the turn.keep doing the figure 8s and after a few times he should be in auto pilot mode making the turns with only a little help from you. when you run a barrel horse you ALWAYS have to keep control of them, if you just let them turn however they want, they&#039;ll usually turn into the barrel and knock it down.

here is a video of me slow working my gelding at the pattern. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufd8RQlYN...

see how wide we make our turns? you HAVE to make your turns wide until your horse KNOWS the pattern. do NOT let him run as it will only cause him to drop his shoulder into the barrel and knock it over.

if you have any other questions you can add me on myspace.

myspace.com/lindsaysmitchell