How can I better my barrel racing skills? any tips at all?

Question

Hey I want to get more into the sport of barrel racing. I know some things like your shouldn't turn until your legs are even with the barrel.. and your should give your horse head room and put the rein high on the neck.. any other tips though? it can be any kind.. balance tips, rounding barrels, ect, anything that could improve my skills. I want to be the best rider I can be for my horse. Thanks to all

Answer 1

Slow work is the key to building a good foundation. You should always take time to walk/trot a barrel pattern and stop at the spot where you want your horse to rate the barrel (start turning). A good thing to start teaching your horse is a voice command such as " here " or "whoa" when you want him/her to rate and set to the turn which will make your horse a good, consistent runner. I use "here" as a voice command so as not to confuse my horse during a regular stop. Hope this helps you!! :)

- Brooke

Answer 2

Make sure your horse is well balanced on all fours. Too many times horses come into the barrel and putting all their weight on their inside front leg and hardly any wieght on the outside hind. THis causes a lot of damage to the front legs. If you look at magazines horses always do it and their legs are hyper extending and thats why many barrel horses don't want to enter the arena because it hurts. Most racers don't realize they are doing wrong to their horse. You need to make sure your horse uses its whole body. It needs to build strength in the stomach to lift its back and to catch to momentum to turn the barrel and let it all go to get out of the barrel. People stress on the hind end and the front end, but forget about the middle. You cant have two and forget about the third. I work on Dressage for my barrel horses and its proving to work well. I havent been doing it long but it makes complete sense (if you find a good trainer) Yes thats right I train my horse in dressage(i ride in a barrel saddle also in my lessons) to better my turns on the barrels. It teaches a horse to use its body with maximum potential. It shows the horse how to use the body as one peice. If you break the horse apart then it doesnt know how to put it together. The legs are moving but the brain says slow down. It becomes a big ol' mess. Anyway if you have any more questions just email me and ask or if you dont believe my ideas well then thats ok too. I always tell people to listen to what you learn, take what you want and see what works best. Good luck!!

Answer 3

start slow and work your way up with speed. ALWAYS look AROUND the barrel... probably one of he hardest things to do as you want to make sure you won't hit it. thing is, you just about never will hit the barrel if you look around unless you turn the horse into the barrel. you will almost always hit the barrel when you look down at it. believe me, this is the hardest thing for me. use a LOT of leg. rate not too late but not too early. run clear to the wall. don't stop kickin til the clock stops tickin. don't practice patterns every time you ride in an arena or else your horse will get burned out. do other stuff too. trail riding is great for speed event horses. get a trainer, take lessons once a week.

Answer 4

I think its very cool your barrel racing and u r open to learning. i love it - its a great sport.

wen starting off, i line up with the middle/last barrel. its good to keep your butt planted wen running to and from the barrels but u can also slightly rise over your saddle. i give my horse his head and put my hands up along his neck wen running. but wen i come to the barrel i sit back a tad, slow and straighten up. try not to pull your hand out around the top of it wen turning. instead, look btween ur horses ears where u want to go and never look directly at the barrel. wen u turn, only if u r confident should u use one hand. turn ur wrist up like ur lookin at ur finger nails wen goin around the barrel and leave the other hand with a tad bit of slack. then make sure u r only coming out 2 or 3 feet around the barrel. remember, to close to the barrel and u could knock it over but to wide and it takes more time.

its really good to teach your horse to flex, so he can better bend around the barrels. too many riders 'yank' their horses face around the barrel and dont let them finish the turns.

practice your barrel pattern at a walk trot. for extra speed mayb give and encouraging 'roll' on his side with a spur. and its best, wen practicing, not to fully run your horse on barrels. mayb once or twice but practice slow and steady.

also, body position is very important. your head weighs around 15 pounds so where u look and position yourself really makes a difference along with leg pressure and the rest of your body.

also, trotting your horse alot builds stamina and strength and supplements for their legs and tendons also do good. C ;

im sure there is more i missed and some other tips i could have added but i HIGHLY recommend looking into Charmanye James and Martha Josey.

Charmayne James is an 11 Time World Champion Barrel Racer. She has a few books and dvds out to help barrel racers. Im workin with my gelding using her methods and he is doing Great! She teaches everything from horse and rider health to correct body position and the perfect pattern.

Best Wishes & Good Luck Barrel Racing!!! : D

Answer 5

Your horse needs to be able to flex very well. Work on flexing and circles with your horse to aide his flexibility.

High hands cause a high head. I wouldn't hold my hands high on the neck. Instead, keep your reins shorter, but you hands low. I held about 2/3s of the way down my horse's neck.

On your final sprint and between barrels, you can raise out of the saddle a bit. Almost like a 2-point position. Make sure you are just lifting your rear out of the saddle and not leaning forward and throwing your horse off balance.

Around the barrels, you want to be on your behind in the saddle. Whenever you ask your horse to begin to slow for the turn, settle into the saddle. Your weight will be a cue to begin to rate for the turn.

One last tip. Going around the barrel. Drop your outside rein and use that hand to push against your saddle horn. Don't just grab ahold of it, but push against it (fingers forward). It will brace you into the saddle so you don't come out and it will also give you the proper hand to turn the barrel. You can use both hands between barrels and just drop a hand once you begin your rate.

Good luck with your training. You should do just fine.