Is there any typen of special training for barrel horses?

Question

Is there any typen of special training for barrel horses?

Answer 1

First off make sure your horse is sound - meaning no previous injuries to legs, shoulder, back, etc. if any injuries occurred to joints the horse will not be able to traverse the barrel course  because of tight turns as you know. The horse will favour such sore spots under pressure making turning & leaning difficult and needless to say painful ! Its not easy to get a good barrel race horse ! Then ask some one that competes in rodeo events for some pointers about the training side .

Answer 2

If you are looking to start a colt I would suggest the following: Look for something with well known running bloodlines such as Dash For Cash, Easy Jet, Dash Ta Fame,  etc in his/her 3 generation pedigree. Then look at the horses conformation. You don't want to start a colt with crooked legs. This is not to say that they could not go on to be nice horses but why start with any issues. Once you get a horse with good conformation/bloodlines you want to make sure the horse has a willing attitude to learn.  Getting your horse broke before doing any barrel work is important. Your horse should have a nice handle, be light in the face, side pass off your leg and rein, good stop, nice back and should flex from side to side with a slight touch of your rein. If you get your horse nice and broke starting them on barrels will be much easier. If your horse is not light while doing the basics I would not go any further. I do a lot of flexing from side to side while I am just sitting on my horse. Another important basic for a barrel horse is keeping an elevated shoulder while doing circles. This means if you are loping a circle to the left you want your horses nose tipped slightly to the inside of the circle and the left shoulder elevated so the horse is not leaning on your rein. I hope I actually answered your question and didn't get too far off topic.

Answer 3

They need speed and agility and balance. Other than that...regular training. Each disipline has its own special training, otherwise there wouldnt be any differences.

Answer 4

dont start them off too fast on barrels....you will ruin the horse. Train the horse the basics first, also make sure your horse knows how to neck rein. Once you both have mastered the basics....get him use to the pattern....walk him through it, after like a week of that, trot him through it, after a week of that, lope him, and then you can move up to the gallop.

do not push your horse hard because if you put barrel racing on him too fast it will ruin the training on your horse.....end each training session on a good note