Okay, I'll start by explain my first problem....the dreaded first barrel. =p My mare has REALLY improved over the past 3 years (she had a foal in this time and was off for a while) on her 2nd and 3rd barrels. I am sure this is partly because I have also improved through lots and lots of hard work. But my first barrel is still bugging me to death!! Coming in the gate if I let her go, she wants to run straight at the barrel, with absolutely no pocket. I have to fight her to make her arch around it like she should. Well my fighting with her throws her off on her turn and makes her have to turn waaaaay wider going into the second. I can barely get her lined up and ready to turn for the second in time. I'm not sure what I can do to correct this. I've practiced the pattern backwards, made her turn the opposite direction at every barrel, turned every barrel twice.... it seems like I'm missing something though. So any advice on that would be GREATLY appreciated!!! =]


Okay, second problem. I am sure EVERYONE is having this problem right now. Money..... need I say more? I am currently attending 2 separate colleges. One is online and one I commute to daily. It is 45 minutes away. So my entire paycheck (little as it is) goes almost completely towards putting gas in my car. Luckily my parents help me out when I need it, but I owe them at this point. Especially since my car broke down and is going to be at LEAST $500 to fix. I'm just wondering what everyone does for extra money??? I have ways of getting extra money through my litters of puppies, but none of my dogs have been bred in the past year or so, so they're not helping me much at this point. Another thing I do is build websites, but usually only for family/friends, so this doesn't bring in as much as it should be because I try to charge them as LITTLE as possible.

Does anyone have any luck buying/selling tack at local shows or on Ebay? Could I get some different wholesale dealers to order from that are good? I've wanted to get into this for a while, but I guess I just never got around to it. I am sure I could borrow the money from my parents to get myself started.

Any other ideas would be great, too. I just need enough money to support my habit (barrel racing at least 2 weekends a month).

Thanks guys!!!!

Bump!!

This is what I try to do, being alot of people are looking for good broke horses that they can put their kids on or their husbands, I find a nice cheap horse that needs a home, I take it for a while train him/her, or ride it wich ever it needs, until I get it to the point were just about anyone can ride it, it might take anywere from a month or more, but after I get it to that point I sell it, the best ones to get are geldings, becouase they sell the best, but its so easy right now to find a horse that really needs a home, help make it to be a good horse some one can trust, then give him a good home. Just an ideah this is what I have been doing, people are very happy with the ones I have sold. Thats basicly what I do, I work part time in the mornning with my parents, I have a 7 month old, and I am still barrel racing, and trying to squize time to train horses yet, that is also what else I do is I take other peoples horses and train them, I have been doing this for a few years now, but I only take 1 or 2 in the entire summer so I don't loose focus on my horses. Thats were I get my money to do my hobby. Good Luck.

RODEO THE ULTIMATE HIGH, DID U GET ANY ANSWERS TO YOUR FIRST BARREL PROBLEM? I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AND IT IS REALLY GETTING ME DOWN....CAN U HELP ME WITH ANY ANSWERS THAT U MAY HAVE GOTTEN???THANKS PAT.HALL@MT.COM

It sound like she is starting to anticipate, with my experience, I have a mare that will do the same thing, but if I hold her back it messes everything up. If she sees the barrel first before we take off she wants to go straight to it. I have to let her go and focus on not looking at the barrel. Pick a spot down from the 1st barrel and drive to it. She is very ratee. So I have to get past it before I ask her to turn. You can also try putting a tire or cones up on the pocket side to practice with. A tire is a good amount of space and it will, most of the time, make them look at where there going and make her make a pocket. She could also be changing her style of turning, it may be more comfortable for her to turn that way, with no pocket. You will have to judge that yourself and you may have to make a change yourself. Also try to make sure to run, or focus more on running more down the center or more to the left side of the alley way. Put some shin guards on and try running her in and not holding her back and trust her to turn and really work on rating her if she's running pass it. She may have a problem with her hocks, or feet, shoulder, and be sore in her back, if you haven't already had that checked you may need to do that because if she is sore for whatever reason it will not get any better just worse until you get it fixed. My mare also had an ovary problem and was very sore in her back and it took a while to figure out what was wrong because I also have a money problem. Not enough of it. lol.. I have 6 horses on one person income and it's not easy at all. Selling tack might work out but my opinion would be to start out selling it from your trailer, little things that people might need at a show. Things that break or they loss and work up to what sells best. Once people know that your selling it they will start looking for you at shows. You can see my mare run on youtube.com.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_CONXTTUvQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH2HNmHK268
She's the 2nd one that runs, not the best we almost wreck on one and hit barrels on the one but she is really nice and I need to put some of my good runs on there.........
Good luck and I hope things work out......

if it were me i would start all over completely.go back 2 basics.put her in a snaffle."Reteach" all the stuff that she needs 2 know like flexing, giving, turning, yielding,lead changes, etc...............
i had 2 do that with my 12yrd paint horse and now he's just the awesomest horse EVER!!!


LUV YA'!!!!!!!!
KEEP POSTING!!!ALWAYS!!!!!

Alright. If at one point all her barrels had problems I think you should start doing A LOT of ground work and reteach her. Heres How, I would start off by getting her to flex and break at the poll. Then from there start at a walk and approach each barrel, go to the point where you would start rating for your turn, stop your horse make her take a few steps back and then continue your turn but widen it when you are at a walk. Then do the same at a trot and canter but be more realistic with the distance from your barrels. The next thing to consider is do you have the right bit, Molly Powell makes a GREAT long shank combination bit that is specially for horses with first barrel problems, I use it on my horse and I absolutely LOVE it, it gives me A LOT of rate and control in my turns, clearly makes a difference because this is in fact the same way my horse used to be. Now you should start running her once she has perfected these exersizes, try to get her to tip her nose on the way to the first, instead of rushing her around the barrels really sit down in your saddle and concentrate on perfection of the turn, make sure you look either through your horses ears or at your axis points and not at the second barrel until you have completely finished your turn. My last suggestion is to keep her quiet before your runs, get on her and work her, walk trot canter warmup routine, and then tie her up and a few riders before you get on her and sit away from any commotion to keep her from being nervous.

Hope this helps:)

Good points above. IMO, you need to work on your approach and also getting that horse to wait on you, if she is really chargy at the gate you want to use your inside rein and leg and keep the body arched, moving her as for over in the alley as you can. If you take a right first barrel than keep her arced and moving to the left of the alley. When you start your run, run up the arena like you are heading to the third barrel, just to the right of it. Then you wont be coming into that barrel on a diagonal line, making it easier to drop that shoulder and closing in the barrel ahead of the pocket. Getting this form will make the turn easier on your mare and get you coming out of it tight on the back side.

In practice work, slow lope at the mouth of the arena in right circles if you are running to the right barrel first, lope until your horses settles, keeping the nose in and the shoulder up. Go to the right of the arena and do a circle as you would before you make a run, if the horses stiffens, gets chargy as you head up the center of the arena, correct the horses response by going back into the circle, keep doing this until you can comfortably lope up the center of the arena to your pocket. This may take a few sessions. My rule of thumb at home for a practice pattern, never let the horse go to the pattern until it is ready. Stiff, chargy, dropping the shoulder, anticipating the approach, anythin that isn't soft, supple and correct gets corrected and put back into that slow working circle until they are listining and supple. If you can accomplish this at home, picking up the inside rein and using inside leg will get your horse over in the alley and waiting on you more to line up and go to make the run.

(this works well for me, I use the same rule on every horse I ride, whether its in training or its an older finished horse needing some tunning.)

You will never go wrong in going back to basics with your horse. I would start by practicing with just one barrel, making large circles around it and gradually getting closer, using your inside leg to keep your horse off the barrel, turning him around your leg, so to speak. When I practice the whole pattern, I rarely just blast my way through it, I lope the pattern, and usually circle the barrels more than once. My horse needs to be reminded to keep moving around the barrels, so I usually circle them wide, and at least twice. Then when you go to add speed, your horse won't be so likely to try and mow down the first barrel. You also could try loping high into the first barrel, stopping and doing a 360, then moving on to the rest of the pattern. You have to find something that works for you and your horse. I wish you luck, and I hope that I gave you some ideas that work for you!!!!!!!!