by: Lyndee Stairs, Jan. 2012
After many successful years barrel racing, I have found that the basics — loping perfect circles, exercising speed control, stopping softly without pulling, changing leads and backing up properly — cannot be overlooked.
Backing up properly is extremely important. When doing so, your horse will be in the bridle responding to light pressure and will be loose and relaxed in the hip.
Barrel horses also need to be able to walk, trot and lope perfect circles. You are not just loping a circle, you are teaching a horse to drive his hips up underneath him and be colllected. We teach a horse speed control (increasing and decreasing speed with light pressure) while loping a circle. If a horse makes a mistake, nine times out of ten it starts in the hindquarters. Over time it makes its way through the ribs to the shoulder and eventually to the face of the horse.
At that point people often try to fix the problem with tie downs, bonnets, more severe bits, etc., all in an attempt to regain control. These measures do not fix the problem. Don’t get me wrong, I am not perfect. I have tried to do it this way myself in the past. This is how I know. Figure out what your horse is doing wrong and then fix the problem, don’t just put a big bandage on it.
If a horse is running through the bit and is not giving to pressure he will pull on you and shoulder a barrel. He has to slow down (collect his stride) before he can turn the barrel. If the barrel horse tries to turn without this collection he will shoulder or slice the barrel and go past it. A barrel horse has to get on his hind end and not on his shoulder in order to turn well.
I want my horses to give in the face, poll, shoulders, ribs and hips and remain relaxed and moving off leg and rein pressure correctly. The path to winning and staying solid is to teach your horse to do all of this while staying soft and relaxed. The more relaxed a horse is, the easier it is for him to really stride out and cover more ground in less time. When a horse gets up tight he cannot do anything very effectively or quickly, and because barrel racing is timed in hundredths and thousandths of a second, every inch counts.
Until next time, just enjoy the process.
