Oct. 2011
If fading in, aka slicing, stepping in, or shouldering a barrel is your problem here are some suggestions. At the first barrel; check where you are lining up. In a large pattern I would line up halfway between the first and the third barrels. On a small pattern, I would line up even with the third barrel.
If you are lining up correctly but, your horse is still slicing the barrel, do the following exercise: line up where I explained and coast your horse in a straight line to the line between the first and second barrels, stop him, back him up and pivot away from the first barrel, go back to the place where you would start your run from and do it again. Do this exercise until your horse has stopped leaning on you towards the first barrel. You can also adapt this exercise to any barrel in the pattern. Just ride up to the side of the barrel and pivot away and go back to the last barrel you were at, or the start, and do it again until he stops leaning.
You can not hold a horse off of a barrel by pulling the off rein, because it will not work. The horse will feel the pressure on the outside rein and lean into the pressure on the opposite side. Do not do this. We never ever hold our horses’s head away from the barrel.
Also, make sure the rider is not leaning in towards the barrel. Remember, if you lean going in, it will make the horse move into the barrel as he tries to get under your weight. Sometimes your horse will go to the first barrel and you will think he is getting to close but, if you lean in you will only make it worse. Be sure and ride your horse straight between the reins and straight between your legs and look at the spot you want to ride to, not the barrel. (Of course, in your run you will grab the horn with the outside hand about a stride from the barrel). If that does not work, and he needs some schooling, go to the exercise above and stop your horse along side of the barrel, take a step back and pivot in the opposite direction, go back and start over. Do this until he will ride freely to the spot you want to turn from and get on his butt, not his shoulder.
If your horse seems to get hung up behind a barrel and takes forever to turn, make sure you are not making any of the mistakes that I previously discussed. If not, make sure you are holding on to the horn long enough when you finish the turn and are headed to the next barrel, to pull yourself up. This way you won’t get thrown backwards leaving the barrel and put yourself in a bad position when you get to the next one. Again, it’s body position. When you use the saddle horn you quickly get yourself up in the saddle in a forward position, your horse will drive away form the barrel harder and faster.
Another cause of a slow turn, is pulling too much on the inside rein. This will cause your horse to swing his rear end around and lose time.
You can also try working your horse in a short, stiff bit (not jointed or broken in the middle) for quicker and snappier turns. Also, make sure you are not getting your hand slid to far down on the inside rein. Bend is good but, too much bend can cause you to lose snappishness. You need a happy medium on bend and you need to realize when your horse is too bent or too stiff.
Another horse problem, that will slow down your barrel turn, is dropping down in the front and not using the rear end enough. I like to get my horse to working on his rear end by taking him off the barrel pattern and walking, trotting, loping. Whoa-stop roll him over his hocks and get him working on his hindquarters. You can use a fence for this exercise.
This exercise should make your horse quicker around the barrels. Ride to the back side of the barrel and ask your horse for a complete 360 degree pivot and turn and then keep going on around the barrel. You want to start out easy at a walk, making sure the horse is doing it correctly and then speed up to a jog.
Remember, barrel racing is supposed to be fun!
