3 Days Left!!!! If you Barrel race look at this.?

Question

Okay this Saturday im in my first barrelracing compition even thought i have been riding sience i was one Im now 13.

5 months ago i got a new horse, a line back dune gelding, i started training him barrel racing nd i think were ready.

Dose anybody have any advice for me. Thanks a lot.

please give me advice if you have any.

Answer 1

My Advice (based on my OWN experience)
Practice, practice, practice. you 2 are a team! Don't enter the arena all nervous about how you'll do, will you palce, don't hit the barrels,ect. Go in the with the thought, this is gonna be FUN! this is what I love to do! If you mess up or something,go back and finish...don't just leave the arena. All beginners are just that...Just beginning.thats why practicing is so very important. when I started, I was 11 and my horse just wasn't fast enough...As I got better, my horse couldn't keep up in time w/ the others. I had to get a faster horse which I started training immediatly, and the following summer when the shows started I finally won a ribbon!!(5th) So I guess what I'm trying to say is Don't expect to win every event every time! took me 2 yrs. to just get a placing. have fun with it. As the summer goes on and the more shows you enter, you will "feel" your strenghts and weaknesses with your horse...and work on any weaknesses! GOOD LUCK TOMORROW!!!HAVE FUN AND LET US KNOW!!

Answer 2

What always worked for me was to spend time with my horse before hand. I took about an hour to warm my horse up. I would just have him walk around the grounds for a while and talk to him and just let him relax. About a half an hour before my class was due to start, I would start to really warm him up and think of doing everything that I did at home, keeping him to a routine. When we were called in the hole, I would wait near the gates and mentally prepare myself. I focused on not hearing the times of my fellow competitors and just running the pattern and not knocking over barrels. Once I was in the arena and I let him go, everything seemed to disappear from me and my horse would run his heart out. I always managed to get perfect turns on my barrels and heading for home, all I had to do was lean over his kneck and just give him rein and let him run. My first barrel competition I placed third in. I placed fourth in pole bending that day too. The biggest thing to remember is to BREATHE! You can't concentrate properly if you don't breathe and you run the risk of passing out in the arena. Just remember that there is always another race, another chance to do better. If you get out there and you are too nervous to perform or your horse starts giving you problems, there is no shame in trotting or even walking parts of the course, even though you will be disqualified or have an extremely high time. Use this first competition as training for you and your horse. Also- dont keep running your horse on just barrels and or poles when you practice. Actually run the pattern maybe twice a week. The rest of the time, do drills in the arena that are nothing like a barrel pattern or the poles pattern and go trail riding. He needs a mental break too.

Answer 3

walk the horse around the barrels first then go to the trot then the lope and so on. when you go around the last barrel insted of going home straight go to the fence inbetween the first and third barrel so that u finish the circle -do that every 4 or 5 times on the 5th or 6th time doing it run straight when u r done with the last barrel. when u go around the barrels use ur inside hand to hold the reins and use the outside hand to hold the horn. then when u clear the barrel use both hands. always go the same direction so he/she don't get confussed. good luck this helped me drasticly. i'm now the barrel champ at my county fair.

Answer 4

Okay, i race again my friends and sometimes in competion. When i am in competion, i just think to myself,
"This is just practice but i want a new personal record."
I just think my friends ring the bell to begin like they do in my practices, i just run him and do the clover (Barrels) and i just kick, and turn. I usually win. I am not telling you to do this. Maybe you should enter a very small competion first and try this if you want. If it works, you can use it in larger competion. It helps me a lot. I have been riding since i was four and i and 12 now. It helps a lot.

Good Luck!!!!

Answer 5

It is always more important to train the horse to run a clean pattern and worry about the time later. Always run the pattern the same way.

Answer 6

Don't be too nervous, concentrate on what you're doing - not who's watching you. Don't cut the barrels too tight or too wide. You'll get the hang of it!!! Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

be safe i separted my shoulder 2 weeks a go doing reverse flags!

Answer 8

i did barrel racing when i was 6 and i won too....

Answer 9

just tell yourself it is easy & also make it look easy & it will work

Answer 10

barbarro