hey ya'll! I was wondering if there are any barrel racers on here. I'm having trouble with my first barrel turn. My horse will trot it AMAZING but as soon as I add in the lope it's the widest turn you've probably ever seen. I've been working on it with him and doing some drills I've seen on youtube, but I was wondering if there were any you guys recommend for either the first barrel, adding speed, or both.Thank you!

Usually what I do when a horse does this is ask my self these questions.

Am I on the right lead?

Is my horse fully paying attention?

Are they showing signs of fear in the barrel?

Is my seat right?

Is my grip on the reins and my legs right?

This might not help but it helps me.

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The correct lead is very important, your horse won't be able to turn tight and fast if it's trying to reach one front leg over the other! Some horses like to do this anyway, so I like to backtrack a little and work with them on picking up the correct lead c:

I don't run barrels on my current horse(he's more of a ranch boy lol) but I DO like to do excersises that makes him turn tight and precisely to get him focused, like setting up cones and making him do serpentines around them, not just plowing over them x3

Loping circles and slowly tightening the circle without slowing too much can help too! Lotta horses struggle with this, and making sure he can keep up a lope for a good couple laps without slowing can also help.

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Another thing is saddle fit! If it doesn't fit right, is pinching, putting pressure on a sensitive spot, etc, he'll likely not want to turn so well. If discomfort is an issue(Which I noticed in my own horse, after getting more muscle on him, his saddle was too narrow in the shoulders and hindered movement so he was less responsive and eager to work, so I ended up switching saddles and pads and have noticed a HUGE difference in performance) you can try changing the pad first, since new saddles are SO expensive x.x

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Hope this helps!<3

My mare did this for the longest time!

First, I'd check to see if your horse is in the right gait, and not scared of the barrel coming up to it quicker than what she likes. Then, I'd check the saddle, make sure it sits right on her and she isn't uncomfortable with that at a faster gait. Some horses pinch in certain spots, or if you have a buckstrap that too could be bothering her if not fastened right at the faster gait.

If that's not it. I would attempt to switch the first barrel to the opposite- test which way she bends better if that makes sense. I've learn from multiple people that your horse will "look" at the barrel they like to go to first. Not every horse does it, but it's the best advice i've ever listened to. My girl never turned right around the right barrel first, so, i switched it after checking everything else and it did me wonders! Then, i learned to watch where she "looks" and listen to her, and it's done us both more favors then bad!

Flatwork flatwork flatwork

Forget about the barrel. Pick up your canter on a circle, and get your horse to canter in the circle in a spiral shape, moving off your outside leg, until he's almost pivoting around on the spot. Then push him back out with your inside leg. This should take several circles, not just one, to draw in and then back out. This is a great exercise for getting that inside hip working and the hind end engaged.

Then work on shoulder ins/outs. On the flat, again, work on pushing his shoulder towards the rail and the hind end away, and shoulder away from the rail and hind end out. Get him, again, able to engage that hind end, but also separating it from the shoulder so you can control both of those things at once. It just sounds like the quality of his canter flatwork isn't able to handle barrels yet.

Full disclosure, I'm not a barrel racer, but as a jumper we do do rollbacks and need horses that are handy, so the same skills apply. If you have a trainer, definitely talk to them about it. And if you don't have a trainer, get one.

Good luck with your aspirations! It sounds like you're working really hard.

A big thing I ran into with my mare is shes better going to the left first as apposed to the right barrel first. Just like us horses have a domiant side

My oldhorse did this to me when I was a lot younger and I fixed it by only using two barrels and riding a figure8 around them also lots and lots of flatwork without the barrels at a lope and trot

Is it the first barrel no matter if you take the left or right barrel first? All horses have a favored side - think right handed, left handed. I agree with the others about making sure the horse is in the correct lead for the turn. You need to make sure your horse has a good understanding of taking the lead you tell them. I also think it's important to make sure your horse has a really good flying lead change if you are going to barrel race or run poles. Make sure you tell the horse and he understands what lead to be in the second you leave the hole. And... if he's in the wrong one, you better be able to tell him to do a flying lead change before you get there.