Hi,
I have a barrel horse I have been competing on for almost 18 months, I trained him myself and in the beginning if I didn’t wear spurs he would drop his shoulder coming into his drums, so over the next twelve months I always wore spurs in competetion, he improved greatly in his pattern and eventually would constantly be just out of the money.
Many people would say things like ‘your horse is running funny’ or ‘he’s not stretching out’. So a couple of months ago I took a gamble and took my spurs off in a competition and wow, he was so much faster, it seems he just didn’t like the spurs, I haven’t been in a competition since and not won money, but, he comes into the arena flat out and does a good pattern until we turn for home and he just seems to think the run is almost over so he gets slower the closer we get to the finishing line, I once tried a whip on him and like the spurs he went slower when I hit him.
He has a big heart and I only compete in a simple snaffle bit. I don’t know what to do to make him sprint all the way to the finish line.
any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jacki
(Australia)
If you are running to a closed gate, this problem may be kind of hard to overcome since the horse is just responding correctly to his training and instincts. When running to a closed gate, you should try to teach your horse to turn the same direction each time you come to the end of the arena so that he isn’t trying to second guess the direction you might want him to go; and, if you run straight to the fence or gate, it’s harder on your horse physically. Since he runs better without the spurs and whip, I would not be trying to encourage him with those aids but instead keep your body in the forward position until you cross the finish line.
Martha Wright
Discover more from Ebarrelracing.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
