Barrel Horsemanship

Learn three training tips that will help improve your horse’s barrel pattern speed and accuracy without over-drilling the cloverleaf.

- BRONWYN IRWIN

Rosie and Honky doing slow work using a barrel.

In barrel racing, practicing the pattern over and over can get boring to your horse, so it’s best to mix up your sessions with other exercises that will benefit the pattern. I like to break my training program up into sections that include foundation and advanced horsemanship training, power exercises, conditioning exercises, pattern work, and problem-solving.

SQUARE TURNS TO STAY SHARP

One horsemanship exercise that I like to do with my barrel horses is riding squares. If a horse rides a lot of circles, he can begin to get a little lazy in the turn and lose form. This can cause him to swing his haunches to the outside of the circle, especially at speed.

To circle correctly, the horse should circle with his front feet and back feet traveling in the same tracks around a circle to keep his power. To improve circles, I practice riding squares.

At the walk, I ride a straight line. At the corner of the square, I turn a 90-degree (right) angle. During the turn, I want the horse's front end to move freely and his back end to be the pivot point.

To cue with my reins, I pull a little on the inside rein to turn the horse's nose slightly. The outside rein stays steady to help keep the horse's neck from overbending to the inside of the square.

With my outside heel in a forward position (about 1 to 2 inches forward from where it normally hangs), I push the horse's shoulders across to help him swing freely in the front end. His inside hind hoof is the pivot point of the turn, so at the corner, his hoof plants into the ground and rotates through the turn.

During the trot and lope, his inside hind hoof will have to move a little bit, but it will still be the main turning point.