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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
 
Location: East Texas | I had been thinking about this after attending a youth rodeo last week, and then I saw a post someone put up about a survival guide to barrel racing. I am not a horse person, but I have been a HS baseball coach for the last 20 years. This has allow me a unique perspective on training and coaching kids, and oh how much I have learned in the last 4 years I think I could write a book, but here are a few random thoughts.
Tips for Starting Youth Rodeo
1. Teach your children horsemanship. It is more important to learn to ride than learn to barrel race. The racing will come.
2. Buy a well trained, broke horse not necessarily a barrel horse. (helps with #1). We started ours on cutting horses that did not make it as cutting horses, and retired playday horses.
3. Do not be afraid to purchase an older horse. You do not want to be training both horse and rider at the same time. Our daughter is currently cashing checks on a 21 year old pole horse.
4. Kids will outgrow horses as fast as they out grow clothes. Be prepared to trade/sell horses. Just realize sometimes you will lose money, but the gain in horsemanship for your kid will be worth it.
5. Find someone you can trust for advice. If you get taken before you find this person, just move on and do not let it ruin your day/week or sour you towards this sport. It happened to us on a horse sell that went bad.
6. Get your vet to show you how to do routine maintenance. I am not a horse person, but my neighbor is a TB trainer and has helped teach me a ton.
7. Do not try to keep up with the Jones. That is a race that is too hard to win. Make this time about having fun and being with family. Do not get caught up in trailer luxuries, horse price, where you are hauling, or winning races. We have a friend that spent well into the 6 figures on a trailer and was pissed that her kid did not place. If you have the money, spend it on nice things, but do not make it contingent on winning.
8. Let the kids have fun. If you are more concerned and stressing about how your kid is performing than the kid is, then there is a problem and it is not with the kid.
9. Some of the people you know or have met and you think are friends will not be so friendly if your kid is beating their kid in the arena.
10. Make your kids take care of their own horses. Do not let them go to the rodeo and just get on and ride. Have them help with the feeding, watering, saddling, etc.
11. Practice time is for practice. Competition time is for showing what you have done in practice. Do not over coach right before or while your kid is trying to compete. BTW, they can not hear you yelling while they are running anyway. What I tell my kids before they go in the alley is…..1. Run hard. 2. Have fun. 3. I love you. Last week my daughter was getting ready to run and I had forgotten to tell her this. I had gotten busy helping her brother get ready, and she called me over and said, “you forgot to tell me my 3 three things”. So I did and she gave me a hug. I don’t know about you, but that is so much better than the stress and aggravation I see with some.
12. Do not coach, critique, etc. on the drive home. That is what practice is for. I have had the opportunity to coach some of the top HS players in the nations and the number one answer about what they like least……. The ride home with parents.
13. Love your kids win or lose.
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: Arkansas | |
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Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | CrossDRanch - 2014-09-30 9:28 AM I had been thinking about this after attending a youth rodeo last week, and then I saw a post someone put up about a survival guide to barrel racing. I am not a horse person, but I have been a HS baseball coach for the last 20 years. This has allow me a unique perspective on training and coaching kids, and oh how much I have learned in the last 4 years I think I could write a book, but here are a few random thoughts. Tips for Starting Youth Rodeo 1. Teach your children horsemanship. It is more important to learn to ride than learn to barrel race. The racing will come. 2. Buy a well trained, broke horse not necessarily a barrel horse. (helps with #1). We started ours on cutting horses that did not make it as cutting horses, and retired playday horses. 3. Do not be afraid to purchase an older horse. You do not want to be training both horse and rider at the same time. Our daughter is currently cashing checks on a 21 year old pole horse. 4. Kids will outgrow horses as fast as they out grow clothes. Be prepared to trade/sell horses. Just realize sometimes you will lose money, but the gain in horsemanship for your kid will be worth it. 5. Find someone you can trust for advice. If you get taken before you find this person, just move on and do not let it ruin your day/week or sour you towards this sport. It happened to us on a horse sell that went bad. 6. Get your vet to show you how to do routine maintenance. I am not a horse person, but my neighbor is a TB trainer and has helped teach me a ton. 7. Do not try to keep up with the Jones. That is a race that is too hard to win. Make this time about having fun and being with family. Do not get caught up in trailer luxuries, horse price, where you are hauling, or winning races. We have a friend that spent well into the 6 figures on a trailer and was pissed that her kid did not place. If you have the money, spend it on nice things, but do not make it contingent on winning. 8. Let the kids have fun. If you are more concerned and stressing about how your kid is performing than the kid is, then there is a problem and it is not with the kid. 9. Some of the people you know or have met and you think are friends will not be so friendly if your kid is beating their kid in the arena. 10. Make your kids take care of their own horses. Do not let them go to the rodeo and just get on and ride. Have them help with the feeding, watering, saddling, etc. 11. Practice time is for practice. Competition time is for showing what you have done in practice. Do not over coach right before or while your kid is trying to compete. BTW, they can not hear you yelling while they are running anyway. What I tell my kids before they go in the alley is…..1. Run hard. 2. Have fun. 3. I love you. Last week my daughter was getting ready to run and I had forgotten to tell her this. I had gotten busy helping her brother get ready, and she called me over and said, “you forgot to tell me my 3 three things”. So I did and she gave me a hug. I don’t know about you, but that is so much better than the stress and aggravation I see with some. 12. Do not coach, critique, etc. on the drive home. That is what practice is for. I have had the opportunity to coach some of the top HS players in the nations and the number one answer about what they like least……. The ride home with parents. 13. Love your kids win or lose.
THIS. Had my dad known THIS, I think we would have gotten along sooooooo much better throughout my rodeo career. I realize parents say things with the absolute best of intentions, and when kids hurt from losing, the parents also hurt. They don't like to see us upset and want us to do well. But telling us what we did wrong when we are already down, does NOT help. Lol!
I am saving every bit of this for when I have kids. Excellent advice. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 336
Location: Missouri | Well said! When my daughter started showing many, many years ago I had three rules:
1) Do your best
2) Have fun
3) Make at least one new friend every time
Years later and having moved on from showing to rodeo, we still have the same rules! |
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Veteran
Posts: 216
Location: In between 4 ridges | 
Very well put!
Coaching 10-13 year old kids at horse shows this year was soooo much fun! This was the first year showing for most of them and I tried to instill that we were always there to have fun and that is it! We were not there to win ribbons but to gain experience and have a blast! When it came to the speed events it wasn't about how fast they went but how pretty their pattern was! I had a lady tell one of the kids as they were going in to run to run as fast as they could. I had to correct her and tell her that we were there for pretty patterns not speed. She looked at me confused and apologized...
Love watching the videos of the kids in their speed classes and listening to all of their friends in the back round cheering them on! Fills my heart!
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| well said!! My Dad coached me through YEARS of basketball, showing livestock, and running jr rodeo .... Funny how he always said the SAME 3 things before competition!
Great Advice! |
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Location: would like to be where it does not snow | Very well said |
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Veteran
Posts: 276
| Wow! You sound like an amazing parent. Great advice. It is refreshing to see great parenting like this is still out there! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | Thanks for all the nice words, and not sure about the great parent thing....But I had great parents and I am trying to be.
Here are a couple of more thoughts.
1. Have your kids in the saddle as much as possible. Have them do other events, ride in the pasture, or whatever. I was not a big fan of drill, but our kids have ridden on a drill team the last several years, and it has allowed them to get hours of seat time that does not feel like practice and their riding has improved because of it.
2. Get involved. Be an event director, barrel setter, work the back gate. I did not know squat about rodeo, but the best way to learn is get involved and do it.
I may come up with some more later, but now I have to get some work done to pay for this expensive hobby.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | Well, just got back from a 2 day event and have a couple of moments to think about the weekend. So..... Thought I might add a couple more.
1. Compete against your own times. Don't worry about what the other kids are doing and the times they are running. Just go out and try to improve every time you run. For the first time since my daughter started racing (4 years ago) she let out a yell in excitement as ran out of the arena because she saw her time was a personal best.
2. You can't teach them everything overnight. So....if they mess up on something you have not covered don't get upset. My daughter started tying goats this year and so far so good. She seems to be getting better all the time. Well, today she goes down and has a decent run, but after she snapped the string tight, she reached down and gave it one more tug for good measure and got DQ'ed. My first thought was "what the crap"....but I am not sure I ever told her she can't do that. I am willing to bet that having the judge wave the flag for a no time will stick with her and it will never happen again.
3. Try to be genuinely happy for other people's success. This one is WAAAAAY easier said than done.
4. Don't wish it was easier wish to get better. We also have a younger son who is now getting close to competing with big sister. Today in the holding pen I heard them talking and they bet on who would win. Then I heard my son say, "I hope you hit a barrel". That led to a quick talk about doing your best and the other person doing their best and see who wins. |
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Cold hands and Warm Heart
Location: oklahoma | Numbers 11, 12, and 13 are on my list too. My son doesn't ride anymore but these can be applied to any sport. Great post. |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| Aww, you sound like a great coach and parent. I especially like the "let your kid have fun" one and the "don't lecture on the way home" one. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge! |
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| Sounds like perfection |
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 Cyber World Challenged
Posts: 2526
Location: My Own Little World | Oh my gosh! Sounds like we are twin parents lol. My daughter decided on her own at 8 to do jr rodeo. We had a long talk about how rodeo wasn't for everyone. It has ups, downs, injuries(hurt horses, hurt people, hurt feelings, etc) but that rodeo was by far worth the pain. My daughter is now 16 and boy have we had some highs and lows but in the end, we are SO excited to do what we do. She has won more than one sportsmanship award that is chosen by other adults and her peers. She has won her fair share of money and prizes. But even in the bad days, she sees rodeo as a gauge of how well her training is going..hers and her horses. I have one one other rule to add to your list.... I CAN'T STAND a mouthy bratty kid with a bad attitude SO if said kid EVER speaks to me like that, in or out of the arena, said kid LOSES ALL horse privaleges for a VERY LONG time lol |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | This thread popped up on a google search on which I was looking for something else. It was good to go back and read. I need someone to make a list for moving on to the next step. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
| Perfect! I wish I could share on FB. I bet it would go viral! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 602
| One thing my dad taught me is put work into the sport. My dad could have bought the nicer rodeo horse for me but he gave me a budget and i had to put in the blood, sweat, and tears. Teaching kids to accept highs and lows during a rodeo season is a good thing. It keeps them humble. Another piece advice I would give parents is to go to different trainers. I went to several, barrel racing experts, roping gurus, and reining queens. Learning different tools and understanding different perspective is very beneficial. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| Prep them to encounter a " Super Star" at the rodeo. THere is always going to be that kid with the best horses, more $$$ etc. THis can be deflating to younger kids. Prep them ahead of time so it doesn't turn into a crying quitting mess at the rodeo. |
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Member
Posts: 13
| I have been involved in the youth rodeo world for over 20 years and I have been blessed to be able to coach and be around some of the best young cowgirls in the country and I can tell you that the ones who are consistently at the top are there because they lay it on the line every time. These kids do not have to compete afraid of what it will be like back at the trailer if they should not win. Competing with no fear allows them to push themselves to a level where scared kids will not be able to go.
One of my Facebook posts found its way to being published in the Rodeo News last summer. It was about what your kids want you to know. I think it was August. Maybe some tech savvy people can find it and link it to here. When I wrote it I was thinking from my 10 year old son's point of view, a parents point of view, and a coach's point of view all in one. I hope to get more thoughts like this out of my head and down on paper one day!
Edited by NextLevel 2018-01-16 10:46 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 445
| You buy your child a horse that will give them CONFIDENCE. Something proven for the level of the child that that level of child has competed on. Yes you spend time with them riding as much as time and weather permit. In the practice pen if you correct something they did wrong always reinforce it with positive reinforcement! Spend as much $$$ as you can for that CONFIDENCE BUILDING PARTNER! My granddaughter is 6 years old and has already won 3 All-Around saddles and 10 buckles. We mounted her on older horses that KNEW THEIR JOB and she spends a as much time riding (like I said as time and weather permit). Her mounts has given her confidence and taught her to want to WIN! Even if she doesn't win them all. But she has the want to win attitude, and of course her equine partners that have given her the confidence! When her dad (who is a PRCA steer wrestler) walks her up the alley he say's "Are we Winners or Losers) she say's WINNER'S and gives him a high five! |
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Tips for starting kids in youth rodeo