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 Regular
Posts: 62
Location: Oklahoma | Good morning! I have a couple of questions. Question 1 what is your routine with your horse after you make a run, make an exhibition run, or do a hard workout? Question 2 Going back to basics is good right? I have a semi finished (I say that cause he acts that way sometimes lol) barrel horse, and when I ride him at the house I go out through the pasture, ride through momma cows, etc. Some days I will take him to exhibition nights down the road from me, or I will do my own free exhibitions at home. But when I do exhibitions on him I don't RUN him. I do a slow lope through the first time I ride two handed around each barrel, the second one I will go a little faster and the last one I do depends on how the second one went. If we were good I trot through. If I did something or he did something then I go in again at about the same speed and try to clean up our run. I stop on good runs, I mean practice makes perfect right? I don't believe in making one run all the time through the barrel pattern, slow work is good for a seasoned barrel horse right? After we run I walk him around, I get off loosen his saddle and then walk him around some more. I take him to the trailer unsaddle, put his back on track bell boot and magnetic blanket on, if its not cold outside I will take him and run cold water on his legs and stretch him out. I know legs are a very important, Im looking at getting some kind of leg boots for him (back on track, ice boots, etc) but I don't know which ones work best! I love my back on track stuff I have so Im leaning towards back on track royal leg wraps... | |
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| I do not "practice" at home. I just tone mine up and work on basics. Might do a drill. When I am at a barrel race and have finished my run, I usually ride around for 10-15 minutes to get ride of the lactate or lactic acid out of the muscles. Warm weather rinse the horse off, cooler weather put a cooler on the horse. | |
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Regular
Posts: 62
Location: Oklahoma | streakysox - 2017-03-09 9:17 AM
I do not "practice" at home. I just tone mine up and work on basics. Might do a drill. When I am at a barrel race and have finished my run, I usually ride around for 10-15 minutes to get ride of the lactate or lactic acid out of the muscles. Warm weather rinse the horse off, cooler weather put a cooler on the horse.
What drills do you do? | |
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Posts: 12841
| Gennap1010 - 2017-03-09 9:20 AM
streakysox - 2017-03-09 9:17 AM
I do not "practice" at home. I just tone mine up and work on basics. Might do a drill. When I am at a barrel race and have finished my run, I usually ride around for 10-15 minutes to get ride of the lactate or lactic acid out of the muscles. Warm weather rinse the horse off, cooler weather put a cooler on the horse.
What drills do you do?
The best way I can tell you is to either get Martha Josey's new book or Heather Smith's book.
https://www.amazon.com/Barrel-Racing-Exercises-Develop-Champion/dp/0... | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | I never work a finished horse on the pattern unless we had a bad competition run and there is a specific thing I would like to school them on. I keep them legged up during the week, no exhibitions, go make our run. I believe exhibitions are for colts/seasoning. I believe slow work is for fixing problems. Sherry Cervi has a very good quote that goes something like "Horses are like a pack cigarettes. One day you're gonna run out of runs. You better enjoy them while it lasts." So I try to never waste a run on a finished horse.
After a run/strenuous workout I ice their legs. | |
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | I do pattern work at home, but typically no faster than a trot. And most days we just walk bc what I'm focusing on is hand position, my body position, and their body position. Just forever focusing on absolutely perfect form at a walk, I think it translates over to a run in a big way.
I feel like my finished horses are softer and snappier since I incorporated barrel work back into my routine.
If I go faster it's usually bc I want to work on rate, I want them to melt with just my body language. So I'll pick up a little speed just to really get them to rate down.
If I haven't entered in a long time, I might let them high lope through. But really they're both 15 and know what an alley way and music means lol.
As far as my routine after a run...
I get off as soon as the high of the run has passed. Meaning, they aren't thinking about the run anymore and heart rate calmed down. I get off, loosen everything, take off boots/polos, and start walking.
We walk for a while, longer than everyone else lol.
Unsaddle, brush, baby, wrap legs, maybe throw a sheet or pht on if I brought it. Offer water, and let them chill. | |
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4641
Location: Texas | Q1: What is your routine with your horse after you make a run, exhibition, or hard workout?
A1: Lots and lots and lots of walking, get off and loosen cinch and walk some more. If it's not cold I will rinse my horses off, spending extra time on their legs and then I stretch them out. If it's cold, they get a good brushing and stretch.
Q2: Going back to the basics is good right?
A2: Absolutely, but I don't practice the pattern at home. If I feel like something needs to be worked on or brushed up on, I work on it away from the pattern. Example: If one of my mares is having a quirky second barrel I'm going to pretend that some random tree, round bale, bush, etc is a barrel and I'm going to practice approaching, rating and turning it as such. I really don't like to run my mares through the pattern if I'm not at a race. I feel like staying away from the pattern helps keep my mares fresh and attentive. | |
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Little bit of everything :)