You really LOVE but you know they’re just not going to get you to where you want to be competitively?  I have the easiest mare ever,  by easy I mean, easy keeper, easy to haul, super broke, very seasoned, no health issues, quiet on ground, etc. she’s just very small and I don’t think after over 2 years now she’s going to get that much faster - yes we can fine tune but I’ve had faster horses and I just think it’s not gonna happen.  I absolutely love her personality, she was super afraid of people when I got her now she’s in your pocket and sweet.  The biggest issue is she has a short back and short neck and she’s 14.3 so it has been a struggle learning to ride her, and her style.  She does get hot before a run and can be Ancy at the gate but other then that everything is super easy with her so she makes everything else so fun.  I keep going back and forth in my head if I should sell her or not and get something that I can run better and improve on but I’m afraid - number one of letting her go and someone not putting the love and effort into her like I did, and also Blowing her up because I’m patient and I think that could happen in the wrong hands.  Right now I can only afford one horse so what do I do? Keep the one that’s slower and easy or move on and get something bigger and faster,  which means I’d have to start over probably with my budget.  I just don’t know what to do 

I'm not a barrel racer, I don't buy and sell horses, and I would give you a "heart" answer. . . So I'll just say I wish you the best with your mare because I know you're having to do some soul searching and facing hard decisions. 

There is no easy decision. Unfortunately, if you sell her you cannot get a gaurantee that she will be taken care of correctly. I have sold many horses.. some that were very nice, well trained and they have literally been through the ringer. I had a really nice gelding once, he was super sour on barrels but he could work cows, was an amazing trail horse. You point and he'd go. After some liquid courage, I could even ride him bridleless at all three gates, circles, side passing, whoa, back up no problem. I sold him as strictly a trail horse, supposed to be retired from barrels because he just hated them. But I lost track of him and he is now back to running barrels, and the owners some days he's awesome and others he's horrible. He looks like sh*t, he got a stifle injury with them, they wouldn't take him to the vet to see what was wrong and all they cared about was when they were going to be able to run him next. I felt horrible, but I had to let it go. There are a lot of messed up people out there. 

You just can't control that, so you need make the decision that you can keep her, and continue to enjoy or run her. Or sell her and accept the fact that she might get passed around, might get someone who will blow her up etc. so that you can purchase a horse more suited to your needs. 

You are going to have to dig deep and figure out what matters most to you, knowing this nice little mare will continue to have a good life for certain with you or selling her and getting another horse that may or may not work out.  I guess it boils down to if you love the mare or you love running barrels more. Written like that, it sounds so judgie  which is NOT what I mean at all, I just don’t know a better way to express it. 

Yep, had a girl try one this morning.

He’s neat.  He’s the easy one to haul and you’re going to get the same run every time.  He’s got personality for days.  I trained him on the pattern and know his every move.

My goals are not to be a 2d/3D barrel racer.

With me he is 2D/3D at the races I want to be winning someday.  He’s 14.1, I’m 160lbs.  He’s laid one down and hit the 1D before with me.  I truly believe with a smaller jockey he’ll be right in there.

He is the definition of step up youth horse.  Rational me knows that’s where he needs to be - and the family that tried him this morning has 1 girl in high school and 2 more behind her that will need step ups.

Emotional me cried coming out of the arena yesterday knowing that might have been our last run together.  Emotional me will probably need a minute when/if he pulls out of the driveway.

Its tough.  We aren’t in the business per say of buying/training/selling all the time, but we don’t typically keep them around forever either.  

Thanks everyone for your advice, I talked to the girl who bred her and whom is an excellent trainer and she told me to give her 6 more months, there’s a lot we can improve on still.  I have recently lost 17 lbs and going to the gym 4-5 days a week still, she is a smaller mare and I’m not tiny but I’m short so this will help me stay with her better.  Here’s some recent videos, I am just NOT comfortable running her to the left so I’m going to switch her back - I switched to left because she was ducking to the right, come to find out hock was fusing, fixed that and started to the left.

these weee our state show runs, yes I majorly messed up going to the third in the first video but this shows how she runs a little.

https://youtu.be/irL8q9IfhFw

https://youtu.be/scOnN8-ctBU

And here is a year ago to the right

https://youtu.be/-ITNUqSd0y4

Shhh, don't tell anyone but I think you're making the right decision

Shes really a cute mare, didnt you post about her when you got her? I think I remember when you got her, you were worried about her height I'm thinking. You ride her very well, you did a good job with her. 

I have your mares twin. Except she's shorter at 14.1. Red with a blaze. Ive had her about 3.5 years now and I can tell you she's the best worst horse deal I have ever made. She was advertised as a solid 2D horse.... I almost sold her a year after I got her. We had issues. She would rear in the alley, she would rear when she didnt want to do something and you put pressure on her, she would try to run off in the warmup pen. But I sold my good horse due to her health issues and where we lived. So Chick was all I had. The vet found spurs in both hocks that were never taken care of until she came to me. Got those done and she clocked a few times in the bottom of the 2D/top 3D then started having issues. Took time working on those and she would clock then start having issues. 2 years ago we moved to Dallas and it took awhile for me to get settled and want to run again. Life got in the way. But she would clock 4D in tough north tx races with lots of errors. I knew she was better than that but couldnt figure it out. Last sept a vet FiNALLY figured listened to me when I said something wasnt right and took the time instead of brushing it off to well its just an abscess. The vet was optimistic we could get her 100% sound but I wanted to try. Found an amazing farrier that has done wonders for her, gave a shot of osphos, injected her feet and invested in cloud boots that she wears when we haul. I am going to shamelessly brag on her..... I made 1 run on her before we headed to OKC in April. We ran at the BBR finals. In the 3D in barn 6 but caught the 2nd with my toe. Did the west monroe/ruston run over memorial weekend and was 2-3D all weekend. Actually ended up last in the 2D in the short go at Ruston. Was in the 2D average at Marshall a few weeks ago and our 2nd run at Glen Rose this weekend was bottom of the 2D. 
Moral of my book is this: If you feel like she can be faster, stick with her. Its taken from early 2016 to now to get where I knew she could be all along. And ALOT of sweat and tears with minimal blood ;) It can be done, but it takes time to learn a new horse. Oh and she's not to small. The small ones are FUN!

I think giving her some more time is the right decision. I've gotten to the point where I'd like to be in the upper D's, my old guy can do it when he's feeling good and I don't ride like a monkey humping a football, but I miss my reliable 3-4D mare every single day. I lost her 3 years ago and I'd take easy and predictable over being fast. I loved knowing exaclty waht was going to happen each run. 

Good luck! I hope she surpasses all your expectations!

I have one. Hes 14.2/.3 on a good day. Im 5'11. We have to have custom reins for poles because hes got a short neck. Won me the 4d saddle last year and then at finals placed me right out of 3d money. Hes mr consistent and LOVES poles (more so then barrels i think). Do i wish he was faster? oh yea. But hes fun, has a great personality, you can do anything on him (run thru fields with a rope halter, toted a woman who got bucked off her own horse and hurt, out of the woods) and is consistent. (plus money for a 1d horse right now is just not there). I dont think i could sell him and wonder where he went and is he ok. Theres too many shady people out there and too many horror stories.

With that said i do also have a yearling who already is his height, so shell be tall. And is bred to run so im hoping once shes old enough she will be able to get me where i want to be time wise

I don't think her sized is hurting anything. I see plenty of room for improvement. That is a really nice and honest looking horse you have there! I say stick with it! 

I say switch her back to the right and go. Theres enough fine tuning you can do to get her up there! 
If you want to sell her I'd say find a Jr High or HS girl that can ride WELL and let them go beat them up with her. 

Thank you everyone! The last 2.5 weeks since those videos I’ve also been in the gym 5 days a week, plus it’s to hot to ride until 7/8pm down here anyway.  I’m going to stick with her for a while longer and see what we can accomplish and improve on!

thanks for all the stories of your little successful horses!

I have one right now and I just put her up for sale.  She is just not as competitive as I want to be.  She does not have the grit and desire to be a top 1D horse.  I have given her enough time almost 3 years and she does the same run every time no matter what I feed her, sprint her, give her rocket fuel etc.  She is the most consistent easy 2D /3D horse but just not enough to give me that extra umph I want.  It will be very hard to let her go because she is so sweet and easy to be around but I have to focus on my babies.  She will be perfect for that right person but just not for me.  I finally had to pull the trigger.  If I dont sell her then ok she will be a pasture ornament.  I wont let her go to the wrong person.  I would give anything if she had "it" because she is amazing., in almost 3 years of running we have hit 1 barrel.  That should b some kind of record lol! 

That is a freakin nice horse! I bet she will sell quickly! 

Ran her back to the right for the first time in 6+ months and felt way more comfortable, she is a little fat right now and not running home as hard but I think We’re much better this way.  I sliced the second barrel, totally my fault!

https://youtu.be/uC4XBBcERNY

https://youtu.be/uC4XBBcERNY

That's a tricky situation. Bigger and faster can open its own can of worms.  On one hand, if you have a horse you really enjoy, that you know you are under mounted on for your riding potential, and you know shes maxed out... and you have this burning desire to be faster, then the tough decision has to be made to move on.  But with that comes- new horse, new speed, new quirks, new issues, learning how to jockey something faster (not-as-easy-as-it-looks), and that can get real frustrating and leave you wishing for your mr. dependable horse.  

And if you would have to start over theres a chance the next one you get wont fit you like the one you love... or it could be great, you won't know until you've made that commitment. So IDK. Is your financial situation going to change in the next year or so where you would be able to afford two horses? I would see what I could do to afford a second horse even if thats a little ways down the road so you can transition to a faster horse while still having the one you are real confident on. 

I don't have any "good" advice, only my experience. I had a great mare, got her when she was 8 and had her for 9 years. She was a solid 3d/4d horse...nothing faster, she was 14.1, maybe 14.2 on a good day with shoes on. The most solid, dependable horse, same run every time, could do anything with her, put anyone on her. I loved her. But I was ready to run faster. I'm in a position to keep two horses, so I found my "replacement" first and got him trained for barrels, so I still had her to run. Finally, when my other horse was trained I just wasn't running her anymore. Got a colt, too (futurity prospect) and then sold her to the most wonderful little 11 y/o girl who just wanted to learn to run barrels and lives on a rance and I know she went to the perfect home. So there are good stories about that too. It is a hard decision, because the horse I replaced her with is good and is fast (will be 1D/2D when he's finished and we get his issues worked through), but a complete pain in the ass some days, LOL. So there are pros and cons to each.