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 Veteran
Posts: 211
Location: Vinton, La. | I baby my Baby and she's not a barrel horse. Just a nice little ole retired race mare that makes me decent racehorse babies and now hopefully some nice barrel babies. As my trainer used to say, "Baby, Baby, Baby..." And as I say, "Ohhh Baby Baby, my Baby Baby." Her devil spawn of a momma? Couldn't baby her if you tried.
In my opinion there is a difference between babying one and letting one walk all over you. Mine knows not to cross that line.
And I did baby her while she was in race training. But I took care of 17 horses and they were all babied.
Edited by Bigtime mistake 2016-06-06 3:15 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
 
| I think everyone thinks something different when you say "baby them".
But for me, yes. In regards to the fact that if a horse blinks wrong during a run, we're sprinting to the vet for a lameness evaluation. Most of the time the jockey could use some lessons, the horse could use some training, or he could just flat out be being a butt head. Are there instances where things are pain related? Absolutely! But barrel racers as a whole take it to the extreme. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
 
Location: Florida.. | Yes but they are worth it......... |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Bibliafarm - 2016-06-06 5:15 PM Yes but they are worth it.........
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 679
Location: KS | Absolutely! If my horses NEED something, they get it, BUT they are in no way babied when under saddle or when it comes to ground manners. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Southtxponygirl - 2016-06-06 5:22 PM Bibliafarm - 2016-06-06 5:15 PM Yes but they are worth it.........
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I don't think barrel racers baby their horses more than most other disciplines (some, yes) but MOST of us in general baby them to a degree. Each discipline seems to have a different way of caring for their horses though. For example in general, I find english riders to be more skeptical of "alternative" therapies like magnetic blankets for example. This is just a generalization though.
Wanting to take the best care possible for our horses is good, and babying them a little isn't a bad thing, but like any situation, there comes a point when enough is enough. I often call my horse my delicate little flower, cause he does have a lot of issues. He got bullied out in the pasture (like, really bad) so was brought in to a dry lot. He was on a rather complex natural diet, expensive supplement, theraplate sessions (note: I wouldn't pay for one, but had one available for free), lived in a fly sheet, tail bag, shoes, etc. I tried turning him out again now that the meanest horses in the pasture are gone. Within 3 days he managed to remove his fly sheet, lose his tail bag, and rip off a shoe (leading to me just removing the other one). He won't even touch grain anymore cause he fills up on good grass all day! You know what, aside from some scrapes and welts from bugs (allergies) he is just happy as can be! He is in better physical condition and having the shoes allowed him to grow a thicker sole so now he's sound barefoot. He has just lit up inside as well. You can see the joy in his expression. I'll never forget when I first turned him out there, he didn't want to be caught. After a few days, once he realized that is where he lives now, when he saw me he nickered and squealed like never before (and he always greets me with a nicker, but this was extra) and came flying up the hill towards me, ears pricked as far forward as they go. It was like he was saying thank you. He's never given me trouble catching him since that first time.
Moral of the story is, it's good to do all we can for our horses. Providing adequate vet/health care, making sure their tack is fitted and comfortable, conditioning them properly, and other misc. preventitive care to make their lives more comfortable (icing legs, fly sheets, special shoeing, etc.) is all essential for our horses but the most important thing, that SO many forget, is to let the horse BE A HORSE.
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | Mine works her tail off for me....so I take as good of care as I possibly can of her. I'm a firm believer in lots of turn out. She's on pasture during the day and up at night. I use BOT when it's cool enough, Ice Vibes after tough workouts, body washes...I'm fanatical about tack fitting properly. Diet = we keep it simple, top quality alfalfa and grass right now.
That said - I ride her probably 6 days a week (and I don't mean trot for 15 min). I expect her to earn her keep. I head steers on her, my husband heels on her occasionally and I run barrels. How would I expect her to like her job and work her best - if I'm not keeping her healthy?
I learned to really care for horses at the racetrack and hunter/jumper barns....no, I don't feel that a lot of barrel racers do that great of a job of taking care of their horse's health.
Edited by MS2011 2016-06-07 8:39 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
| FLITASTIC - 2016-06-06 11:49 AM Just had a reality check myself yesterday. I have always babied my horses in the fact that they are extremely well taken care of feed/vet care/ wise etc. I do LOVE on them and its always worked out good. But I have a five year old who can bat his eye lashes and melt you and make you feel like he would be the last one you would ever have to get after performance/Training wise. lol SO he began to take advantage and we had a little meeting of the minds and BOY did it make a difference.
Sometimes you just have to tune one up! |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | I take care of my athlete's, some call it babying, some call it normal care.
They will work 24/7 if I ask them too. They sure wouldn't if they didn't like me or I didn't make sure they felt 100%
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| scwebster - 2016-06-06 11:03 AM
Ask a team roper LOL.
I'm marrying one so I know this well.
His answer would be YES.
BUT my argument back to him is to look at the difference in performance. If his horse feels sluggish or isn't wanting to fire - to some extent he can make up with skill, see less of a steer out of the gate, drop a coil and rope him, etc. if you're a skilled roper you can get a heck of a lot farther on a greener horse or a horse who isn't at the top of his game than we can as barrel racers - an opinion that he agrees with.
I know my horses and I know when they're 100% or not 100%. I'm headed to the Bonus Race Finals this weekend and it's going to be 100* Saturday. I have every intention of keeping an eye on water intake, icing legs after runs, dosing with air power before runs and probably using flair strips, anything I can do to make sure they are comfortable so they can work for me to the best of their ability.
I don't think I'm obsessive, but in a sport were .001 is often the difference in a check or not a check - a little goes a long way. |
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I AM being nice
Posts: 4396
Location: MD | That would greatly depend on what you consider babying one. For instance, I have a gelding standing in my barn right now. He has his MagnaCu sheet, hood and bell boots on. He lives in a 16' x 20' mare and foal stall because he hates to be turned out. Due to the fact that he stays in, he gets taken out for hand grazes morning and evening, plus gets ridden daily, even if it's just a 30 minute walk. He gets massaged once a week, adjusted as needed and gets the TheraPulse blanket almost daily. In turn, this horse wins for us more often than not. He had 7 months off in between runs and came back last weekend and placed 5th at a pretty tough pro rodeo.
For everything that he does get however, he is expected to work when he is called upon. I don't take foolishness off of him. He is expected to ride like he knows how, perform to his potential and not cause a fuss in the process. He has times where he hauls extremely hard, hauls hours to a rodeo, gets minimal warm up, makes a run, cools out, gets in the trailer and hauls straight to the next one to do it all over again. I won't have one that doesn't do the job when asked. If they think they can freeload around here, they get told otherwise. Should they opt to try it some more, they find somewhere else to live. |
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Expert
Posts: 2128
| OhMax - 2016-06-08 4:17 PM scwebster - 2016-06-06 11:03 AM Ask a team roper LOL. I'm marrying one so I know this well. His answer would be YES. BUT my argument back to him is to look at the difference in performance. If his horse feels sluggish or isn't wanting to fire - to some extent he can make up with skill, see less of a steer out of the gate, drop a coil and rope him, etc. if you're a skilled roper you can get a heck of a lot farther on a greener horse or a horse who isn't at the top of his game than we can as barrel racers - an opinion that he agrees with. I know my horses and I know when they're 100% or not 100%. I'm headed to the Bonus Race Finals this weekend and it's going to be 100* Saturday. I have every intention of keeping an eye on water intake, icing legs after runs, dosing with air power before runs and probably using flair strips, anything I can do to make sure they are comfortable so they can work for me to the best of their ability. I don't think I'm obsessive, but in a sport were .001 is often the difference in a check or not a check - a little goes a long way.
I hear that a lot from my hubby. "you baby him too much" "tune him up" "whip his @**" |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | rodeomom3 - 2016-06-07 6:21 AM Southtxponygirl - 2016-06-06 5:22 PM Bibliafarm - 2016-06-06 5:15 PM Yes but they are worth it.........
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
| yes...but I came from hunters/jumpers and barrel racers and their horses are pretty much wild women on zebras to those people. Talk about babied horses...you ought to see some of them. Jeez!! |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| I'm married to a team roper and he has rolled his eyes so much at what I do for my horses, I think his eyes got stuck! Lol! I don't care though.. I just do my thing. It makes me happy. |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas |
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