Hello, so as some of you know I got a new horse I am training on barrels. She is 8 and is more in her ways since she hasn't been messed with since 4. I understand this is going to be harder and a challenge. I would like to send her to a professional but unfortunately I cannot. How can I make it more interesting for her? And maybe mix it up for myself even? 

Keep sessions short, 15 min or so, or somedays, longer as needed. Horses do like consistency, and routine, so something to consider, and also they do not like to be drilled on. Try to make it easy. Good Luck to ya! :)

www.trainingbarrelhorses.com has good videos! Free! 

Thanks! I was wondering if I was training too long on barrels.

If you could describe your current training plan, people could suggest ways to improve it.  

This article about Dakota Kirchenschlager he talks about his rope horse training routine.  Would be simple to apply to the barrel horse program as well.  https://teamropingjournal.com/ropers-stories/the-rundown-with-dakota-kirchenschlager

I agree on keeping sessions short and simple. Is she finished or does she still need more work? If she's already finished, she won't need to work on the barrels a whole lot. I work mine 1 day per week (unless we have a competition) and it totals to an hour and a half including warm up and cool down. In between drills, I walk them for a bit to cool them down a little. I only do drills that are specific to them. 

I like to do drills that help with barrels but are not acutally barrels if that makes sense. Drills with 4 or 5 barrels, cones, tires, the pole bending pattern, etc. these still teach a horse how to use their bodies in a turn, get up out of a turn, be responsive to cues, etc. without drilling them with the constant *1 right, 2 lefts.* 

I only work 1 drill per ride and spend no more than 15 minutes or so working on that drill, I will let them quit when we can work the drill to my satisfaction (which is based on whatever stage of training the horse is in). I spend the rest of my the ride outside of the arena as much as possible. If you have a field you can ride in, long trot in it, ask your horse to bend/flex at different gaits, work on rollbacks, sidepasses, and headset. 

Horses get bored doing the same thing over and over just like we do. There's a ton of things you can work on to make your horse a better barrel horse, and more well-rounded horse overall, without putting them on the actual barrel pattern more than 1-2 times a week. Good luck! 

Keep the actual pattern work short. If your goal is to trot a perfect apttern or lope one, the first tiem they do it be done. Even if its the first time that day or second. Or anything specific on the pattern, if they're dropping a shoulder at 2nd. If you get them through once without dropping, be done. Get in & get out as fast as possible. Take it outside if you have access out of the arena, even if its a pasture. Find a pile of poop, a tree, e arock, etc, pretend it's a barrel. Do quiet circles around it, or the squares if thats your thing, or both. Use it to work on body control and shape. Then they're not getting bored going around the barrels in different ways and it still gives you that anchor spot. Trail ride if you can and if you have an open space with a tree or trees, do the same thing. They're out doing new stuff to keep their minds happy, but you're still working on that body control, building that muscle memory. I typically don't do pattern work more than 2-3 times a week.

If I'm riding around in the arena doing what I call straight riding (no drills, patterns, etc), it's pretty much just following the fence working on conditioning, then I still leave the barrels up wherever they are. Cut across the arena in various places, do circles various places, but don't incorporate the barrels into it. They figure out then that just becasue they see them, doesn't mean they're using them. Really can help finished horses too who sometimes get anxious because the pattern is up because I know a lot of people who only ever have them out when they're using them. I prefer to leave them up 24/7. I teach my horses how to turn the barrels, away from the actual pattern. Joy Wargo's 4 barrel drill for example, or all rights/lefts, mostly the same thing. Teaching the actual direction of the pattern is the easiest part. And I'm big on if you're going to expo, make your faster run first. Let things fall apart and then go back and tune. If they're just starting out and jsut trotting or starting to slow lope then jsut do that. But once you're sending for some speed, do it first and see where they fall apart and where the holes are. Then go back slower through and fix/reinforce. I get more enjoyment out of patterning them than I do running them in the actual barrel race, so I'm always tryin to think of new things to get from start to finish 

It depends on what your horse needs work on but you can do training that will help your pattern while away from the barrels. I don't have a good arena so mine mostly get ridden out, and they learn to turn bushes, trees, whatever. You can practice putting them (and yourself) in the right positition without a barrel involved.

True. The trainer I used always worked the pattern. After he patterned her, I can't fix or work on the pattern. I have to come up with some other activity/drill that mimics what I need her to do. It's made it a little difficult to progress with her.

Based on your other thread, I don't believe your horse really needs any barrel work right now. Sure, maybe take her through the pattern a couple times at a walk or trot to start patterning her, but instead just simply get her more broke! You don't need any special drills and you can change what you work on each day.

I get that you can't send her to a professional, but what about taking a lesson here and there? You'll still gain knowledge there.

One of the best things I ever did was take a lesson from a reining trainer. I wanted help with getting a flying lead change on my horse. He's amazing. I probably only went over there 4 times that first year but learned so much each time, and my horses even rode noticeably better with him hopping on them for a mere 5-10 minutes. Most years, I send one of mine to him for 30 days in the spring to get tuned up and in shape. Love it. Then try to get over there a couple more times to work on whatever - flying lead changes, spins, stops, circles, getting them softer in the face, driving behind -- everything. It crosses over so well to the barrel pen and everything else we do.

Or just hit the trails and get out of the arena. I myself get pretty bored in the arena, so I usually only do arena work like once a week. (maybe twice a week if we're working on an issue or something).  I can do all sorts of things on the trail and still get my horse more broke; just not in the arena.

So she is 8 but has not been worked with since she was 4 years old? 

Personally I would start playing around with her and see where she is at mentally. Start with ground work, then some slow work, the starting solidifying that foundation that you want for barrels. If she has training in that stuff then I would work on fine-tuning, getting her legged up, and then start working on her on barrels or even just simple drills that will give her the tools that she will require to run a pattern. 

You ask how to make it fun? I used to love training horses for barrels but to me, it became a bit of a job rather than a passion. You just have to really enjoy the little triumphs and once they do what you are asking and do it right, whether it be the first time or the 5th time, you stop what you're doing, praise, and go onto something else. I always enjoyed a good walk around the pasture or the property, so they knew, Hey.. I must have done something right because she's not drilling me anymore, and I can relax now and that is a reward. Some people are a little more aggressive about it, but I never really trained on a timeline. I just let the horse tell me when they were ready to go to the next step.