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Elite Veteran
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Location: California | SmokinGirlie - 2016-04-26 2:17 PM
Serenity06 - 2016-04-26 3:06 PM Whinny19 - 2016-04-26 8:36 AM Just keep breezing him, once or twice a week. The key I've found with teaching them to really run is not to pressure them for speed at first. Cue them for a lope and then let them pick their speed from there. Try to pick a long enough stretch of ground that they will come back to you & slow down on their own. So many barrel horses have "turn" on their minds all the time, you'll try to teach them to breeze in a straight line & they will just automatically stay throttled down because they are sure you are going to ask them to turn something at any moment. Or they know you are going to pull them up in 100 yds anyway, so why bother going fast at all? Once they have it figured out that there is no real pressure to breezing - What? No sharp turns? No abrupt change of direction? I can keep going until I feel like stopping? - they will usually start offering more speed on their own. At that point, you can offer a little smooch or squeeze of the legs for encouragement, and they will usually respond happily. When you ask for a little more speed, keep your urging restricted to short bursts. Roll into a high lope/slow gallop at a pace of their choosing. Urge for a few strides, maybe 5-10 seconds to start. Then let off the pressure and allow them finish at their own pace again. Gradually work up to 10-15 seconds of urging. Then 15-20 seconds, which is about where you'd want to train for speed on a barrel pattern. Also, I make a bit of a big deal out of them going fast, lots of praise a petting on the neck when they offer speed. You can often feel them puff up & swell pride/excitement when they know you are pleased with them. Very well explained! That's what I do with my guy : ) Just short urging but not really pushing him and lots of praise!
My guy still hasn't figured out just how fast he can go but I am completely ok with that for a while! My main goal was to have him realize he CAN move out with a rider and we achieved that so that's enough speed for a while. Lol. Now his favorite gear is an extremely fast trot, not the most comfortable gait but boy can he cover some major ground! |
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 Brains Behind the Operation...
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Location: Arizona | Mine usually look drunk their first couple attempts at breezing. Dodging back & forth, can't keep a straight path to save their lives. It's like they just know I've hidden a barrel out there SOMEWHERE... lol |
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: Idaho | Aahh thank you so much for the information!! You guys are awesome, and It makes me smile to hear the other stories!! I am looking forward to the future with my boy :)  |
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 Expert
Posts: 1526
Location: Texas | I give up |
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Brains Behind the Operation...
Posts: 4543
Location: Arizona | mollibtexan - 2016-04-27 6:14 PM
I give up
There is nothing wrong with galloping & breezing sound, healthy and sane 4 and 5 year old horses. In fact, it is beneficial to their long term soundness do so - the only way bone will remodel and become dense enough to hold up to the rigors of running barrels at speed is to be exposed to speed. The safest way to accomplish this is to gallop and occassionally (1-2 times weekly) breeze for several months, maybe even a full year before you plan on doing it competitively. Their bones actually change shape and become stronger (denser) doing this. It also helps them mentally; most horses that are galloped stay happy & relaxed in their work. Especially running breds. Nobody is saying to whip & spur & run the horse as fast as it can go. It's simple, controlled conditioning, and is a great complementary tool to arena training. But to each his/her own. |
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Brains Behind the Operation...
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Location: Arizona | I feel like maybe there is some discrepancy between everyone's personal definitions of "gallop" & "breeze," so I will share mine. Typically, a horse new to running will naturally move into a gallop at a rate somewhere between a 3:00 to 3:30 mile. Keep in mind that the AQHA standard for a SI of 100 at 440 yds is 22.05 seconds. I think the current world record for 440 yds is 20.274 seconds. A 3:00 to 3:30 mile is equivalent to about a 45 to 52 second quarter mile. That is slooooooow. That is what I mean by a slow gallop. A "breeze" for a horse new to running only needs to be at about a 15 second lick - which would be a 30 second quarter mile. Again, not breaking any speed records with that, but you will trigger the bone remodeling benefits of breezing. As the horse matures mentally & physically, you can ask for faster spurts as you, the trainer, see fit. And teach the horse to enjoy running at the same time. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | mollibtexan - 2016-04-26 7:14 PM I give up
Yep... I agree  |
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Expert
Posts: 1526
Location: Texas | Whinny19 - 2016-04-26 7:53 PM
mollibtexan - 2016-04-27 6:14 PM
I give up
There is nothing wrong with galloping & breezing sound, healthy and sane 4 and 5 year old horses. In fact, it is beneficial to their long term soundness do so - the only way bone will remodel and become dense enough to hold up to the rigors of running barrels at speed is to be exposed to speed. The safest way to accomplish this is to gallop and occassionally (1-2 times weekly) breeze for several months, maybe even a full year before you plan on doing it competitively. Their bones actually change shape and become stronger (denser) doing this. It also helps them mentally; most horses that are galloped stay happy & relaxed in their work. Especially running breds. Nobody is saying to whip & spur & run the horse as fast as it can go. It's simple, controlled conditioning, and is a great complementary tool to arena training. But to each his/her own.
This horse has been on barrel 30 days. I think they get plenty of "breeze" time in the pasture. Yes I know this about the bones. I respectfully disagree about Breezing until they are solid.
Edited by mollibtexan 2016-04-26 9:32 PM
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Brains Behind the Operation...
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Location: Arizona | Â I guess I'm just confused as to why you feel the amount of time on barrels has anything to do with whether or not you should gallop/breeze a horse? Sincerely not being snarky, just curious. I realize the horse has only spent about 30 combined days on the pattern, but the OP also said the horse was a month shy of 5 years old and had been riding successfully for a year and a half doing lots of other things. To me, the time spent on barrels is irrelevant when deciding whether or not to do so-called "speed" work. It's more about the physical/mental maturity of the horse in general, and how solid their foundation is. Unless I pick one up as an older horse, most of my colts are started on gallop work long before I get serious about drilling on the barrel pattern. Maybe it's just because my most influential mentors came from racing backgrounds? (Nobody famous, just influential to me personally) |
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I AM being nice
Posts: 4396
Location: MD | Whinny19 - 2016-04-26 10:10 PM
 I guess I'm just confused as to why you feel the amount of time on barrels has anything to do with whether or not you should gallop/breeze a horse? Sincerely not being snarky, just curious. I realize the horse has only spent about 30 combined days on the pattern, but the OP also said the horse was a month shy of 5 years old and had been riding successfully for a year and a half doing lots of other things. To me, the time spent on barrels is irrelevant when deciding whether or not to do so-called "speed" work. It's more about the physical/mental maturity of the horse in general, and how solid their foundation is. Unless I pick one up as an older horse, most of my colts are started on gallop work long before I get serious about drilling on the barrel pattern. Maybe it's just because my most influential mentors came from racing backgrounds? (Nobody famous, just influential to me personally)
I think it largely depends on what it is that your end goal is for a horse. If your intention is to make a horse to be a barrel horse, you need to have that sucker properly programmed before you go to letting him know how fast he is. I don't mean on the pattern, either. It's easier to speed one up after you know you have them right. If they know that they can run already, you can get yourself in a bind when you're trying to teach them something and they decide "Screw this" and tuck tail. |
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Brains Behind the Operation...
Posts: 4543
Location: Arizona | As usual WrapSnap, you provide excellent commentary. Thanks for making the other POV clearer for me. If I could get the BHW emoticons to work on my phone I'd give you a thumbs up, lol. |
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