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 Member
Posts: 8
| Running at a rodeo this weekend and looking like it is going to be pretty muddy. Most likely more soupy mud rather than sticky. Looking for advice for a game plan. Thanks!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
 
| Game plan is kind of hard to come by . Depends on your horse. Many will braid or put the tail up on really muddy pens to prevent them from caking during a run. I wouldnt use your favorite boots or cinches etc. lol SOmetimes mud will hold a horse in a turn, sometimes not, that should determine how you ride your horse, bit choice etc. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | Watch the rough stock and team ropers if you can! That will tell you if the mud is going to be soggy and hold or slippery and slick.
If it's soggy plan to ride a little deeper into your turns. If it is slick plan to stand your horse up a little more in the turn and be sure to sit tight in the middle to help your horse stay collected/balanced. It is always trial and error, you just have to learn when to trust your horse and when to be safe. Safety should always be the number one goal. In my experience, a smoother run will usually out clock a slip, slide, kick and whip run in the mud. Good luck!
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
Location: London Ontario | Again mud isn't always a bad thing. Especially if you have a horse who maybe doesn't clock the fastest, but doesn't mind mud, can often beat the faster horses who maybe aren't mudders! Mud can also sometime make ground faster, the rodeo we were at last weekend had extremely fast ground due to the rain we got. |
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 Unknown Drip
Posts: 5624
Location: Back in MT BABY!!! | Like someone else said...watch the rough stock and team ropers to see what the ground is going to do. I usually let my horses pick their speed to 1st to see how they handle it...if it goes good I will ask for more speed the rest of the run...if not I will either stay with them choosing their speed. |
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Member
Posts: 8
| Thanks for the input! I am just starting to rodeo on this horse. She has only been to a few rodeos so we haven't had to deal with mud yet. I try to lope circles and such in the mud at home to help her learn how to use herself in less than ideal situations. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | kwkinc2 - 2017-06-22 11:10 AM
Thanks for the input! I am just starting to rodeo on this horse. She has only been to a few rodeos so we haven't had to deal with mud yet. I try to lope circles and such in the mud at home to help her learn how to use herself in less than ideal situations.
There's a tip on training are horses.com from Tana that if she has to make a run with muddy ground she tries to get her horse in the mud before running in the arena. She said it gets the horses used to the splash on them before they have to run. |
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Veteran
Posts: 155
| Tape on your horses boots, electrical tape, duct tape, ect. Ride in the center of your horse and dont lean and you should be fine! |
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
Posts: 5409
| I like to get my horse into the arena before the rodeo so that we can feel for ourselves what the ground is like. After that I just trust my horse. For a horse that really gets on his butt I feel like they are better off being pushed. Many times a horse will turn on front end, swing the butt if they aren't being hustled. I feel like a horse that uses his butt, if they do fall it won't be a pancake flop, more of a just sit down type fall. I have had lots of experience in the mud on my bury the butt type horses
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Member
Posts: 8
| This mare really stays collected and uses her hind end well so hopefully she will be fine! |
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 Saint Stacey
| Rough stock isn't necessarily an indicator of how the pen is. Sort of depends on the prep work before the rain and what the stock contractor wants. Some have them pack the ground in front of the bucking chutes because they feel the stock bucks better on hard ground. If it's a big pen, the ground in front of the chutes could be a lot different than the rest of the pen.
Typically standing water makes for faster and safer conditions than most people realize. As long as the ground is saturated. It's when you get a hard, fast rain that sits on top of the ground that conditions become tricky. Also if it's a deep sand base, rain can be a blessing.
I wouldn't worry about booting them up. Bells is all we use in slop.
Biggest thing is to make sure the horse is standing upright in the turns. You don't want one leaning. Hopefully you aren't the gunner so you can watch a few runs to gauge how fast you can go.
Edited by SKM 2017-06-22 5:48 PM
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 Three in a Bikini
Posts: 2035
| Two Tips:
1. Ride in the slop if possible. Let it splash all over you. Under the belly on the face. Everywhere.
2. Take the leg protection off. It depends on the conditions, but if the boots are going to cake with mud you could very well be better off without them. |
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