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Posts: 233
 
| I want to pick everyone's brains and see what their favorite drills are when first starting a young horse on barrels. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Honestly , my favorite drill is NOT doing a drill or bunch of repetitive training on a young horse. The barrel pattern is BORING period. It doesn't take much to make one hate it. If you need to teach a colt skills that will be useful on the pattern , get out of the arena and go around bushes , trees, ant mounds etc. not barrels. You can teach them verbal and leg cues , how to use their bodies etc without a barrel in site. If you must use a barrel then set them up outside in a pasture or country side. No fences. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | I agree with Flitastic. My 3 y/o has not seen a barrel other than sitting in the pasture, yet she knows how to bend around my inside leg, do figure 8's, serpentines, etc. There are a LOT of things you can use. The other day I was using a light pole in the yard. She'll get plenty of barrel training as she gets older, but she'll have the foundation there from just working out in the field/pasture. :)
Edited by mtcanchazer 2017-05-16 11:29 PM
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | Agree with both above posters. I rarely practice the pattern.
But one of my favorite drills is setting up three barrels in a row and loping spirals around each one, in the same direction. It's pretty much the only "drill" I do period because I'm stuck in a small indoor arena 9 months out of the year and I can't set a real pattern up .It's good for teaching one the balance they need for the turns, and I use it to get seasoned horses to build muscle needed to run after they've had some time off.
Other than that I just find creative ways to work on the skills my horses need for the barrel pattern. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | We really like the exercise Jordan Briggs demonstrates on this youtube video, from the Racers edge show, it starts at about the 12 minute mark. But I found the whole episode very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3SFyWfS3I |
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Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | I had the good fortune to start colts with Ray Hunt for many years. He had a different priority with young horses, and that was to be sure not to bind them up or be in their way when you ask for something. This just causes fear and resistance. You need to know where the horses feet are, and what foot his weight is on at any given time. He can't lift a foot that he is standing on. The weight needs to be on another foot when you ask him to lift a foot to move. I always work on this first, and I am always amazed at how many people focus on a movement without putting the horses body and weight in a position to make that movement smoothly. An older horse may just put up with you and hop into the move you want. A young horse does not understand that and either gets mad or frightened. Once you drill yourself in knowing where your horses feet are, they weigh nothing at all, and the movements you want become effortless.
At this point you can go to repetitive drills with much better results, no matter what they are.
It has always amazed me how many people can't tell you when their horse is lifting each of it's feet off of the ground at a walk. Even worse when asking for a lead.
Might not have been what the OP is asking, but need to be considered first. |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| winwillows - 2017-05-17 6:45 PM
I had the good fortune to start colts with Ray Hunt for many years. He had a different priority with young horses, and that was to be sure not to bind them up or be in their way when you ask for something. This just causes fear and resistance. You need to know where the horses feet are, and what foot his weight is on at any given time. He can't lift a foot that he is standing on. The weight needs to be on another foot when you ask him to lift a foot to move. I always work on this first, and I am always amazed at how many people focus on a movement without putting the horses body and weight in a position to make that movement smoothly. An older horse may just put up with you and hop into the move you want. A young horse does not understand that and either gets mad or frightened. Once you drill yourself in knowing where your horses feet are, they weigh nothing at all, and the movements you want become effortless.
At this point you can go to repetitive drills with much better results, no matter what they are.
It has always amazed me how many people can't tell you when their horse is lifting each of it's feet off of the ground at a walk. Even worse when asking for a lead.
Might not have been what the OP is asking, but need to be considered first.
Very good post!!  |
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