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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
  
| I always worry I'm doing too much with one horse, ever since my barrel horse got hurt, my backup has gotten all the work piled on him. What is too much for one horse? He's 12, well fed, and in great shape. Here's a typical week, some weeks he gets an extra day of rest or another run.
Sun- Rest, pasture
Mon- 45 min workout, 15 min slow work on barrels
Tues- 15 min warmup, 1-2 runs at a Tuesday night barrel series
Wed- 1-2 mile workout, 5-10 min slow work, 10 min light tracking roping dummy (trot)
Thurs- 15 min warmup, 1 hr serpentine practice (trotting and loping pattern 5x)
Fri- Rest or light workout
Sat- 1-3 runs, and light warmup/cool down
Is this too much for one horse? | |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Here is the deal. I firmly believe every horse only has so many runs and we are already asking horses to do something very unnatural by having them run barrels and be performance horses. How long do you want your horse to last? I personally won't run my horse 5x in a week as you do. For both mental and physical reasons. JMHO. Is your backup horse a finished barrel horse? If so why does he ever need to see a barrel except for shows? That's the reward mine get, when they are finished they only run barrels at the jackpots.
Edited by FLITASTIC 2015-05-28 11:22 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | IMO, I think there is too much pattern work between runs being made and slow work. If your horse doesn't need that much work on the pattern, you would be amazed what roping the dummy does for a barrel horse. Right now, I am about to have a baby but my hubby ropes the dummy or live cattle a few times a week on my horse and ususally does exercise stations around some tires (not barrels) 1-2x a week or while he is warming up to rope. He knows the pattern and doesn't need to see the barrels much, but the roping and tire work do so much more for him than working the pattern does.
ETA: there are a couple of days off per week as well, not rode every day. Since I am not riding, he rotates the horses around on who gets rode.
Edited by KylaKris 2015-05-28 11:26 AM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 518
| I don't think so as long as he's in good shape, not sore and not getting bored. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| FLITASTIC - 2015-05-28 11:19 AM
Here is the deal. I firmly believe every horse only has so many runs and we are already asking horses to do something very unnatural by having them run barrels and be performance horses. How long do you want your horse to last? I personally won't run my horse 5x in a week as you do. For both mental and physical reasons. JMHO. Is your backup horse a finished barrel horse? If so why does he ever need to see a barrel except for shows? That's the reward mine get, when they are finished they only run barrels at the jackpots.
I agree! I don't think I've ever ran 5x in one week, on one horse, if I did two runs on Tuesday, I would only run once Saturday. Sorry for not specifying! My backup horse had never seen a barrel until this spring, he is by no means a finished barrel horse, and requires lots of slow work, on days when I do slow work, I never go past a slow lope. I agree, my finished barrel horse never sees a barrel except when we run. I don't believe in just running a horse that isn't solid on the barrels yet, and like slowing things down, and doing slow work. | |
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Miracle in the Making
Posts: 4013
| IowaCanChaser - 2015-05-28 12:10 PM I always worry I'm doing too much with one horse, ever since my barrel horse got hurt, my backup has gotten all the work piled on him. What is too much for one horse? He's 12, well fed, and in great shape. Here's a typical week, some weeks he gets an extra day of rest or another run. Sun- Rest, pasture Mon- 45 min workout, 15 min slow work on barrels Tues- 15 min warmup, 1-2 runs at a Tuesday night barrel series Wed- 1-2 mile workout, 5-10 min slow work, 10 min light tracking roping dummy (trot) Thurs- 15 min warmup, 1 hr serpentine practice (trotting and loping pattern 5x) Fri- Rest or light workout Sat- 1-3 runs, and light warmup/cool down Is this too much for one horse?
not in my book we would run then=m several timeon sat and sunday with a rodeo on friday
but not all horses can i just have had reall good sound sane horses | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| vjls - 2015-05-28 11:31 AM
IowaCanChaser - 2015-05-28 12:10 PM I always worry I'm doing too much with one horse, ever since my barrel horse got hurt, my backup has gotten all the work piled on him. What is too much for one horse? He's 12, well fed, and in great shape. Here's a typical week, some weeks he gets an extra day of rest or another run. Sun- Rest, pasture Mon- 45 min workout, 15 min slow work on barrels Tues- 15 min warmup, 1-2 runs at a Tuesday night barrel series Wed- 1-2 mile workout, 5-10 min slow work, 10 min light tracking roping dummy (trot) Thurs- 15 min warmup, 1 hr serpentine practice (trotting and loping pattern 5x) Fri- Rest or light workout Sat- 1-3 runs, and light warmup/cool down Is this too much for one horse?
not in my book we would run then=m several timeon sat and sunday with a rodeo on friday
but not all horses can i just have had reall good sound sane horses
I've been blessed with very sane and sound horses! But if they showed any sighn of lameness they would NOT run until we et the problem fixed! And if they show signs of not being able to handle it mentally, we would go to the show, do gate work, and not run. Then probably go trail riding and roping! | |
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 Veteran
Posts: 129
Location: South | All advice I can give you is, I had a very close friend in the same situation as you. Ran different jackpots multiple times a week plus weekends. Her main mount was hurt too, and she started really pushing her backup horse. By about the end of the season, he was blown up. At the end of the day- he couldn't handle the pressure of hauling and daily riding. Don't get me wrong- she rode him like her other horse before his injury, but the pressure of competition wasn't there. He also could have been hurting at the time too idk. Just please remember like it has already been stated that a horse only has so many runs in their life, and if running barrels ever stops being fun and enjoyable your in trouble. So if that means working cattle a few weeks your off or not touching him at all and giving him a break. Do it!
Good luck! | |
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| I'm not a fan of running my horse more than once at a show unless there is some good added money. I also only work barrels if needed. | |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | For a green horse, no. Although I would think he would get bored pretty easy. I would track the dummy more than just dry work. give him somethign to think about.
IMO your horse is probably in shape. Keep him there but don't overwork on boring stuff. Not sure ifyou have cattle, but instead of dry work take him round & round tracking the cattle, start breakaway if you think you need to ride everyday. Just change it up. :)
Once mine hit good shape, I only ride once maybe twice a week outside competition runs, unless there is a pattern issue. I am riding a green-to-barrels horse right now, and he only sees the pattern outside competition once a week. He knows where to go, he knows what to do, but he needs slowed down sometimes. | |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Well since he's green the pattern work is obviously important, and the dummy is good for his brain. How often does he get out on trails? Getting him out of the arena a few times a week would probably be really good for him, mind and body. Three runs a week isn't too bad but once in a while taking a day off from running wouldn't hurt either. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| cavyrunsbarrels - 2015-05-28 12:20 PM
Well since he's green the pattern work is obviously important, and the dummy is good for his brain. How often does he get out on trails? Getting him out of the arena a few times a week would probably be really good for him, mind and body. Three runs a week isn't too bad but once in a while taking a day off from running wouldn't hurt either.
We have a mile long waterway in the field behind our house, and I usually finish the day/cool him off, by taking a nice relaxing walk through the grass way. I occasionally ride through the pasture of cows, or ride down the gravel road. | |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| When I spoke to my vet about conditioning and keeping a horse conditioned, he really stressed 2 consecutive days off to allow the muscles and tendons to relax and get rid of any excess lactic acid.
He also said for proper tendon, ligament, and bone density a horse should be rode minimum of 2 miles, Ed Wright also speaks about the 2 miles, Marlene Eddelman talks about 4 miles.
I would change my program to make the days of rest off either after Tuesday or before the weekend
Also the mile riding I would increase to 2 miles
If the horse is doing well with runs, I may only do one-two days of arena work | |
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