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 I don't want to screw up!
Posts: 3881
    
Location: North Dakota -> Colorado | In lieu of Fallon Taylor using blinkers at the NFR, what are everyone's opinions on blinkers, their benefits, and which cup is the best. |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | BLINDERS are to block out visual stimuli. In BabyFlo's case, the third barrel in particular. But like WrapSnap said, the knocking with her happens after the turn is initiated, not going into the pocket.
I think if you need them, use them. If you don't, dont. They are a pretty benign aid if unnecessary, so I wouldn't think you'd hurt anything by experimenting with wearing one. |
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I don't want to screw up!
Posts: 3881
Location: North Dakota -> Colorado | I am sorry that I was taught a different term for them, I have grown up calling them that, and I probably will not change. Everyone is brought up different. You don't need to critisize the way I was taught, especially if we come from different areas of the United States. Besides on everyplace that I have found them for retail they are called BLINKER hoods.
But thank you for your response, I am trying to find anything that could potentially help my one horse.
Edited by TurnNBurn-3Barrels 2013-12-12 11:21 AM
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 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | Your terminolgy is correct. Blinders I believe are used on draft type horses. TB's and QH's all use Blinkers. They help keep a horse focused. I don't believe in using them unless a horse absolutely needs them. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 816
| I would use them if I thought one my horses needed them. I think some risks would be the fact that they would being turning a barrel blind. Once they get to the barrel they won't see it again until maybe when they are leaving it and would rely on your cues only. This would make them good for horses that have a habit of anticipating a turn to soon and drop shoulders, but if your behind in your run you might blow by one or risk bowing out. |
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Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | JRC - 2013-12-12 11:56 AM I would use them if I thought one my horses needed them. I think some risks would be the fact that they would being turning a barrel blind. Once they get to the barrel they won't see it again until maybe when they are leaving it and would rely on your cues only. This would make them good for horses that have a habit of anticipating a turn to soon and drop shoulders, but if your behind in your run you might blow by one or risk bowing out.
I think all of that would depend on what type of cup you use. They make anywhere from a "cheater" to a full cup. Looked like Fallon had a french cup on the ones she ran in, but it was hard to see. Those are easily cut down to the desired size also. |
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Veteran
Posts: 150
Location: Okla | You 'might' try using a shadow roll on your nose band,,,one of my horses literally has to have one on to keep her mind where its suppose to be, and heck, I die mine different colors to match her saddle pad or boots...fun to have a little more added color. If you decide to try this, I hope it works for you and good luck... |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 816
| total performance - 2013-12-12 12:19 PM
JRC - 2013-12-12 11:56 AM I would use them if I thought one my horses needed them. I think some risks would be the fact that they would being turning a barrel blind. Once they get to the barrel they won't see it again until maybe when they are leaving it and would rely on your cues only. This would make them good for horses that have a habit of anticipating a turn to soon and drop shoulders, but if your behind in your run you might blow by one or risk bowing out.
I think all of that would depend on what type of cup you use. They make anywhere from a "cheater" to a full cup. Looked like Fallon had a french cup on the ones she ran in, but it was hard to see. Those are easily cut down to the desired size also.
Thanks for the info, I have never used one and assumed they are all about the same! |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | TurnNBurn-3Barrels - 2013-12-12 11:19 AM
I am sorry that I was taught a different term for them, I have grown up calling them that, and I probably will not change. Everyone is brought up different. You don't need to critisize the way I was taught, especially if we come from different areas of the United States. Besides on everyplace that I have found them for retail they are called BLINKER hoods.
But thank you for your response, I am trying to find anything that could potentially help my one horse.
My apologies.... I hadn't meant for that to seem rude or critical. I grew up knowing them as blinders, but from everybody else's responses - it looks like a clear case of tomayto vs tomahto :)
But I stand by what I said about their use. I don't see them as being as volatile as say, a bit change. If you try them and they work, SUPER! If you try them and they don't, no big deal.
Good luck! |
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 Saint Stacey
| I used them when I was rehabbing a paint I had that liked to turn too much. I only used them for a few months. He was just turning a touch too tight. They allowed him to rely on me to decide when to turn instead of him just doing it. Once I got him more focused on me, I was able to remove them. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | SKM - 2013-12-12 7:15 PM I used them when I was rehabbing a paint I had that liked to turn too much. I only used them for a few months. He was just turning a touch too tight. They allowed him to rely on me to decide when to turn instead of him just doing it. Once I got him more focused on me, I was able to remove them.
Many years ago I also used them on a horse to rehab. The lady that owned him was going blind and she turned him into every barrel so he thought he was suppose to run them over instead of running around them. They worked great and after about 3 months, I was able to take them off. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 632
Location: Missouri | I have a pretty ratey mare, could this potentially help open her up?
Where is the best place to buy them? |
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I don't want to screw up!
Posts: 3881
Location: North Dakota -> Colorado | Thank you all! I am looking to use these on a horse that anticipates a great deal, and no matter how many drills I have tried to remove the anticipation to even never working her on barrels and just working on her handle whenever I haul her somewhere we go back to the same anticipation, and I am not saying it is just the horse, but I am working on myself to not sit quite as much as I have and to keep myself more forward, so I am hoping that in conjunction with that, blinkers would help with getting back on track per say. |
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I don't want to screw up!
Posts: 3881
Location: North Dakota -> Colorado | svincent - 2013-12-12 4:36 PM TurnNBurn-3Barrels - 2013-12-12 11:19 AM I am sorry that I was taught a different term for them, I have grown up calling them that, and I probably will not change. Everyone is brought up different. You don't need to critisize the way I was taught, especially if we come from different areas of the United States. Besides on everyplace that I have found them for retail they are called BLINKER hoods.
But thank you for your response, I am trying to find anything that could potentially help my one horse.
My apologies.... I hadn't meant for that to seem rude or critical. I grew up knowing them as blinders, but from everybody else's responses - it looks like a clear case of tomayto vs tomahto : ) But I stand by what I said about their use. I don't see them as being as volatile as say, a bit change. If you try them and they work, SUPER! If you try them and they don't, no big deal. Good luck!
Oh no worries, I completely understand, it happens, especially over the internet :) thank you for your responses! I really appreciate everyone's input! |
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Location: Down South Mississippi | old timey barrel rac - 2013-12-12 2:43 PM You 'might' try using a shadow roll on your nose band,,,one of my horses literally has to have one on to keep her mind where its suppose to be, and heck, I die mine different colors to match her saddle pad or boots...fun to have a little more added color. If you decide to try this, I hope it works for you and good luck...
What is a shadow roll? I would like to see a pic of that!  |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | motherof2 - 2013-12-12 10:23 PM old timey barrel rac - 2013-12-12 2:43 PM You 'might' try using a shadow roll on your nose band,,,one of my horses literally has to have one on to keep her mind where its suppose to be, and heck, I die mine different colors to match her saddle pad or boots...fun to have a little more added color. If you decide to try this, I hope it works for you and good luck... What is a shadow roll? I would like to see a pic of that!
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bigdweb.com/images/9559.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bigdweb.com/Fleece-Shadow-Roll-Thoroughbred/productinfo/9559/&h=400&w=400&sz=38&tbnid=5PMw3h43NXD-aM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=137&zoom=1&usg=__wQKgNOaodLOcZBYkOPvfScLIVWg=&docid=eMPHPs_Q27OqnM&sa=X&ei=dJ2qUtvWKuXn2AXc7IDoBw&ved=0CEcQ9QEwDA
When you go to buy your blinkers you have the options of different cup sizes at the eye. I like to use "full sets" on the bad duckers that come over to my place for tune ups. |
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| First I will show you BLINDERS for our extreme sport of barrel racing ...
and a major reason for using them ...
 (BLINDERS AND BARREL RACER EQUIPED TO RUN.jpg)
 (BLINDERS FOR BARREL HORSES.jpg)
 (BLINDER CARTOON 50.jpg)
 (BLINDERs ON WORK HORSE TACK.jpg)
Attachments
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 BLINDERS AND BARREL RACER EQUIPED TO RUN.jpg (22KB - 295 downloads)
BLINDERS FOR BARREL HORSES.jpg (11KB - 277 downloads)
BLINDER CARTOON 50.jpg (88KB - 279 downloads)
BLINDERs ON WORK HORSE TACK.jpg (13KB - 279 downloads)
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| Now for a shadow roll ..
This is to restrict a horses view directly in front of them
for horses that are shadow jumpers, foot print, tire marks,
dirt ridges on track from drag equipment, streaks of light
from grandstands or finish line camera running across the track ...
I would never wear one on a barrel horse due to the
short distances, seeing the fence or alleyway opening and
ground condition around a barrel ..
Edited by BARRELHORSE USA 2013-12-13 1:25 AM
 (SHADOW ROLL AND TONGUE TIE.jpg)
Attachments
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SHADOW ROLL AND TONGUE TIE.jpg (73KB - 267 downloads)
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| BLINKERS ... there are as many sizes, positions for blinkers as there
are horses but all have the same intent.
TO KEEP A HORSE FROM SEEING BEHIND OR ABOVE ITSELF TO THE
POINT IT IS DISTRACTED.
Fallon is a hand and a very smart horsewoman and this is not the firs
t time she has used blinkers. I would say she has had the following
experience before and pulled out her equipment bag.
Babyflo IMO was either distracted with seeing things (people, camera
flashes, waving flags) above her in the T&M ... or was watching her
riders movements. As you know people are stacked all the way to
the ceiling in that basketball court they hold the NFR in!!
One of the best ways to keep from having a ducking or barrel knocking
horse is to never teach one to a rollback. This requires a horse to
get up under themselves to stop and then turn back only 90 degrees
(half a turn). Once they learn a rollback and you come running to a
barrel with your legs flopping or gripping the horse does not know how
much turn you want them to do and will think any cue you give means
to do a rollback.
Teach one to do 180, 360 or a turn and a half turnaround with their
feet up under them with focused momentum while doing basic training
and to pickup a correct lead at the same time when leaving the turn
(which is a basic barrel move). NO STOPPING INVOLVED..
Blinkers on the track so horse cannot see the header in the gates,
jockey movements, heavy traffic on each side when coming out of
the gates, crowds, grandstand lights or being over taken and have
a horse shy horse break stride or veer or drift away from the other horse.
I hate to disappoint those that think horse is going to correct
themselves by wearing blinkers from being too ratey, ducking
in, leaning in etc etc with blinkers on .. distances are too short
and rider is not going to correct their way of riding the horse or
change what they taught the horse for the past year or two during
slow or fast training works.
Riding at full speed with 3 major turns .. rider and horse had better
have their habits ingrained and that cannot happen if you do not
use the same leg and hand cues and use focused momentum whil
e training at a walk, trot, lope or gallop. Also you cannot use a
smaller turn at slower speeds ... you need to pick you out a piece
of dirt and set the horse to work in that same turning pattern at
all speeds.
On a ratey horse ... they are just doing what you taught them ...
stop before the barrel, stop during the turn and stop before
gathering to the next barrels ... old horse does not know you
just want them to slow down if you have taught them this stop
and go routine . Everyone loves their horses after going to
reining training ... but stop and think about it ... everything a
reiner does is completely opposite of what you want a barrel
horse to do. Rider correcting their way of riding will help the
horse more than anything else you can do... just by riding quiet,
focused, same cue intensity and good reflexes. Think back .. the
major things horse learned was slow work and be ready to stop.
Two of my pet peeves on barrel racers is the lack of concern on
learning how to use their hands and fingers on split reins and the
correct length needed on barrel reins. 2.) Learning how important
it is to switch to riding 2 handed and squaring their shoulders before
each barrel to square their horse up before the next barrel. Watch
how quick the pro's do this... the bigger the arena the easier it is to
spot or a slow motion video.
If you try blinkers be ready for either or both of the following ...
horse will speed up and crash the fence or will think it missed the
barrel and turn hard and run over the barrel.
Ok nuff said .. here are some interesting blinkers that can be precut
to how much eye you want to cover to limit their ability to see behind
themselves ... look at the eye chart too .. lol
WHOOPS ... the blinker with EARS is setup only for crowd noise in this photo ..
can buy them padded or stuff something in their ears if they are crowd or
noise shy ...
Edited by BARRELHORSE USA 2013-12-13 2:27 AM
 (BLINKER HOOD WITH EARS - 60.jpg)
 (BLINKERS HOW A HORSE SEE'S WITHOUT - 60.jpg)
 (BLINKERS FRENCH EVENTER.jpg)
 (BLINKERS FRENCH.jpg)
 (BLINKERS RACING EQUIPMENT.gif)
 (BLINKERS FOR CHEATING STUDENTS.jpg)
 (BLINKER FULL REGULAR STYLE.jpg)
 (BLINKER SECRETARIAT HALF CUT.jpg)
 (BLINKER SECRETARIAT QUARTER CUT 30.jpg)
Attachments
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BLINKER HOOD WITH EARS - 60.jpg (80KB - 280 downloads)
BLINKERS HOW A HORSE SEE'S WITHOUT - 60.jpg (70KB - 273 downloads)
BLINKERS FRENCH EVENTER.jpg (55KB - 269 downloads)
BLINKERS FRENCH.jpg (43KB - 276 downloads)
BLINKERS RACING EQUIPMENT.gif (22KB - 276 downloads)
BLINKERS FOR CHEATING STUDENTS.jpg (47KB - 266 downloads)
BLINKER FULL REGULAR STYLE.jpg (5KB - 265 downloads)
BLINKER SECRETARIAT HALF CUT.jpg (22KB - 273 downloads)
BLINKER SECRETARIAT QUARTER CUT 30.jpg (76KB - 277 downloads)
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 Leggs
Posts: 4680
Location: lexington KY | I asked Fallon last night, why she uses them. If any of you are interested in reading it, you can find it here: http://ontherodeoroad.com/otrr-talks-to-fallon-taylor-before-round-8/ |
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