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Elite Veteran
Posts: 831
  
| My 4 yr old feels like he is flat running off when we go to the first barrel!! He turns it, not always the best but turns it and usually when he doesn't turn it the best it's because of me. And that is because he about half way scares me going to it and I almost kinda freeze because I have a problem trusting him. But then going to 2 and 3 he is more push style. And I am just having a real hard time getting with him. Has anybody ever had one like this? How did u get past it? Is there any tricks besides setting him to and at the first barrel to get him rating back a little? He is going to be so nice if I can just either get him rating a little or if I can get past the out of control feeling. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1343
Location: Oklahoma | I believe that is what it takes to win - the feeling like "OMG, he's going too fast, he can't possibly turn the first barrel" and then he turns it - that is when you have a winning horse.You might try loping to and then setting him at a stop before the first barrel and waiting a few seconds before continuing on, but I would suggest you get used to it. Unless he is really running past it, just get your timing down and establish a firm cue - like sitting down in the saddle - for his first barrel. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | well have you heard the saying "if you aint scared goin to the first..you aint goin fast enough".....sounds like you got it........lol
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Expert
Posts: 1343
Location: Oklahoma | mruggles - 2014-09-15 10:38 AM well have you heard the saying "if you aint scared goin to the first..you aint goin fast enough".....sounds like you got it........lol
m
That's right! I also heard one girl giving advice to another girl that "well, she could just close her eyes on the way to the first barrel", LOL, she was joking, of course. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | My mare is like this and I'm learning to trust her...first I was trying to pull her back, now I'm just starting to let her go, and hope I stay on, LOL. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 831
| Lmao!! Yeah I know!! But it's still hard to get past it and trust him. Lol!! I know we will get it together eventually!! And I do know that when we do we will b hard to beat, but sometimes riding and trusting one like that is a lot easier said than done!! Haha!! |
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 Tough Patooty
Posts: 2615
Location: Sperry, OK | ready2rodeo - 2014-09-15 10:11 AM My 4 yr old feels like he is flat running off when we go to the first barrel!! He turns it, not always the best but turns it and usually when he doesn't turn it the best it's because of me. And that is because he about half way scares me going to it and I almost kinda freeze because I have a problem trusting him. But then going to 2 and 3 he is more push style. And I am just having a real hard time getting with him. Has anybody ever had one like this? How did u get past it? Is there any tricks besides setting him to and at the first barrel to get him rating back a little? He is going to be so nice if I can just either get him rating a little or if I can get past the out of control feeling. Every time you ride him, even if you don't work the barrels, take him to the pattern when you are done. Gallop (or trot) to the first barrel, transistion him down (DO NOT get to your rate point and jam him in the ground!), from a lope to a trot to a walk to a stop, or if trotting transistion to a walk then stop. You should be stopped by time you hit your entry point of the first barrel. Just sit there until he relaxes, no matter how long it takes, make him stand straight in position like he was there to turn it. When he relaxes, get off and loosen your cinch, then walk away. If you will do this EVERY time you ride, he will begin to relate being at the first barrel as a resting point, or where he goes to "get air".. he will associate that spot with being a "good" place to be.. he will naturally start to rate on his own and it will be a smooth collected rate, because you are not jamming him in the gound. When you a "running off" to the first he will collect/transisiton nice and smooth becasue he thinks he is going to get to stop and rest, but since he has momentum and you are "riding" him, he will follow aroun the barrel, smooth and controlled. This will take some time, you can't go do it today, and him work perfectly tomorrow.. but it does work!
Edited by ACEINTHEHOLE 2014-09-15 10:52 AM
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | I have one like that. He has a string of 1D wins at big shows like the NBHA world as long as my arm. I bought him to rodeo on, but I have found that I just really don't enjoy going that fast anymore. I'd rather run slow and enjoy the ride, than win it all. (That's pretty sad, isn't it? All part of getting older, I guess.) Anyway, mine's for sale. Even though I could slow him up somewhat, I don't think I should mar a consistent 1D horse's record for the sake of my comfort, so I'm just going to sell him to someone that DOES want to go that fast. It's a shame because I DO like the horse, but he just scared the pee out of me going to that first one!!! Arrggggg  This is exactly how I look when I'm riding him. lol |
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Miracle in the Making
Posts: 4013
| getting older is a w...... before wheelchair jetta was a runaway to first barrel the push all the way 2nd and 3rd
if if i did my job she would inhale the first barell she was 1 stride in 1 stride out she was awsome but tough to get past 2 and 3
she is buried in the backyard. she was 1 of those you just enjoyed watching |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | My mare Bunny if you give her the opportunity to RUN to the first barrel, she will not rate it. I have to try my best to convince her to throttle herself going to the first barrel…in small pens it doesn't bother her but it did slow her down at ANHA on a standard. It just depends on her.. if she's feeling good and really focused, she's turning that first even if we go at a good clip. If she's sore or just frazzled… we're going to the fence.
She clocks better cruising to the first and smoking the turn than she does running to it and going by..
If your horse is truly rating when they run that fast in, then by all means just sit deep and get ready!!!
If your horse flies in there and goes by a stride every time, it may be worth trying to now go balls to the wall in.. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1440
Location: Texas | I am going throughg this a bit myself. My big boy has always been fairly ratey with exception of the first. I did t have to drive him I to it but really didn't have to really check him either. Well about a month ago he has really found another gear going to first and it has taken every ounce of restraint to keep from really checking him down. I just tell myself to trust him all the way in there. Some days it works other days he just scares the crap out of me and I do check him some. But I have to admit that sucker is going to turn whether I am on him or not. I finally have proof and got it the hard way! Lol he went flying in there and the ground was harder than usual but when I finally asked him to turn that sucker dropped and turned and I played superman right over his neck and he went on to finish the turn I am still not up and around completely. The bad part is that one of my friends went and got him and the first words out of her mouth were "dang that sucker was wanting to work, I don't think I have ever seen him drop and turn like that before". Not are u ok or anything like that. Lol. So just some words of wisdom if you know in your heart that he is going to turn then trust him, but be ready with a deep seat and be ready! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1028
| ACEINTHEHOLE - 2014-09-15 10:50 AM ready2rodeo - 2014-09-15 10:11 AM My 4 yr old feels like he is flat running off when we go to the first barrel!! He turns it, not always the best but turns it and usually when he doesn't turn it the best it's because of me. And that is because he about half way scares me going to it and I almost kinda freeze because I have a problem trusting him. But then going to 2 and 3 he is more push style. And I am just having a real hard time getting with him. Has anybody ever had one like this? How did u get past it? Is there any tricks besides setting him to and at the first barrel to get him rating back a little? He is going to be so nice if I can just either get him rating a little or if I can get past the out of control feeling. Every time you ride him, even if you don't work the barrels, take him to the pattern when you are done. Gallop (or trot) to the first barrel, transistion him down (DO NOT get to your rate point and jam him in the ground!), from a lope to a trot to a walk to a stop, or if trotting transistion to a walk then stop. You should be stopped by time you hit your entry point of the first barrel. Just sit there until he relaxes, no matter how long it takes, make him stand straight in position like he was there to turn it. When he relaxes, get off and loosen your cinch, then walk away. If you will do this EVERY time you ride, he will begin to relate being at the first barrel as a resting point, or where he goes to "get air".. he will associate that spot with being a "good" place to be.. he will naturally start to rate on his own and it will be a smooth collected rate, because you are not jamming him in the gound. When you a "running off" to the first he will collect/transisiton nice and smooth becasue he thinks he is going to get to stop and rest, but since he has momentum and you are "riding" him, he will follow aroun the barrel, smooth and controlled. This will take some time, you can't go do it today, and him work perfectly tomorrow.. but it does work!
I'd have to agree with ACE here. I had this same problem with the gelding I'm running now. He'd blow into the pen with only run on his mind to the first barrel; after ruling out lameness issues, I started slowly fixing our problem by making the first barrel our "rest place". He's the kind of horse that would've completely blown up had somebody just ran him to the first and jammed him into the ground. I'd ride him like normal, out in the pasture, trail riding, whatever, but I'd always ride back to the arena and trot/lope and transition down to our rate point, then stop, drop my hand and pat him on the neck. As soon as he chilled out, I'd get off, loosen the cinch. It certainly wasn't an overnight fix, but after a couple weeks, his first started to improve. Now, he runs to the first so hard it sort of scares me, but he never runs by it. I love how I can just turn him loose and know without a doubt he's going to turn.
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 A Gopher's Worst Nightmare
Posts: 5094
Location: Southern Oregon | I love a horse that runs hard to the first.....that being said what is coming to my mind when I read this is that he is "rushing" to his first. This can turn into HUGE problems as you horse matures on the pattern. Rating and scrambling being the biggest two in my opinion. I have had a few BIG horses with this same problem back in my HS Rodeo day. Here is what I usually do with them during practice.
I set them up and go as I normally would to my first. The SECOND I feel my horse hollow out or rush I sit and whoa, Roll back in the opposite direction or counter arch(depends on the horse and the situation) and lope back to my start point. Whoa, rollback and head back to the first. I personally do this until my horse will run up correctly with out rushing and turn a nice first.
With my younger horses I really prefer deconstructing the entire pattern and working on each barrel as an individual each day and then have days of whole pattern as one. If that makes since. Seems to keep my horses and my mind fresh and looking at it as three separate turns and not just a blurr. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 831
| cowgirl_3207 - 2014-09-16 9:29 AM
I love a horse that runs hard to the first.....that being said what is coming to my mind when I read this is that he is "rushing" to his first. This can turn into HUGE problems as you horse matures on the pattern. Rating and scrambling being the biggest two in my opinion. I have had a few BIG horses with this same problem back in my HS Rodeo day. Here is what I usually do with them during practice.
I set them up and go as I normally would to my first. The SECOND I feel my horse hollow out or rush I sit and whoa, Roll back in the opposite direction or counter arch(depends on the horse and the situation) and lope back to my start point. Whoa, rollback and head back to the first. I personally do this until my horse will run up correctly with out rushing and turn a nice first.
With my younger horses I really prefer deconstructing the entire pattern and working on each barrel as an individual each day and then have days of whole pattern as one. If that makes since. Seems to keep my horses and my mind fresh and looking at it as three separate turns and not just a blurr.
This is exactly what I was meaning. I don't mind going hard to any barrel but I also don't like feeling like there is no control or like u said is rushing to it. And yes I agree as of right now it's not really say a "problem" but yes as we go along if I don't get that sense of rate or hunt going to it then it Could Become a problem.
Edited by ready2rodeo 2014-09-16 1:30 PM
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 Some Kind of Trouble
Posts: 4430
| ready2rodeo - 2014-09-16 12:26 PM cowgirl_3207 - 2014-09-16 9:29 AM I love a horse that runs hard to the first.....that being said what is coming to my mind when I read this is that he is "rushing" to his first. This can turn into HUGE problems as you horse matures on the pattern. Rating and scrambling being the biggest two in my opinion. I have had a few BIG horses with this same problem back in my HS Rodeo day. Here is what I usually do with them during practice. I set them up and go as I normally would to my first. The SECOND I feel my horse hollow out or rush I sit and whoa, Roll back in the opposite direction or counter arch(depends on the horse and the situation) and lope back to my start point. Whoa, rollback and head back to the first. I personally do this until my horse will run up correctly with out rushing and turn a nice first. With my younger horses I really prefer deconstructing the entire pattern and working on each barrel as an individual each day and then have days of whole pattern as one. If that makes since. Seems to keep my horses and my mind fresh and looking at it as three separate turns and not just a blurr. This is exactly what I was meaning. I don't mind going hard to any barrel but I also don't like feeling like there is no control or like u said is rushing to it. And yes I agree as of right now it's not really say a "problem" but yes as we go along if I don't get that sense of rate or hunt going to it then it Could Become a problem.
My horse is that same way.. a headlong rush to the first and then totally different into the other two. Ed Wright really got onto me to be more aggressive in shaping him to it, both with my inside hand and foot. I didn't feel like he was not shaped before, but that totally changed it and improved his consistancy in turning too. |
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