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Member
Posts: 6
| My mare has never been trained in barrels and I've been working with her on it. She has a lot of speed and bends really nicely and she really enjoys it so far. However, we are having trouble getting around the barrel at a lope. She takes it so wide and isn't snappy in her turns at all. It's almost as if she's doing nice figure 8's. My body position is pretty square and consistent. I give her a medium pocket and push her past the barrel a little so that she doesn't bow out the back so much. I know she could rip around the barrels because when she is let loose in her pasture she will flat out run, stop, roll back and do it again until she's tired. In the saddle I can't get her to roll back. I'm not sure really how to ask her. I've never asked her to flat out run the pattern because if she can't get her turns down at a slow lope how can she do it as fast as she can and be successful? What can I do to teach her how to get around the barrel tighter and snappier? |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
  
| You need to get her broke first, she needs to be able to lope 5 foot circles before she can lope around a barrel.
Work on circles, it takes time |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
| How long have you had her on the barrel pattern?
Edited by RacingTheArabian 2015-11-29 7:44 PM
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Member
Posts: 6
| cheryl makofka - 2015-11-29 5:29 PM
You need to get her broke first, she needs to be able to lope 5 foot circles before she can lope around a barrel.
Work on circles, it takes time
She is "broke" and she can lope around the barrel, it's just pretty wide she's probably 10 feet off the barrel when she leaves it. I've done countless circles loping in all sorts of sizes with trainers and that is the result. She can lope 5 foot circles, but at the pattern it's almost as she's doing figure 8's between the barrels.
I've had her on the pattern for 5 or 6 months.
Edited by eshahbazi18 2015-11-29 7:56 PM
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4641
Location: Texas | Sounds like you need to slow it down. If I had a horse that didn't want to finish a turn, I would go back to the basics of walking and trotting around barrels, emphasizing the rate point and over finishing the turn every time. I would work them like that for a couple days to a week, then I'd pick it back up to a lope again and the problem would be solved. Also you need to rule out any pain issues, or saddle fit issues. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
| Okay..
Have you had her chiropractied? Teeth done, saddle fit etc??
If all checks out you really need to work on getting her bending from the rib cage and soft in supple in her hip, shoulders and rib cage. It sounds to me like she doesn't know how to bend around the barrel yet. You need to work on getting her collected, soft and supple. Lots of circles and lots of leg will help to get that bend in. Spirals is a good way to help her learn how to bend and power down and work as the circles get smaller. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| eshahbazi18 - 2015-11-29 7:54 PM
cheryl makofka - 2015-11-29 5:29 PM
You need to get her broke first, she needs to be able to lope 5 foot circles before she can lope around a barrel.
Work on circles, it takes time
She is "broke" and she can lope around the barrel, it's just pretty wide she's probably 10 feet off the barrel when she leaves it. I've done countless circles loping in all sorts of sizes with trainers and that is the result. She can lope 5 foot circles, but at the pattern it's almost as she's doing figure 8's between the barrels.
I've had her on the pattern for 5 or 6 months.
I hate to say the but just because a horse can run, stop, neck rein and do roll backs really does not mean the horse is broke. If you don't have control over the shoulders and hips, you really need to go back and teach that. Why don't you find a clinic near you and learn how to teach basics to get the horse going correctly? |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I agree find a clinic or take lessons from someone that is running in your area, sounds like to me your horse is not in her right leads going into the barrel. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
| Clinics are great! I just went to a Tana Poppino clinic in October. I have a trainer, but she encouraged me to go. I learned so much and would totally meet and have a clinic again with Tana! |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | Do you have any videos? It's impossible to say what might be going on without seeing it. |
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12972
Location: Texas | It sounds like you are just loping her up to the turns and taking ahold of your inside rein to ask her to turn. Nothing wrong with that, except she needs to learn to rate. If not, she is slowing down IN the turn, you pull her nose to the inside, she ends up on her front end, and she is bowing out of the turn.
Doing slow work, pick a rate point before the barrel and stop the horse. Teach your horse to move forward into the turn using her hind end.
Really, it would help if you had someone to show you. There are some great DVD's that can help and are worth the cost. Dena's "One Smooth Motion" DVD set is a good one. |
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