Bit help, stalling around barrels

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Bit help, stalling around barrels Moderators: luluwhit, gotothewhip, cindyt, crossspur, ForumAdmin Jump to page :	Last activity 2016-07-22 7:43 PM 9 replies, 3179 views View previous thread :: View next thread
General Discussion -> Barrel Talk


cecollins0811 Reg. Aug 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 3:05 PM Subject: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Expert Posts: 1631 Location: Somewhere around here	ETA: Instead of trying to delete this thread, I'm going to try and make my question a whole lot simpler. What bits help a horse around a barrel but won't stall them out and become too much for them? Edited by cecollins0811 2016-07-22 4:04 PM
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OhMax Reg. Feb 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 4:08 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Married to a Louie Lover Posts: 3303	Depends on your hands. Anything if you can get your hands out of the bit at the right point. Also if your horse has been taught to hussle out of the turn and isn't sore. It's less of a bit thing and more of a training and jockeying thing in my opinion.
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cecollins0811 Reg. Aug 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 4:21 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Expert Posts: 1631 Location: Somewhere around here	OhMax - 2016-07-22 3:08 PM Depends on your hands. Anything if you can get your hands out of the bit at the right point. Also if your horse has been taught to hussle out of the turn and isn't sore. It's less of a bit thing and more of a training and jockeying thing in my opinion. What I've noticed with myself is i have about medium strength hands and I like to pull to my hip when asking a horse to turn. He's a horse that needs rate but also needs to be pushed into his barrels a little bit otherwise we will knock them down. I feel like I've been over biting him this summer because I'm scared he might run off and not turn at his first barrel (even though he hasn't at all this year). He was sore in his right shoulder early this year and we have him some time off with 2 chiro appointments but he's been great the past two months, getting him back him shape slowly. I can ride him in a smooth snaffle and do slow work but once we start adding speed he really tries to pull the bit out of my hands when I ask for rate.
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streakysox Reg. Jul 2008	Posted 2016-07-22 4:42 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Take a Picture Posts: 12841	Is this the horse you were using the Lynn McKenzie combo bit on?
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cecollins0811 Reg. Aug 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 4:46 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Expert Posts: 1631 Location: Somewhere around here	streakysox - 2016-07-22 3:42 PM Is this the horse you were using the Lynn McKenzie combo bit on? It wasn't Lynn's but yes it was a combi bit. He's a pretty hard running horse so I thought that would be perfect but turned out to be too much.
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OhMax Reg. Feb 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 5:01 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Married to a Louie Lover Posts: 3303	At what point in your turn are you moving your hand back up his neck and asking him to go forward?
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cecollins0811 Reg. Aug 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 5:27 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Expert Posts: 1631 Location: Somewhere around here	I usually ask him to go after my leg or his hip is past the barrel. If I do it any time before then he will bow off of the barrel. I'm not trying to ask him for .. 1D run, I'm just wanting smooth and fun.
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OhMax Reg. Feb 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 5:34 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Married to a Louie Lover Posts: 3303	So where is he stalking? Do you have a video? My stalls were fixed by really pushing my hands and therefore my body back forward at the 3/4 point, keeping inside leg on to keep enough shape to get his hip past it.
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cecollins0811 Reg. Aug 2013	Posted 2016-07-22 5:49 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Expert Posts: 1631 Location: Somewhere around here	Sorry, no recent videos but our latest run was Tuesday evening so it's still fresh in my mind. On the first barrel he was great up until about 7/8th of our turn and then stalled just about when I was going to ask him to go towards the next barrel. Same area with the second barrel. Third barrel i actually started using my brain and decided not to rate him since he seemed to be rating well on his own, and just asked him to turn and he was perfect. I also asked him to turn by guiding my hand to the outside instead of my hip. With the first and second barrel he needs a little help rating but by the third barrel he's got his head in the game. This run was with a big combo bit, which I've tried for a long time to not use but he doesn't work well in a fast run with your typical light barrel bits.
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streakysox Reg. Jul 2008	Posted 2016-07-22 7:43 PM Subject: RE: Bit help, stalling around barrels
Take a Picture Posts: 12841	cecollins0811 - 2016-07-22 4:46 PM streakysox - 2016-07-22 3:42 PM Is this the horse you were using the Lynn McKenzie combo bit on? It wasn't Lynn's but yes it was a combi bit. He's a pretty hard running horse so I thought that would be perfect but turned out to be too much. We used that combo bit about 40 years ago before we learned the importance of softening the horse. We found out that less is more. I would slow the horse down soften him in the face before moving on. What I am saying is that the horse is not head broke. If he was you would not need such a harsh long shank bit. After you get the horse soft in the face, I would use a jr cowhorse or something similar. If you have to have a combo bit look at a Wesson teardrop combo. It has a little short shank and the design is much better.
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