I cannot for the life of me stop letting my legs get behind me when I run, I also tend to get lazy and don't keep my heels down. Do you guys have any tips or tricks to beat it into my head and make it a habit to keep my heels down and legs to stay with me instead of going behind me? I'm desperate at this point and it makes me cringe everytime someone videos me when I run and I see that I am doing this. 

Alot of times it could be your saddle, I have seem certain saddles that do this, you cant hardley keep your legs under you. What type of saddle do you have? 

Diamond Cross

Agree on the saddle (some are just not balanced), stirrup length can be a problem too.

Is your's a Bear Trap? I had to look up these saddles since I dont know anything about them. Do you have any friends that maybe you could borrow saddles from to see if the same thing happens in them, I would borrow a few different saddles to see what happens. 

Lots of reasons. The only one that's an easy fix is saddle. You could try tying your stirrups so that you can't move them behind you. Strength training for yourself. I've watched a local young lady lose a lot of weight, buy quality tack, and take multiple lessons, and fitness train with a coach. She still gets behind and off balance. Some lady wrote a book about balance, but all I remember is how important your head is because it weighs so much. Try moving only your head and see how it effects the way your horse moves. Find your own center of gravity. Take some English lessons. 

My wife used to get her legs behind her often. Partly because the length was set too long but even after correcting that she would. We went with crooked stirrups that helped some too. But also used the straps to hold the stirrups. That was the best help for help for her. And rubber bands. I never liked the rubber band part but it helped her. Over time the straps weren't needed. We always rode Jerry Bethune saddles. She rode a 13" saddle. Before we started using The Bethune saddles she used 14". The Bethune saddles sit differently. And the leathers are a little more forward anyway. 

If you can borrow an english saddle ride in it. You will get balance & you will learn to keep your heels down. I'm an old hunter / jumper rider " back in my young days :)"  & I barrel race & my heels are always down & my balance has always been good & I give that credit to my days of showing english. I agree with others, your saddle has alot to do with it. Best to you.  

I've had this struggle too. 2 things that have helped me are changing saddles and making sure I'm not leaning forward going into a turn. I've had to work on my seat (and I still consciously work on it while riding). 

I would sell your Diamond Cross and get a "good" saddle.  The saddle you ride in is _everything_.

I agree with everyone else saying to try out different saddles...

While I agree that your saddle could be part of the problem, and your issue could be "helped" by a saddle - I'd be willing to bet that that isn't the root of the problem. I'm going to try to say this nicely- because the only time I get accused of being "too blunt" on this forum is when I give training advice. I hope you understand that what I am about to type is said with the utmost respect and desire to truly offer my thoughts on help with your leg issue. I also apolgise up front for the fact this is probably going to be a novel. One of my favorite subjects in fact....

Learn to ride. Really, really learn to ride. Go back to horsemanship basics and learn to understand how poor body mechanics affects how you sit/stay on a horse. Barrel horse riders are notorious for bad horsemanship. While the 3D/4D system has been great for boosting entry numbers and keeping shows going - it has been horrible for the horsemanship aspect of barrel racers. By allowing people with slower times to win money- it sorta rewards mediocrity and actually somewhat diminishes the desire or need to ride/get better. When people used to compete in a straight barrel race and ran too slow- they went home and did one of two things. 1) They quite competing or 2) They really started working on the things that were causing them to be too slow. Now sometimes people are just happy that they drawed a check no matter what division. Think back to the origional girl's barrel racers. Those ladies rode in slick polyester type pants and used roping saddles. They knew how to ride the hair off anything!! 

I'm not saying you are a horrible rider- I don't know you or how you ride. You are probably pretty darned good and are looking to get better. The fact that you are asking for advice on here clearly shows that you want to get better. I'm not also bashing the divisional barrel racing system. I'm a possibly washed up (but hopefully not) former 1D rider. I used to be able to ride the hair off anything. They didn't run too fast or turn too hard. Now I'm older. Life got in the way and I don't ride as much as I used to. My reflexes are slow. I've gained way too much weight and my balance has suffered. I don't have the core strength to sit one like I used to. My horsemanship ability has suffered from all of this. AND my dumb, old, fat ass still likes to train and season colts. (Now I just sell them to people that can ride the fast horses, but don't want to train them). I LOVE a divisional barrel race because it means I might draw a check and at least pay for a hamburger on the way home!

The advice already given about taking English lessons is really GOOD advice. One of the things an instructer will have you do is drop your stirrups and ride without reins on a lunge line. This helps with leg control, heels down,  and helps develope an independent seat. This exercise will also help with hand control, believe it or not. IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it.  I would also recommend learnig how to ride really well bareback.- maybe after you get comfortable in an english saddle of course - but that also helps sooooo much. Your legs have to stay in the right place in order for you to stay on. Please google "horsemanship independent seat" That concept can change your world. There is also a phenominal book written by Sylvia Loch called "the classical seat". It's short, easy to read, and has lots of pictures.   SOOO helpful.

If you are still reading this- I want to give you 4 examples of why this type of riding (english  and /or bareback) can really help your leg control.

Kassie Mowrey - needs no introduction - started out riding english (and was working toward trying out for the Olympics) before she made the switch to barrels.

Wenda Johnson - needs no introduction - There is a video of her in a bareback bikini barrel race floating around out in internet land that will BLOW your mind. She is a beast!!!

Tiany Schuster - everybody knows who she is- rides that brazillian saddle like a boss. 95% of the world would look like a monkey running a barrel race in one.

Edwen Cameron - Tiany's boyfriend- Has won MULTIPLE NBHA and AQHA world championships.  Edwen is a badass on a barrel horse, but he is a FREAK on a pole horse. He used to come from Canada to compete in pole bendings in Indiana. I personally watched him run a 19.2 second pole bending in an ENGLISH saddle at an AQHA show on a dare from Ross Carnahan. That's horsemanship!

Work on your horsemanship. It's not easy. It's not a quick fix. But it will pay you back in spades!!.

And by the way - I'm working on my comeback. I'm losing weight, committing to riding more and to riding bareback, and I'm taking an english riding lesson every other week. You want to get better? Even if you don't take my advice - really think about what could help. Make a plan. Do it! You got this!

I'm with everyone else on the saddle and I also agree on length of stirrups... also, I can ride a 14" saddle BUT they sit me forward so I have 15" so I can get on my pockets 

I agree with this as well.  I have nerve damage below the knee in one leg and to keep my legs forward it was all about being able to drop in my pockets.  Recently after some good advice on here I also dropped my stirrups for one horse I was riding.  I had a custom made saddle made with forward hung stirrups and sold it after 2 rides.  It killed my back.

How is a diamond cross not a "good" saddle though? It may not work for me maybe but it sure isn't a cheap made junk saddle.

I agree with you because I don't think it's the saddle, I think it's me that's why I asked what I can do to stop this. My saddle has more forward hung fenders and I still manage to let me legs get behind me. I did not start barrel racing seriously until I was about 19 so I think this may be a bit harder for me because I did not get to do this growing up? I'm not sure but either way I truly believe it is me, not the saddle. The girl I bought the saddle off of most certainly did not have this issue with the saddle, she is a 1D rider though. I would love to do lessons but I cannot afford them, I haven't even taken barrel lessons even though I most definitely should. That may be an option in the future but not right now. I am lazy with my legs and admit that so maybe I really need to beat it in my head. 

They are made here in Ohio if I'm not mistaken, he is at a lot of our larger shows, the saddles are often given away as awards by our local associations. That being said I wouldn't own one.... I've ridden in multiple and they don't sit you correctly or don't fit the horse that 9 out of 10 times they were measured for. He once bragged to me about how cheaply he got his leather through his vendor and that really turned me off. Most people that win them here will either sell them or put them on display and not use them! I've also notice dthat they don't hold value very well for resale. JMO though so keep that in mind...

I guess that just depends who you ask, and is quite subjective.

Don't get me wrong I am not the biggest fan of this saddle, I just don't necessarily think it's total junk either. I actually am planning on going to a tack shop for a possible trade in for a circle y. 

Is this a bear trap saddle? After I went to the web site and saw that girl on a rearing horse and she saying these saddles help keep her center, I had to giggle, lol.. And shes a rep for her area, that was a turn off for me having a rearing horse like that on a website.. Sorry and I didnt think these saddle look so great. 

I still say its the saddle unless you dont know how to balance yourself, then it could be you needing riding lessons.