fatchance - 2013-12-30 3:29 PM I have and will never pull one out and go make a run on them.



Don't care what the discipline is, but as BHW teaches us, different strokes for different folks.

classicpotatochip - 2013-12-31 10:17 AM I haven't read all the replies BUT I don't think you can override a horse. Tune too much and sour one, absolutely. Horses are built to travel at least 35 miles a day. Their bodies are also made to startle and run away wide open from stimuli without warming up. They are not made to bury their butt in the ground and run 25 mph around a barrel. That's a human invention. It's hard on joints and ligaments and brains. I crippled my good mare last fall. I did. I didn't condition her well enough and entered her on deep ground, then asked for her life. Boom, out with suspensory injury for 9 months. Go me! Now everybody is ridden or ponied 1/2 mile warm up, 1 mile trot, 1 mile lope/gallop, 1 mile walk/cool out. Everyday. I ride in the dark a lot. At first, we all of us hated life. We just weren't legged up. Now it's routine, and the horses love getting to go out and play and cut up the whole way. I feel like the babysitter most days, and they meet me at the gate!! They see barrels once or twice a week for about 15 minutes on top of their regular work out. You can't avoid injuries all the time, but I at least want to know that a horse in pain was NOT my fault!!!

rachellyn80 - 2013-12-31 1:24 PM If you're being absolutely honest....How many of you get yourselves fit before asking your horse to haul you around the pattern? 

Someone very close to me is the worst about exaggerating how long they are actually exercising their horse...and it's evident when that person couldn't last that long in the saddle to work a horse that long.  If you're not fit you aren't doing your horse any favors.

rachellyn80 - 2013-12-31 12:24 PM If you're being absolutely honest....How many of you get yourselves fit before asking your horse to haul you around the pattern? 



Someone very close to me is the worst about exaggerating how long they are actually exercising their horse...and it's evident when that person couldn't last that long in the saddle to work a horse that long.  If you're not fit you aren't doing your horse any favors.

run n rate - 2013-12-31 2:14 PM LOL! I have run Pendleton on foot and it SUCKS!!!! I was sucking air by the 2nd barrel and wishing for oxygen half way to the 3rd.

run n rate - 2013-12-31 1:14 PM LOL! I have run Pendleton on foot and it SUCKS!!!! I was sucking air by the 2nd barrel and wishing for oxygen half way to the 3rd.

dhdqhllc - 2013-12-31 12:48 PM


now this applies waaaayyyy more than the horse being in shape...... 

rockette - 2013-12-31 8:03 PM So if you are fat, you shouldn't be allowed to barrel race?

CYA Ranch - 2013-12-31 8:09 PM


I'm sure that's not what was being implied here Rockette.  I know ladies that aren't skinny minny's but dang them women are in shape!  For myself, I've always been a runt until the past few years and I let myself go.  I watched videos of myself and looked at the pictures taken at runs and I looked out of balance (which I was) and constantly behind my horse.  I made a choice.  I bought myself a horse that if I didn't ride her well I'd fall off and I'm not kidding you when I say that.  I did workouts and lost 30 pounds but it was my decision for my health and to be a better rider.  

rockette - 2013-12-31 9:03 PM So if you are fat, you shouldn't be allowed to barrel race?

Fairweather - 2013-12-31 9:08 PM  I recently read a scientific article on this very thing. It was either off the The Horse or it may have been Brandenburg that posted it from somewhere else. 

Anyhow, the gyst of the article was that the studies indicated that there was actually no difference at all between a horse that is kept in an open social environment and a horse that's ridden 20-30 minutes a day of regular walk/jog/lope 3-4 times a week. 

Granted they're not talking turnout -vs- hard core barrel training. They're talking about just medium type work. 

At the old place where everyone was up every night, they ran laps racing each other 5-10 minutes when they were first turned out. That's no different than me lungeing them 7 days a week and most of the time, they breathed a lot harder than if I had lunged them because they were running harder. 

Now that most are out all the time, they don't run as hard as much but they still run a little every day and they're moving up and down the slopes during the hours they used to be up. 

If I've riden a time or two during the week before a run, I'll haul to a show and run but I just kind of cruise through and don't push, and I don't over do it on my warm up either. And he's not that out of breath after a run like that so that tells me he's not in that bad of shape either. 

I will haul one to an open pleasure type show or go sort on one straight out of the pasture if I know they're not going to be too fresh. Again, they're in shape enough to handle some light work and I don't push it hard. 

If I hadn't spent several weeks legging one up, I wouldn't ask my horse for everything he's got or expect to be knocking on 1D. That would be like asking me to run a marathon and I can barely jog a mile. But if I can jog a mile, maybe I can run down the driveway and back -- why keep me from running down the driveway if I can go that far?

For me, a lot of it comes down to common sense, what their weight is, and just knowing what kind of condition they're in and I think too the history of the horse and their conformation plays into it too. Some horses you can physically push, others you just can't. 

rockette - 2013-12-31 8:03 PM So if you are fat, you shouldn't be allowed to barrel race?

rockette - 2013-12-31 8:33 PM That is great, I have nothing against those ladies and gentlemen who are disciplined and work to stay fit. I am working on my eating issues and have two jobs right now. I am sending my horse off this January to be legged up. Hopefully my second job ends in February when she comes back. I do my best to lose weight, I also try to go to clinics once a year to try to get better. I know that even if I weighed 100 lbs I will never be a top rider. I just don't have the talent. But I don't think it will do me anything good if I don't compete until I am fit. I don't whip and spur, I enjoy barrel racing for the love of it. I don't think I am hurting my horse by competing while trying to improve my health.

Morab76 - 2013-12-31 11:55 PM I'm surprised at the number of folks stating that legging up and getting a horse in shape is a matter of 6 weeks or a few months.  You will see improvement in the large muscles and cardiovascular system in that time but it takes at least 6 to 12 months for support tissues (tendons, ligaments, joint capsules, hoof tissues) to have a strengthening response to conditioning, and a minimum of 1 to 2 years for bone tissue to strengthen in response to exercise-induced stress.  These time tables have been demonstarted again and again.  I use it for planning conditioning of endurance horses, but the part that comes into play the most for barrel racers is the time table for support tissues to gain in strength - especially when you consider how many injuries involve support tissues.  And the majority of endurance horses are only ridden two to three times a week - even less at the higher levels due to the systemic conditioning already present and time off betweem competitions for recovery.



I am a firm believer that the more time invested in conditioning, the more time gets added to the career.