KindaClassey - 2015-07-06 11:20 AM


The voice of reason has been in Ladyelbert's posts.

First - I love the way your mare looks like she can move. I see why you want to keep trying with her.

Second - kudos to you for trying to fix the problems. You obviously have been trying to make sure she is not sore. Maybe there is something the vets have missed, or maybe the timing between injections is off, or whatever - but obviously you are trying to make sure she is pain free. It also sounds like you are trying to get her better broke and you are looking to get help with that. You are trying. You are not sticking your head in the sand about what is going on. And you are taking responsibility for your role as a rider.

Now.....the "pat you on the back" portion of my reply is over......People that know me well know I'm a blunt speaker. I never want to hurt someone's feelings. I'll never say a word until I'm asked. Someone can live their life or ride their horse however they see fit -I could care less. But when asked - I'll say what I honestly think. So you asked.....

Third - You are wasting your money. If this is the way you ride and the way your mare works every time you enter a barrel race - things will never magically change. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time. Something has to change for progress to happen. Some people have mentioned Ed Wright. I love him, and how he looks at training a horse. I was at one of his clinics and a girl had a horse with a very sore back. Ed showed her how her old wore-out saddle pad was compounding the problem of a slightly poor fitting saddle. He thought a new pad would make a lot of difference - she might not have to get a new saddle. Her response was "If I buy a new pad, I wont be able to afford to go to a show this week" Ed's response was to not to expect her horse to ever do any good if she wasn't willing to change what was causing the problem.

Do you exhibition this mare? Can you walk or trot a barrel race at a show? If not, start there. Forget about competing. Use that money for QUIET exhibitions. So what if it takes a YEAR? You were already throwing money down the dark hole we call barrel racing. Why not work toward something that might eventually give you a return on your investment? It's not fun, it's not glamorous - but all you are doing now is teaching her how NOT to properly run a barrel race.

Is she one that will let you do all the slow work you want before a show or during an exhibition - but then loose her brain when you enter? Then enter - and TROT!!!!! Tell the ones that fuss at you about it to go suck your big toe! You are working toward a horse that could outrun their butt 10 times in a row...not just once in a blue moon! Try it. Enter and tell yourself "we are only going to trot". Does she pick up on the body language and settle down? Then maybe, she is getting a lot of "go" from you. You may have to do a lot of slow work at shows to get you both on the same page. Slow and correct. Slow and correct. Slow and correct. DON'T SKIP STEPS! Add speed in 1 MPH increments. After 5 years, let her lope one and see where you are. (yes - that was a smarta$$ comment) but the point is that a few slow works will not fix the problems. Be prepared to invest the time.....or if you don't want to do that...just give up now and save yourself the headache.

Fourth - When you do want to give up...send her my way. I'm not saying I can fix her. There may be things going on between her ears that us computer jockey's can't comprehend. But I'd trade you my husband to try her!

Itsme - 2015-07-06 11:32 AM




A new bit and a tiedown is NOT a fix.

LDH - 2015-07-06 9:26 AM

When I first bought her I couldn't put a leg on her without her literally trying to take off. Now if I go nice and slow I can move her with my legs. Sometimes if I pick up on her she will put her was up and try to speed up, but 80% of the time she's really good. We do still need a lot of work on that though because that needs to be at 110%. If I run her right and actually ask her to move over she will pick up for a barrel. Sometimes I just panic and sit there and then she doesn't pick up because I'm not asking her too. But again that's all my fault, not hers.
As for keeping her head down, I do have a bonnet I could try on her! I could try a looser tie down again, I just worry that if I rely on things like the martingale or the bonnet or a tie down I won't ever be able to run without one. That has always been her problem, getting we head up. Some horses are naturally higher headed but she does it toget away from pressure. We have worked very hard to get her to not do that off barrels and she has improved a ton, but especially on big patterns she puts it up and even if I were to ride her correct I'm not sure that I would have a ton of control haha.
She could be putting her head up because I'm in her face too much though, I could see that being a huge part of the problem. I don't want her to go mock 90 all the time, but instead of really sitting down I snatch at her face or sit and hold on it. That could very much be why she puts it up so far.

SKM - 2015-07-10 7:16 AM

 I wouldn't worry about the rearing at this point unless it happens again. Looks to be like she wanted to run. You didn't let her so she threw a baby fit. You held her so you could have very easily fixed the problem before it really started. Had you let her go when she reared, you might have let a mess start. On 3rd...again she threw a fit. Instead if giving you her noe, she braced and got stiff. You locked onto her and she went up. Had you given her her head back and then snatched, she probably wouldn't have gone up.

LDH - 2015-07-04 1:44 AM

Thanks for all of the help! The very last video is the first run I ever made on her two years ago. The first video I posted is from this last week. She honestly has been working on fundamentals for two years, since I bought her. At home I ride her in a snaffle and she is light and responsive and works beautiful. I'm not saying that I have control of her hips and shoulders in her runs, because don't, she's a runaway for sure, but I do have it going slow. It just doesn't translate to our runs. One reason I wouldn't want to sell her is because she's so easy to ride outside the barrel arena. She doesn't ever get hot, she does exactly what I ask no questions asked, she can go on trail rides in south Dakota and flat footed walks the whole time. She is awesome to ride when not running a pattern. However, like someone said I really do think its me. Only a handful of other people have ran her, but one girl did amazing on her, had about a perfect pattern, and the other did pretty well too. But neither one of them was really able to tell me what they had done and what I need to do to run her.

As for her being sore, she just had her hocks injected less than two months ago, and has only had 4 runs since then, she gets chiroed every few months, she was just down to Oklahoma to a very well known vet who pretty much goes over them with a fine toothed comb. She had a few other minor things injected. She has had three complete lameness exams, with xrays in the last three months, and has had massages. She has a magnetic blanket, a back on track, and gets sore no more put on religiously. I live with an equine dentist and she has her teeth worked on regularly. I have gone through lots of saddles and am currently borrowing a Caldwell until I can afford one of my own (I'm 19 and in college). She has back on track hock wraps and leg wraps and has a very very talented farrier. She is on ulcers meds and is given them before we ride, before we go anywhere, practically every day. I'm lucky if I get to go to even three barrel races a month because I'm working so much to pay for her to have all of this stuff she needs so its not like she's having her legs run off her. She is ridden 5-6 days a week but 9/10 its just long trotting and loping her down to keep her in shape, so its not like I'm working her crazy hard at home. If she's still too sore to work after I religiously do all of this for her, she probably just needs to be turned out as a broodmare because hundreds of horses get way less preventative care than she does and still manage to work. I 110% agree to make sure that there is no soreness issues when looking at problems with runs, but I honestly don't know how much more I can do for her and still be able to afford to pay my rent let alone feed myself. I'm not saying that she couldn't be sore (and most of this work was done just prior to the first two videos that I posted, so in some of the early ones I could easily see her beings sore yes) but in the recent ones, I am saying that if, after the thousands of dollars I pour into keeping her not sore, she's still sore, she maybe just isn't meant to be a barrel horse because I'm literally running out of options to try for her to keep her not sore lol