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| I am thinking about switching my horse to the left. His right handed turns are much better than his left. What are your experiences? Thanks! |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
  
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I switched my rocket mare to the left after she decided to duck her 2nd barrel. I actually did just as well as a lefty on her as a righty. The 1st barrel approach is a little strange for a few runs, but it's not that big a deal to adjust. Horses seem fine with the change for the most part. The biggest issue for my mare was after her new 2nd barrel she would take a leap toward the old 2nd barrel and we'd lose a few tenths getting to the 3rd. She got over that after a few shows. I rode one in HS that you could switch off and the horse never missed a beat or got confused - but that was unusual, I just didn't know it then. |
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 The best bad guy on the internet
Posts: 3519
Location: Arizona | I just switched my mare to the left a few weeks ago. I wish I had done this sooner. She's just so much more relaxed going this direction and her right turns are so easy. We had issues on the second barrel. This is why I switched her directions. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 560
Location: Where the buffalo roam | I have switched with great results several times. Many years ago I started my good mare to the right and she started not wanting to turn the first barrel(this was before the days of checking for other things first) so I switched her to the left and she was like a new horse and ran tough until she was 22 years old. I actually did the switch overnight and she never questioned me when we took off to a different barrel the first time. A lot of my horses run to the left so began to think it was me and started a couple young one to the left right off the bat and ended up having to switch them to the right and never had a problem. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| I switched my gelding to the left.
Got him as a 10yo and he was very badly trained going to the right. (As in pointed directly at the barrel for approach.) So I retrained some going to the right and it wasn't working very well.
Went to the left and since it was a clean slate, it was great! Went back to the right because my mom struggled to go left (40 years of right!). He did both quite well. I inherited him back this past summer and went back left. He actually likes it better, or that's how I feel on him. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
Location: MN | Years ago I switched one to the left that had really bad gate issues. Never had another issue out of him after that! Some days I would randomly decide were going to the right barrel first and he always ran the same times, either way he went! |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Granted I did this early but I started my now 4YO to the right as a 2YO and then partway through her 3YO year switched her to the left. So she's only competed to the left but she was trained first to the right. She's doing really well. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 542
| Switch
Craig Brooks trys them both ways and will switch accordingly.
Left isn't bad. Switching isn't bad. Not clocking is.
Edited by runfastturnsmooth 2018-03-08 4:03 PM
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | I've switched 2 of mine for different reason with great success. The gelding I started as a lefty firt as his right hand turns were much snappier and smoother but as a youngster he only wanted to run in the left lead so he was contstantly changing leads so I took him right for a few years until he matured. I was thinking about just leaving him a righty but then he hurt his left shoulder running into a tree, healed fine but wants to carry his nose slightly tipped outward in left handed circles if you dont' hold it there so switched him back to left barrel first at about 8 years of age, never any growing pains.
The little mare I started as a right barrel first horse and then at a Clinic as we were on the back side of the 2nd barrel 2 dogs came running under the fence growling and playing with each other, she is not a dog lover. She grabbed her ( l ) and left hard. She is a high anxiety mare anyway so for 4 months after that clinic I had heck getting her across the pen to the 2nd barrel. I hate putting "bandaids" on things so I kept trying to "fix her. Finally decided that it wasn't working , I was making her a bigger nut case than she already was and myself along with her, switched her to left barrel first and can't believe I was ever stupid enought to think she was a right barrel first horse anyway, LOL!!!  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| Mine never really wanted to finish her 2nd barrel well when she was started to the right. Switched to the left, and she has been fantastic ever since. Now her 2nd barrel is her best! She was the same as another, her right turns are way better. |
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 Georgia Peach
Posts: 8338
Location: Georgia | I switched my main horse a little over a year ago. Her first barrel was always gorgeous but her 2 and 3 were kind of sloppy. Plus about 50% of the time she would pull of the 3rd. I couldn't not be happier that I switched her. She never pulls off the 3rd anymore and her runs are a lot smoother overall. A good friend of mine recently switched her gelding to the left. He was having some weird issues and was basically getting real stiff with her going to the right. She switched him about 2 months ago and over the weekend he was 2nd in the 1D out of about 100 horses. So needless to say, it was a good move. You never know until you try! Just give the horse a few runs to get the hang of it. |
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| These stories are so encouraging. I’m definitely going to try it and see how he likes it. Thank y’all!!! |
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 Saint Stacey
| The great horse, Martha, that Lindsay Sears won so much on was originally a right that got switched to the left. That’s the greatest success story I know of that did it. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | I started shotgun to the left but then switched him to the right. At that point, he really turns just fine either way so I figured I’d make it easier on myself and run him the same way that my other horse runs.
so if you think your horse turns better to the right, it makes sense to me to have two “good” turns. |
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Veteran
Posts: 217
| My gelding started on the right and I was told to "help" him finish second and third and that he wasn't seasoned. She had to fiddle with him constantly. All the head shaking drove me nuts trying to take him right and besides the internal issues, we switched to left side. He'll sort of blow off his second but he sets himself up for third.
Plus 90% of the horses I ride go left so I'll say it's me.
My mom had a snappy little peppy horse that could go either way and gobble up a barrel. He was one of those that were a blast to run either way. |
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I've got several who have won going both directions. All of them were started to the right and then switched left for a variety of reasons.
Chance, my good rodeo horse, can run almost equally well either direction, but prefers to start his run on the right lead so we go right 90% of the time. Last November, the setup was weird for right handed horse needing lots of momentum to the first, so after 2 days of not clocking very well, I sent him left the third day. He was only a couple tenths slower and we lost most of that getting into first because I didn't set him up quite right in the alley. I can literally switch him IN the alley and he'll go make a good run.
My old bay horse, Joker, had run left a few times off & on through his career as an open horse, but was running to the right when I handed him down to a 10-year-old last spring. She tried him to the right but was struggling to set up a decent first barrel. One day she was walking the pattern on him and started going left (her pony went left), so we gave that a shot. Joker started paying more attention and babysitting her (as opposed to running 9-0 with me on him) going to first, which allowed her to gain lots of confidence and after about 8-10 runs going left, she switched him back to the right without missing a beat.
My taller sorrel off the track rodeo horse, Clifford, was started left, but I switched him to the right a couple times after he'd run for a while. Can't remember why, but he is a permanent lefty now because he gets WAY too setty going to the second barrel if it's a left turn. For whatever reason, he is just more smooth to the left. |
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