I am in such a rock and a hard place. I am a barrel racer, maybe former barrel racer is more correct. I am selling my barrel horse bc I’m trying to get into grad school and really am letting a great horse go to waste. I, in the last year, learned this word “balance.” And it haunts me. I’ve been pretty proactive about integrating some exercises, hand positions, body positions, thoughts, and philosophy into my riding to teach my girl balance, while still trying to have a happy barrel horse. I’ve also had a change of heart of the sport of barrel racing. If it requires the ridiculous bits, tie downs, bonnets, and training methods to win, I’d rather not. The problem I’m running into is that the barrel racer who gets her will, for the most part, not carry on these exercises or practices to keep undoing what running the barrels does over a period of time, especially if overdone bc they’ve never heard anyone talk about the balance of the horse!!! Any advice? Any dressage ppl want to switch to barrel racing and carry on the torch of balance to a group that desperately needs it?
Once your horse is sold, there is nothing you can do about whatever will be done (or not) to it.
There are good dressage people, there are bad dressage people. Like there is good barrel racers and bad ones… I’m sorry you seemed to have been around bad ones but I know of a few myself whose horses are incredibly sharp, well trained and totally balanced.
Why not just finding some field board for your horse while you are in school? Or offer full/half board to someone you trust?
Maybe you could switch to another western discipline like reining or the newly invented Western Dressage?
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Any dressage ppl want to switch to barrel racing and carry on the torch of balance to a group that desperately needs it?[/QUOTE]
Um no, but this lady, http://www.charmaynejames.com/ incorporates tons of dressage into her everyday training. No harsh bits / equip needed. Just lots of hard work, fitness (horse & rider), and trail riding. She is not 11 time world champion for nothing and she respects dressage and its principals.
Oh and the really good reining peeps discuss balance all the time and practice many many dressage basic exercises to achieve fitness in their horses.
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Oh and the really good reining peeps discuss balance all the time and practice many many dressage basic exercises to achieve fitness in their horses.[/QUOTE]
So true! I just started learning about reining on my semi-retired FEI WB… We’re literally in week 2 
The friend we’re working with was a dressage rider previously so she brings that background. It’s been VERY cool to be able to immediately pull off all of this very different stuff on a horse who is not bred for the discipline and has zero reining background. The dressage background just gives a great foundation for that and many, many other things. As intended, it makes every other type of riding a snap because you can put your horse wherever they need to be.
I realize I can’t control what happens after the sell but I still want the best possible match for her.
I actually learned about balance and rhythm from a reining/ western dressage trainer who takes lessons with a dressage instructor. And I know all disciplines have their bad apples. While I was riding with the reining trainer I saw 20x more ppl at shows bumping/ knocking their horses’ head down, to the point where the horse was cruising around on his front end and barely stepping up under themselves, BUT that head was down! (Being facetious). I’ve also been to a Charmayne James clinic. Another lady helped, with the clinic on the horsemanship end, who’s husband did a lot of snaffle bit futurities. Not sure it’d be something I’d want to do again, not very in depth on that end.
I think it’s possible that some of the better horsemen know the feel when the horse is correct but don’t necessarily call it balance, but before I learned about balance, I might not have known what I was
Looking for.
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I’ve also been to a Charmayne James clinic. Another lady helped, with the clinic on the horsemanship end, who’s husband did a lot of snaffle bit futurities. Not sure it’d be something I’d want to do again, not very in depth on that end.
I think it’s possible that some of the better horsemen know the feel when the horse is correct but don’t necessarily call it balance, but before I learned about balance, I might not have known what I was
Looking for.[/QUOTE]
One clinic with a ton of riders (as is usually the case with CJ clinics) is not going to be able go into a lot of depth, however actually going to train with either her or one of her longtime students is going to help you tremendously.
Maybe start a spin off thread in the Western forum so that our Cothers over there who have tons more knowledge than I re: western riding and training stages can contribute also.
I just want to find someone who has the same desire to learn to buy my horse. Lol. I did put a post up in western riding just asking barrel racers if they are familiar with the term and if so what exercises do they use. No comments
I don’t know a lot about barrel racing, but I have a student who is interested in what I have to offer in the way of getting her horse strong, broke and balanced so that when she gives her mare signals at speed, she can do that with enough tact so as not distract the mare or pull her off balance.
I think people who do speed events like barrel racing have the hardest time seeing how the slow, methodical work of dressage relates to them. But if you can put this in terms I offered above-- making the horse physically able to do the job, and making him so broke that you let him use his head and neck freely (for his own balance and not to fight your hand because he thinks you’ll pull him over)-- a good barrel racer will appreciate it.
But I do think you have an uphill battle. Unless your horse is really talented and expensive and money-winning, you might not find yourself around the high-end trainers who want to get technical.
I hope you can find it. I have a blast watching my student’s runs and thinking about how dressage (plus my previous life with hunters and jumpers) suggest ways for her to condition her horse and think about her ride.
Do you have time to maybe train her a bit in another discipline that would be more likely to bring you buyers you approve of? Western dressage? Trail riding? Endurance?
Glad your student has someone to help her with this. My mare is safe for a youth but I wouldn’t sentence her to that life if I can help it. Very few barrel racing youth have learned proper seat and hands and they learned to ride from their parents who never really learned anything but “cowboying”. Just had a bad experience the other night where the parent thought their kid rode so well, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I believe it made her mad that I wasn’t telling her how awesome of a rider she was. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t mean at all.
I have been playing with that idea. I don’t know any western dressage folks around me and don’t really think my timeline would allow me to prove her as a western dressage horse. Ultimately the buyer would need to be into barrel racing, but perhaps have an appreciation for trail or western dressage. Probably a slim chance. Otherwise, her price would probably seem too high to a person not wanting to use her that direction.
OP, it sounds like your mare needs to stay in her discipline while she gets sold.
Things you can do to help her out:
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In general: Teach her good manners so that she endears herself to people. A horse who is useful is valued and safe. But a horse that people just like is safe, too. A horse who is easy on the ground gets along well in the world, no matter where she goes.
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Get her going as well as you can in the softest, least complicated bit you can. I know you guys have some elaborate hardware in your world! I think horses often come with bits that seem to work for them. So make your mare rate-able in a bit that doesn’t require a ton of feel and timing from the rider.
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Teach her how to be calm and walk flat-footed when she’s not on the job. Again, either you’ll do this or a lesser rider or a person with less of an attachment to this mare will solve the problem their way.
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Don’t skip any steps in her flat work. Good barrel racers don’t just run patterns. And they don’t do all of their work at speed. You know all this… but what think about the kind of stuff you see in the practice pen that you don’t like. What do people do to their horses and for what purpose? If you can solve those problems for your mare a better way, they won’t have to.
Along these lines, I think your mare and her next owner would be helped if you got her supple in her body. Sometimes I think that goes missing in lots of western disciplines and it probably does in speed events. In any case, things like the ability to collect in a stride and to bend, even at speed, take time to build in a horse. Put in the time to get your mare physically able to do the job and she’ll earn herself better rides from whoever buys her.
Hope this helps.
Unfortunately, you simply have no control over what happens to the horse after you sell her. The good news is that not ALL barrel racers suck. I’ve been to MANY barrel races in my life and yes, there are a LOT of kick and flop barrel racers that are really, honestly, bad riders. But there are some that really know what they’re doing. They’re relatively rare, even at the pro level, but one may come along that appreciates the work you’ve done with your horse. The thing is, big bits, tie downs, etc. are all largely unnecessary. The only reason they’re used is ignorance on how to properly train horse from the ground up. One “trainer” does a poor job of starting the horse, puts a bonnet or a nasty bit etc. on and it’s very hard to undo all that.
