Okay, so for the past couple of years I’ve studied different disciplines of riding and it’s shaped me into being a great rider no doubt, but everytime I come around the 2nd Barrel, my butt comes out of the saddle more than I would like to. I haven’t been able to figure out what I can do better to stop it but I know for a fact it’s causing me to lose time. I’m not for sure how to upload a video on here (I’m fairly new) but I’ve uploaded a video from last night to twitter under the name @keraarobertss. It will be the most recent under the media tab. A 15.9 won it last night and I was a 16.3. Please do not comment on my pattern as I know exactly what i did wrong. Not to mention this horse hasn’t been ran in 3 weeks. I strictly want to know about my riding. Don’t be scared to be brutally honest if needed. I can take it. Thanks in advance.
I don’t know if there are any super competitive barrel racers on this board, it’s primarily English with a Western slot for those of us who have some common sense. You might want to look for a barrel racing board.
Not a barrel racer, but if a couple of years study makes you a ‘great rider’ then you are some sort of protege…I take it you are working with a trainer, what is their take on this? If you aren’t working with a trainer, then there is your answer…most of us can get some of the way on our own, to get the final ‘winning edge’ you need help
:lol: Palm Beach, you do often speak the truth.
What KBC said. Some sort of prodigy. And what Palm Beach said.
I suggest you watch the video with your trainer and discuss what the other parts of your body are doing when your seat comes out of the saddle more than you want it to. And whether the other parts of your body are causing your seat problems, or whether it is causing your other body parts to do incorrect things.
Good luck!
What I saw from the video, is that your horse is not going exactly where you want her to…and that is what causes you to come a bit loose in the saddle. She takes herself maybe a foot to the left, or right, of the path you have planned, and that is costing you time as well as security in the saddle.
Go back to that in your dry work. You can use cones, poles (on the ground), pole-bending poles, whatever you like. Start at a walk. Think out in advance exactly where you want her to step. For example, that might be a symmetrical figure eight exactly five feet away from two cones. You’ll probably notice her drifting out a bit towards the arena gate (or towards other horses), and getting closer than she should on the opposite side that she drifts out. It will be much easier at the walk than at a trot or lope, and significantly harder at speed.
Work a lot of exercises like that, until you can trot or lope her exactly in the tracks you want her to take, either direction, anywhere in the arena. She needs to reliably be able to put her feet precisely where you intend for them to go, all the time.
Two good seat-stabilizing exercises are posting a trot without your stirrups, and a two-up-one down exercise where instead of up, down, up, down, up, down to a trot you stay up an extra beat in the rise. So the rhythm goes, up, up, down, up, up, down, up,up, down. At first, you can start with up, up, down and then normal posting for a few steps, then do a double-rise again.
Around the first barrel, you are really leaning forward with your body. I much prefer to “stay square” in the turn to stay out of the horse’s way. When you lean forward, you will force your horse to be more front endy and not as quick in the turn.
As a result, when you leave your first barrel, you are WAY leaning forward – your legs are way behind you. Yes, you want to encourage your horse to power out, but don’t “get too far ahead of yourself”.
You did better about not leaning as much on your second barrel, but you just got left behind when she left the 2nd barrel. That’s what causes your bottom to pop up. Is this happening ALL the time? It will happen from time to time even with the best rider, but if it’s happening all the time, then you have a problem. Really use your saddle horn to help “pull” yourself up when you leave that turn so you can be “with” your horse when they power off.
Third barrel was just kind fuzzy and hard to see in your video but I would say that’s the barrel that cost you some time (not the second). Looks like you went in a smidge too wide and she may have but you off on the backside and thus came out a bit wide. Not terrible by any means, but if you are looking to shave off those last few tenths, perfection is key!
Nice horse.
