Hello, I have never owned a horse but am now going to be getting one soon. I want to barrel race but even though this will be my first time owning a horse, I am very determined to train one on my own. I have barrel raced a little for fun but only a show lope at the most and I have been riding quite a bit for a few years enough to know what I'm doing. I have lots of knowledge of working up to barrel racing and going slow as well as making sure the horse is flexible etc. I would get the Clinton Anderson videos for barrel racing and know I would be able to follow them. What I want to know though is could a horse that competes in western pleasure be trained to barrel race? I found a beautiful paint horse that I want that I would also compete in western pleasure as it is trained to do but could I be able to train it in barrel racing if I wanted to?
Does Pirelli make a set of skins for horse shoes? I'm thinking someone thought this forum was the: Western English Riding Association
Well Jeena, you could train a horse that has been competing in western pleasure to barrel race, but that would be like racing a D SS bike in an A SB race. Just sayin'
How the hell would one go about doing that? Make him do some deep knee bends, maybe lead him in some light calisthenics?
Yea, you could. I was a 4H kid in another life. Our family raised horses to complete in the pleasure classes but I' d also do the contest classes for shits & giggles. I liked keyhole racing better & the "Pickup" race was a blast if you had a foolish & brave volunteer.
I wanted to do the 'Barrel of Death' thing for WERA, but Mongo said no, despite the sheer pleasure and horror of six or seven riders blasting around in no particular order, faster and faster, inside a steel webbed barrel, which itself would be gyrating and spinning madly. Paying spectators would flock by the thousands, kids would scream, men would faint. I know it's not horse barrel racing, but no other thread was near this topic.
Find a good (barrel horse) trainer. Have the trainer teach you and the horse at the same time. Or, buy a trained horse and do the OJT thing. A good trained horse will make it much easier when you're trying to learn yourself. I don't recommend green trainers training a horse for a rodeo event. Big wrecks and stuff.
