Does your barrel racing horse get overly excited when he sees the barrels? If he has the desire to run and turn, leaving you as a passenger instead of the driver, it’s time to refresh your cues. This means practicing without a barrel present. Working on speed changes and turns without the barrels will help your horse remember to listen to your aids instead of moving around the cans as he sees fit.

Here, trainer and top barrel racer Kelly Kennedy Joseph teaches you a practice drill that she has riders work on if their horses have taken the lead. She wants her horses and riders to work together—and doesn’t want a horse to anticipate what to do if he hasn’t received a cue.

“This is one of the drills we work on to help riders get their bodies in the right position and get the horse and rider in the right timing without working on the actual barrel pattern,” she says. “This drill helps the horse listen to you and rate his speed and turn on cue. Sometimes horses get running and stop thinking. There’s more to the barrels than going fast and pulling them around. You want them to respond to you.”

With Kennedy Joseph’s barrel racing exercise, you can practice barrel racing elements anywhere. You’ll have the skills you need to ensure your horse is listening.

Ride the Diagonal

Begin by clearing the barrels from the middle of your arena so you’ll have ample space to lope and turn in various locations. You may leave barrels in the arena to help show your horse that the usual clover-leaf pattern isn’t the plan for today. Instead, he’s to follow your cues as you direct him on a new and different path.

Warm up your horse by working in each direction at the walk, trot, and lope. To begin the drill, ride to the corner of the arena. Position yourself so that the long side of the arena is in front of you and your horse’s hind end is all the way to the left of the short side of the area. You’ll travel across the arena diagonally, moving from left to right.

Ask your horse to canter and pick your reins up slightly to the inside to keep your horse’s nose tipped away from the straight line. This will help you rate his speed and keep him from charging ahead.

Remind your horse to listen to your body cues. Roll your hips down onto your horse’s back to ask him to collect and use his body before you ask for a turn. Make sure to keep your hands low and sit down on your pockets as you move straight across the arena’s diagonal.

Each time you practice this long line, choose the speed you’d like your horse to go. You can choose to lope slowly or add leg cues as you ask for speed.

The Turn

Look ahead and plan for a place where you’ll turn. You’ll circle an imaginary barrel at the opposite end of the arena from your starting point. You’ll need to decide when to cue your horse to collect and slow before asking for the turn.

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“When you’re ready, roll your hips down to help your horse collect his body beneath you as you continue to drive toward your turning spot,” says Kennedy Joseph. “Make sure to keep your reining hand low. As you roll your hips down, your horse will place his hips beneath you.”

When you reach your invisible barrel, cue your horse into a circle. Turn your horse to the left, toward the middle of the arena. Keep your hips rolled down as you turn by lifting your reining hand to the left and applying outside leg pressure.

Do a turn around your imaginary barrel. Turn tightly, then move your hand forward and toward your starting point. Move out of the turn quickly by rolling your hips forward to ask for speed as you finish the pattern.

“Keep rolling your hips and look ahead as you prepare to turn,” says Kennedy Joseph. “If your horse thinks he should turn before you ask, use your reins to direct him straight ahead and keep him moving forward. At the same time, roll your hips to keep him collected. You’ll need to slow down and stay straight before you turn. Your horse should be tuned in to feel when you want the turn.”

Kennedy Joseph says this exercise will help you learn how much of a cue your horse needs to move forward and then turn on cue. For some horses, you may need to keep pushing forward so that he doesn’t anticipate a turn.

Many horses that are trained for barrels will turn as soon as your forward motion cues stop. For other horses, you may need to help guide the straight line and help the horse through the turn. When the barrel isn’t present, you’ll learn to feel what specific cues your horse needs.

Kelly Kennedy Joseph has been active in barrel racing since she qualified for Little Britches Rodeos. She now coaches riders from her Berthoud, Colo., facility and races at the professional level nationwide.

This article about barrel racing practice without barrels appeared in the May 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Barrel Racing Practice Without Barrels appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

If you’ve ever wanted to enter a barrel race at a fun day or gymkhana, you’ll find that your horsemanship skills will help you round the barrels with balance and communicate to your horse when you want to go fast and when it’s time to slow or rate your speed so that you won’t be out of control as you turn.

Barrel racing coach and competitor Kelly Kennedy-Joseph shares how three classical horsemanship skills apply to her sport. As she likes to say, “smooth is fast.” You’ll need to have your horse listening to your body before you add speed.

“Even if you keep your horse at half speed, but have his attention and connection, you’ll do better than someone who runs but has little control,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “If you go fast without connection and balance, you’ll pull too much and lose your balance. Your hands are a guide tool, but your body position tells the horse where to be.

“Knowing that you can get the horse’s hip driven up underneath him is important,” she continues. “When you sit down, you want him to slow down and sit down, too. You want to keep his shoulder up and move his nose tipped in. Barrel racing is about how you place the horse’s body and asking him to respond to your body. You want a connection with the horse, and not to rely only on rein cues.”

Collection Matters in Barrel Racing

Just as a dressage rider can cue a horse to round and work in a frame, Kennedy-Joseph says she wants her horses to frame up. While barrel racing participants may not need the amount of collection required for dressage competition, the same horsemanship principles apply.

She explains that barrel horses need to know how to lift their rib cages and use their entire bodies in order to move around the barrels with balance. She works on the classic horsemanship skill of collection and getting her barrel racing horse to round when she’s warming up away from the barrels.

To ask the horse to use his body well, Kennedy-Joseph says she rolls her pelvis under slightly and uses her core. The horse should match what she’s doing in her body. She tells her students to imagine pressing their belly buttons toward their backbones.

“You can’t expect a horse to turn at full speed,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “You need your horse to rate his speed to get around the barrel safely. Make sure the horse is slowed down so he knows where to put his feet.”

If your horse responded well to collecting when warming up, he’ll respond to your body aids and know to listen when you use the same body cue at the barrel.

“When I roll my hips under, I want my horse to slow slightly and collect as well,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “I want my horse to know that when I tip my pelvis under, that means he should get his legs up underneath him, too. As you’re leaving the barrel, move your pelvis forward. That’s a signal to your horse to extend his strides and move out.”

Horsemanship Skills When Barrel Racing

When approaching a barrel, it’s time to put all the skills together. You’ll move straight ahead toward the barrel, find the perfect place to slow down for your horse, shift your pelvis under and slow your speed for a turn that’s in control.

It’s OK to roll your shoulders under slightly while barrel racing, even if that doesn’t feel like the horsemanship position you’re used to. You’ll need to lower your center of gravity around the barrel. Keep your hands low and bend your elbow slightly in the direction of your turn. This will push your horse up into the turn and guide him around the turn. Practice this move near a barrel or as you ride around the arena without a barrel in sight.

“It shouldn’t be a pulling war to get around the barrel,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “Instead, you’ll slow, then use your outside leg to support your horse around the barrel. It’s not kicking, it’s guiding. Then once you get around the barrel, wait for him to finish the turn. Let him take you around the barrel. Then, square your shoulders and tip your pelvis forward so that you can move out to the next barrel.”

Kennedy-Joseph says horses differ slightly when it comes to when to give this slow-down-and-rounding cue in the line to the barrel. If you’re riding a horse that runs freely, you’ll want to sit down and cue your horse to slow and collect a few strides before the barrel.

If you have a horse that will turn sharply, like a horse that was trained for cow work, you’ll need to roll your pelvis under (sitting on your pockets) and ride to the barrel more closely before you ask him to round and turn.

If your horse listens to you, you’ll be able to choose when to speed up and when to rate and slow down to get around the barrel.

“It’s not about going fast at all costs,” Kennedy-Joseph says. “It’s about choosing your speed and staying in control.”

Meet the Barrel Racing Trainer

Kelly Kennedy-Joseph has been active in barrel racing since she qualified for Little Britches Rodeos. She now coaches riders from her Berthoud, Colo., facility and races at the professional level nationwide.

This article about using horsemanship skills in barrel racing appeared in the September 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Using Horsemanship Skills in Barrel Racing appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

This constant quest for speed can mean that your horse is high-headed and ready to take off when you simply want to walk. Riding a horse that is amped up and tense isn’t fun when you want to relax, or would like to enter a slower-paced rail class at a show.

You can help reduce your horse’s anxiety and teach him that walking slowly on cue is the right answer. Your horse should travel at the rate you request—calm and slow when you ask, and faster when you cue him for speed. Read on to find out how.

Why so Fast?

Your horse may think that going fast is the right answer. If your horse was trained for speed events in a high-pressure setting, he may think that stepping into an arena means speeding up.

Not all speed-event horses are trained this way, but with repetition, horses can quickly associate arenas with high pressure and speed. When a horse has had high-pressure training, sometimes he’ll associate the arena with anxiety—resulting in too-fast gaits, prancing, jigging, and high-headed movements.

A Different Way

Teach your too-fast horse that there’s another way to act when he enters the arena:

• Outfit your horse in his usual tack.
• Riding with two hands on the reins (for more control), ask your horse to enter the arena at a walk.
• Make sure your reins are loose, but that you can pick up contact easily if your horse speeds up.Note: Resist the urge to change to a severe or bigger bit to slow down your horse. A harsher bit can cause more anxiety for your horse. You want to teach your horse to slow down because of your cues, not because of your tack. If you worry that your horse will take off with you, ask a trainer for help as you start the slow-down process.
• If your horse picks up the pace on his own or steps into the trot, pull back on the reins to correct his speed.
• As soon as he returns to a walk, make sure to loosen the reins again. Allow slack in the reins and put your knuckles on the horse’s neck when he’s walking nicely with his head down. Feeling your hand on his neck shows the horse that you are relaxed and not asking more of him.
• With good timing (correct your horse within one or two seconds of any unauthorized speed up) and an immediate release of rein pressure when he does slow down, your horse will learn that he’ll be rewarded for going slow.

Note: Riding with constant pressure on the reins can make your horse more anxious and cause him to lean against the pressure—moving faster and with anxiety.

You’ll teach your horse to think, “How can I get my rider to lengthen the reins?” He’ll learn that moving slowly and putting his head down in a relaxed fashion is the way to avoid rein and bit pressure.

Bend and Relax Your Horse

A horse will be more relaxed when he bends his neck. He’ll know that he’s following your direction and that his job isn’t to move straight ahead at high speed. As you warm up, turn to the right then the left, moving forward but constantly changing directions. Your horse will tune in to you and stop searching the scenery for something to be worried about.

Once your horse is walking at the pace you want, practice rating your horse’s speed at the trot. Keep in mind that if your horse is already fast, you won’t need to cue with much pressure. Sit up tall and think about the trot and your horse will likely speed up without leg pressure.

If your horse puts his head up as you’re trotting, softly close your legs against his sides and apply rein pressure. When he lowers his head, loosen the reins and relax your legs. As soon as your horse lowers his head, loosen your reins. If your horse speeds up too much, pull back abruptly to stop. Wait for a count of three then start practice again.

Practice your slow-down cues and your constant turns at the walk and trot. Just as your horse once associated the arena with speed, he’ll learn to associate your loose reins and knuckles on his neck with a time to be slow and calm. Make your cues clear and consistent and you’ll soon have a horse that can tune in to you and go at the pace you choose. All these tips will help a rider and their horse not goo too fast when there’s not a speed event.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2018 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Western Lesson: Slow Your Horse Down appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

This constant quest for speed can mean that your horse is high-headed and ready to take off when you simply want to walk. Riding a horse that is amped up and tense isn’t fun when you want to relax, or would like to enter a slower-paced rail class at a show.
You can help reduce your horse’s anxiety and teach him that walking slowly on cue is the right answer. Your horse should travel at the rate you request—calm and slow when you ask, and faster when you cue him for speed. Read on to find out how.

Speed Events – Why so Fast?

Your horse may think that going fast is the right answer, especially in a speed event. If your horse was trained for speed events in a high-pressure setting, he may think that stepping into an arena means speeding up. Learning how to slow down your speed event-trained horse can be beneficial to you when you need a calmer ride in the arena.

Not all speed-event horses are trained this way, but with repetition, horses can quickly associate arenas with high pressure and speed. When a horse has had high-pressure training, sometimes he’ll associate the arena with anxiety—resulting in too-fast gaits, prancing, jigging, and high-headed movements.

Slow Down Your Horse – A Different Way

Teach your too-fast horse that there’s another way to act when he enters the arena:

• Outfit your horse in his usual tack.
• Riding with two hands on the reins (for more control), ask your horse to enter the arena at a walk.
• Make sure your reins are loose, but that you can pick up contact easily if your horse speeds up.Note: Resist the urge to change to a severe or bigger bit to slow down your horse. A harsher bit can cause more anxiety for your horse. You want to teach your horse to slow down because of your cues, not because of your tack. If you worry that your horse will take off with you, ask a trainer for help as you start the slow-down process.
• If your horse picks up the pace on his own or steps into the trot, pull back on the reins to correct his speed.
• As soon as he returns to a walk, make sure to loosen the reins again. Allow slack in the reins and put your knuckles on the horse’s neck when he’s walking nicely with his head down. Feeling your hand on his neck shows the horse that you are relaxed and not asking more of him.
• With good timing (correct your horse within one or two seconds of any unauthorized speed up) and an immediate release of rein pressure when he does slow down, your horse will learn that he’ll be rewarded for going slow.Note: Riding with constant pressure on the reins can make your horse more anxious and cause him to lean against the pressure—moving faster and with anxiety.

You’ll teach your horse to think, “How can I get my rider to lengthen the reins?” He’ll learn that moving slowly and putting his head down in a relaxed fashion is the way to avoid rein and bit pressure.

Bend, Relax, and Slow Down

A horse will be more relaxed when he bends his neck. He’ll know that he’s following your direction and that his job isn’t to move straight ahead at high speed. As you warm up, turn to the right then the left, moving forward but constantly changing directions. Your horse will tune in to you and stop searching the scenery for something to be worried about.

Once your horse is walking at the pace you want, practice rating your horse’s speed at the trot. Keep in mind that if your horse is already fast, you won’t need to cue with much pressure. Sit up tall and think about the trot and your horse will likely speed up without leg pressure.

If your horse puts his head up as you’re trotting, softly close your legs against his sides and apply rein pressure. When he lowers his head, loosen the reins and relax your legs. As soon as your horse lowers his head, loosen your reins. If your horse speeds up too much, pull back abruptly to stop. Wait for a count of three then start practice again.

Practice your slow-down cues and your constant turns at the walk and trot. Just as your horse once associated the arena with speed, he’ll learn to associate your loose reins and knuckles on his neck with a time to be slow and calm. Make your cues clear and consistent and you’ll soon have a horse that can tune in to you and go at the pace you choose.

This article on how to slow down your speed event-trained horse originally appeared in the March/April 2018 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Western Lesson: Fast No More appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.