Barrel racing drills and exercises have been used for years to train and school barrel horses. An important point I want to make is that while the word used is “drill” this doesn’t mean you need to drill these exercises into their head or drill them into the ground doing them. Exercise is maybe a more appropriate word to describe …
Here’s a great demonstration of a drill that NFR Qualifier Melanie Southard uses to achieve the shoulder and rib cage control she looks for in her horses. She sets up 3 or 4 barrels with a cone in the middle. You will see her to do a regular turn around the barrels, but do a counter arc when she …
Jane Melby offers many great tips in this video as she talks about her riding style. She talks about body positioning, encouraging us to take the shape of the horses body. Jane also talks about using your horn as a method of communicating speed control to your horse and tells us why she likes to use a spiral drill …
If you appreciate good quality tack and want to keep it in good shape, you’ll appreciate this video. If you are the particular type that likes things “just right” you’ll also like this video. I’m not the type to be obsessive about order and organization in the barn, but I do appreciate the point Steve makes about how your reins …
This video shows how to detect equine ulcers by palpating acupuncture points as a method of detection. A horse can go from having no gastric irritation to having ulcers in as little as 5 days. Dr. DePaolo’s easy do-it-yourself method of palpating acupuncture points can be a great indication of the presence of painful and debilitating ulcers. I believe it …
Pete Oen shares his observations and tips on controlling the anxious messages you may be sending to your horse. Many riders are not aware of the energetic messages they are sending their horses. Here’s some examples of what you might be doing that’s contributing to your horse being nervous.
In this video, Martha Josey demonstrates an exercise that uses 1 barrel and 4 cones. She alternates circling the cone and the barrel and says it’s a great drill to practice your guiding without having to run the pattern. Start at a trot and once your horse has the hang of it, go ahead and lope.
NFR Qualifier Melanie Southard offers some great video tips on how to keep your horse from shouldering the barrels and some exercises to correct this problem. It’s all about controlling the hips, not the shoulders! If his hip is engaged, his shoulder has to be up in the correct position. Shouldering is a (bad) habit and in order to …
Here is a barrel racing exercise for you to try. I use this one a lot and you can do quite a few different drills with just this one set up . HOW: Set three barrels up in a row (equally spaced) and you will be able to work more than one drill with your setup. In blue I’m trotting …
