Nobody wants to get nervous, and nobody wants to upset their horse because of how they are feeling.  Watch this video with Jane Savoie.  She teaches some simple tips to keep you and your barrel horse focused and on task.   Your barrel horse will thank you for watching this and implementing these techniques if you or your horse ever have trouble staying focused.

To summarize some of the tips in the video, here is a list of some of the points I picked up on:

1. If you hold your breath, you put your horse in alert mode.
2. SOS – Sing Or Speak
3. If you are singing you have to breath and you’ll focus on your horse (not your worries).
4. Know “your song” ahead of time
5. If you don’t like singing you could hum
6. If your horse has one ear back he’s paying attention to you.  Ears forward, he’s fixating on something else. You can speak to him to get his attention back on you.
7. If your horse is fixated on someone else (someone videoing, carrying something) have them speak to you so the horse knows its a human.  This is being proactive (before they spook).

I’m not sure we’re all going to start singing while we’re barrel racing, but it is certainly a good idea to keep those pre run jitters under control and staying focused on what you want to happen rather than what you are worried about.

Feel free to comment or share your stories or tips.