Training Barrel Horses

Lesson 1: Choosing the Perfect Barrel Horse

Speed, Strength, and Intelligence

Emphasis in this course is placed on these three characteristics of a horse: speed, strength, and intelligence will always combine in a great barrel horse. Speed is, of course, necessary to beat the clock in this timed event; strength is essential in the horse getting around those barrels as quickly as possible, and to avoid injury; and intelligence is important for the horse to be able to respond to you and your cues, your training, to retain that information, and just in general to be a better, more alert horse. When looking at a horse to potentially buy, get up on his back. Pay attention to how alert he is; does he notice everything going on around him, or is he more lazy? Notice how he responds to you and what you ask of him.

Before you buy a horse for the barrels, it’s essential that you ride him and test his speed and agility. It comes in handy at this point if you’ve ridden several horses at their top speeds so that you can compare; which horse was so fast you almost felt scared?

While you definitely need a fast, agile horse, take note of how controllable he is. If he’s wild, hard-mouthed, ignoring your hands and just plunging ahead, I would advise against buying him unless you want to invest the time in re-training him specifically for that. If, however, you want to move ahead into training him for barrel racing, choose another, calmer horse.

A horse has body language just like any person. Two of the most telling parts of a horse’s body are his ears. If they’re upright, pointing forward (you can also tell this by his eyes and his facial expression), he’s alert. If they’re drooping to the side, he’s lazy. If they’re down, pointing backward, he’s upset and possibly angry.

The horse most valued for a barrel horse will be the alert one, the horse that pays attention to what is going on and what you’re doing, most importantly. When you’re on a horse that is really tuned in to you and what you want of him, believe me, you’ll feel it. There is a connection there that is tangible. You’ll start to feel that once you think something, your horse knows what it is and (eventually) he will do it before you’ve even really asked him to.

On the other hand, if you don’t feel this connection with your horse but you feel strongly about his potential and your potential as a team, that’s great. You don’t always have to feel a positive, strong connection to a horse right away in order to have a successful horse-human relationship with him. But use your best judgement and objectively think about the horse’s mannerisms, intelligence, and heart. Does he have the try necessary to learn and grow along with you? Does he seem flexible and willing to learn what you have to teach? And just as importantly, does he seem ready to undertake a partnership with you, in the sport of barrel racing?

Now we’re moving into the horse-human relationship, covered in the following section.

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