Originally a sports activity created by rodeos for their wives and girlfriends, barrel horse racing has turned into a sport event where everyone can join.
Barrel horse racing has been around for quite a while now. It is basically a sport event that aims to display speed.
The race is quite straightforward to watch. It is played upon an arena with three barrels arranged in an isosceles triangle pattern where the goal of the racer is always to gain the quickest speed by circling the 3 barrels in a cloverleaf pattern. While there may be standards as to the distance of each barrel, governing bodies as a rule have various preferences on how far each barrel needs to be set from one another.
The typical distance is 90 feet from each barrel. However, some may use 60 feet up to 100 plus feet. The setting applies to all competitors.
The action begins as soon as the racer enters the arena for the first barrel. For this, the rider must enter at a slight angle since its much easier for that racer if he would not come straight onto it. A complete turn has to be accomplished on the first barrel before moving towards the second one.
A 2nd turn, but this time around an opposite one, will need to be made on the second barrel. And again, the rider will need to race towards the third barrel. The third barrel then will need to be circled around in the same direction as the second one. After a complete loop, the rider will need to accelerate back to the starting line, which is also regarded as the finish line.
Like a number of other horse racing events, horse barrel racing has its common problems too. We shall help you distinguish many of the most common problems and would try to advise a couple of things to find a solution on it. Please keep reading.
The first barrel is generally termed to as being the “money barrel”. This makes the most difficult turn since the horse has got to approach it at full speed. Keep in mind that the primary purpose of the game should be to take it as quickly as you possibly can. This really is the most tricky barrel because if you knock it away, you’re certain to be out from the game in no time and if you passed over it, you will get the chance to take some money with you.
The problem though comes with the horse that normally passes over this barrel on account of not enough rate. Since the horse is charging at top speed, it has the tendency to become too aggressive. Thus, they may either knock the 1st barrel off or they may pass over it. This problem can be resolved through conditioning your horse to do the turn perfectly.
Some horses generally have problems entering the arena. In this case, the horse is referred to as “barrel sour” or “ring sour”. This is recognized to have rooted from running too much in the arena or during practice. This can be resolved through a little time off the track and giving your horse a break in the barrel routines. One ideal way of accomplishing this is usually to do trail riding.
Some horses tend to have no breaks whatsoever. In such a case, you must not let your horse to run unless control is gained upon it. Solution to this problem can start with running at slower gaits until progress is achieved. Run your horse on barrels only once you are confident enough of its speed as well as its capability to halt.
