What is Barrel Horse Racing and Typical Problems Encountered
Originally a sports activity developed by rodeos for their wives and girlfriends, barrel horse racing has now become a sport event where everybody can join.
Barrel horse racing has been in existence for quite a while now. This 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 and every barrel, governing bodies normally have various preferences regarding how far each barrel should be set from one another.
The general distance is 90 feet from each barrel. However, some may use 60 feet up to 100 plus feet. The setting is applicable to all competitors.
The game 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 simpler for the racer if he would not come straight onto it. A whole turn must be accomplished on the first barrel before moving to the second one.
A 2nd turn, but this time around an opposite one, will need to be made around 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 many other horse racing events, horse barrel racing does have its common problems too. We will help you distinguish some of the most common problems and would attempt to advise a couple of things to discover a solution on it. Please read on.
The 1st barrel is generally termed to as the “money barrel”. This makes the most difficult turn since the horse has to approach it at full speed. Remember that the primary aim of the game is to take it as quickly as you can. This really is the most tricky barrel because if you knock it away, you are sure to be out from the game right away 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 due to not enough rate. Since the horse is charging at top speed, it’s got the tendency for being too aggressive. Thus, they will often either knock the 1st barrel off or they may pass over it. This issue can be resolved through conditioning your horse to do the turn perfectly.
Some horses often have problems entering the arena. In cases like this, the horse is referred to as “barrel sour” or “ring sour”. This is recognized to have rooted from running a lot in the arena or during practice. Sometimes it is resolved through taking some time off the track and giving your horse a rest in the barrel routines. One ideal way of doing this is to do trail riding.
Some horses tend to have no breaks at all. In this case, you must not allow your horse to run unless control is gained on it. Fix for your problem can begin with running at slower gaits until progress is achieved. Run your horse on barrels only when you are confident enough of its speed and its capability to halt.