Help!! Advice Needed!!

[buffy_vampire]

I have a 7 year old mare. She is just started on barrels so i didnt want to rush and keep training. Its my second day riding her and whenever i try and let her loose she runs to the left and i cant seem to make her go straight and when i try and make her go a little to the right she will just stop. Shes wearing a tom thumb bit and i think that may be the problem but im not quite sure. I thought maybe someone could help me. Thanks

[Naps123]

Hey,

I'm sorry I don't have any advice to give but I just wanted to say your mare is gorgeous! :D

[galadriel]

Mark Rashid has an interesting article about Tom Thumb bits:
http://www.markrashid.com/CTHArticleTroubleWithTomThumb.html

[AvantiEqCenter]

Hi!

It sounds like your mare lacks confidence because someone skipped the basics when teaching her the barrel pattern. A lot of people say, "well she trotted the pattern ok, so let's run it and see what she's got!" When a horse learns a completely new job, he is unsure about what his rider wants of him. This is when horses learn to rush barrels and end up hitting them. They are running for pure speed, because they are insecure and their riders never taught them that CLEAN is better than FAST.

When teaching your mare her pattern, make sure it is interspersed with the rest of her regular workout. Never make her run the pattern over and over as her only work. I would say take the tom thumb out and put her in a loose ring or bosal if she's ok in one. Warm her up with calm relaxing trot work with plenty of circles and serpentines, plus up and down transitions and quiet halts. Make sure she can move her shoulder, hip, or rib cage over when you put pressure on her side, and she's responsive to leg aids for turns. (If she's not, she lacks basic training and needs to give up barrels for a while until she masters that.)

Walk her through the pattern, and really walk and mean it. She might see a barrel and rush at it--don't let her. Stop her and make her stand about 10 feet out from each barrel, right where you want her to rate herself when she full-on runs the real pattern. Do this a few times and move on. I can't tell you how many barrel horses get burned out on the same pattern over and over and become lazy or refuse to enter the in gate. Plus she's green at it and she needs confidence.

When she walks the pattern calmly, making correct turns and halting out from each barrel, repeat the exercise at the trot. Make sure you can control her. Stop her again before the barrels. Then, begin letting her trot all the way through. You'll notice if you've done it enough that she will hesitate at the place you used to stop her. This is good, she will be able to rate herself and check her speed, make a clean turn, and run again. Every once in a while stop her in the same place so she doesn't forget.

After she's done this for a long while, trotting the pattern calmly and completely listening to you (not doing it on her own), you can ask her to canter it. I would suggest letting her trot around the turns for a while, dropping to trot right at that same place 10 feet out. Make sure she's adept at flying lead changes on a straight line before really letting her loose and running the pattern. You don't want anything worrying her.

If you build her up with a good foundation, she will become confident and look to you for guidance. Right now she's insecure. Give her time! :)

I hope I've said at least one thing that helped you out!

[buffy_vampire]

hey thanx for the replys. i have only been trotting around the barrels and its helping but its just that i wanted to see how fast she went so i took her on this long trail and tried to let her loose and she just went to the left and when i pulled to the right again she just stopped or went into her trot she did the same thing with my dad and whenever she got too frustrated she would buck and really hurt my stomach with a barrel racing saddle. ( my other saddle stirup broke so i had to use my barrel racing saddle) Im not sure what to do soo help asap!!:(

ps dont ask about the picture lol i just took one while i was on my horse and i thought it would look kool.

[aphagirlie05]

Make sure when you ride your mare that you're using plenty of leg cues, don't just rely on the reins to get her to turn back to the right when she moves left. If you don't continue to apply pressure with your upper and inner thigh, and you suddenly jerk her to the right without giving her a leg cue to assist her, she will break stride and go back into the trot, or protest with a buck because she doesn't quite understand what you want her to do. If she's loping along nicely, even though she's moving to the left, use your leg to push her back over instead of your reins. If your horse bucks, back her up or turn her in small circles so that she'll come to realize that going forward is much more fun than circles and backing. Another thing you could also try with her is suppling exercises, by which I mean you work tiny circles at all three gaits so she learns to bend properly to the left and right. It sounds like she has a little more bend to the left, or could possibly be slightly unbalanced when she lopes. This is why your leg cues are so important, along with sitting up straight. I'd also switch back to the full cheek snaffle or a billy allen reining bit to teach her to give to the bit. It doesn't really sound like a true bitting problem, it sounds like this mare needs more basic work in the round pen before she tackles the barrel pattern.

[PridesAngel03]

Well put aphagirlie05.

A good point to remember is

"There are no problem horses, only problem riders/handlers."

Your horse can only comply to what you ask or what he/she understands and if you're not clear or your seat is sloppy or what have you, how can you expect your horse to understand any of that?

Consider what YOU are doing up there when she's going left. Are YOU balanced? Are you leaning to right or rather sitting more on your right buttocks, which will in turn make your horse go left. You need to consider things like this before you can expect to fix the problem.

I guarantee you 100% it is NOT your horses fault. :p

Work on your seat before you work on the barrels. You'll have much better success once you have a well balanced seat and don't rely on the reins.

Seat first (including legs)
reins second
all "other" aides last.


Good Luck to you.

Blondy ;)

[cvb]

if this was out on the trail, then has she had her teeth checked ? It sounds like there was some issue going on - whether physical discomfort or mental....

Also if you were riding in Tom Thumb, were you riding one handed (I assume so) - could it be that without meaning to you were asking her to go left ? Or when you say "let her loose" you really do mean LOOSE ;)

Could also be that this was a simple evasion through lack of confidence i.e. she was hinting she wanted to go home ? If she's new to you she may be working out how to talk and who's in charge.

[buffy_vampire]

Hey everybody thanx for the replys. I have gotten a new bit ( the tom thumb was starting to pinch her mouth and leave sores on the side) and i have gotten on my older horse who has more experience on barrels and i worked a lot on my position and balance and i can tell now it has already improved. the horse i got on can lope around barrels so i got to work on my seat. the horse i was on got trained by my dad so i think my dad is gonna work with my new horse while i work on my seat and positon. Im working on leg cues with my new horse as well. Well ill keep you updated on how it goes.

[buffy_vampire]

hey decided to update you! well i have gotten a new bridle and saddle ( needed a new one for me and let my dad have my old saddle ) She has gotten better with her leg cues and she still goes to the left but with the new bit and better leg cues she has gotten better. My dad has been teaching her with leg cues a lot better than me! lol! But he lets me try it and it helps me also i get on my older horse and it helps me understand what im doing. But all is going well so far give you more of an update as time progesses!:)

[dizzy_mel]

your mare looks very sweet, jsut try and school her more on basics first.