Originally a sports activity developed by rodeos for their wives and girlfriends, barrel horse racing has now become a sport event where everyone can join.
Barrel horse racing has been around for quite a while now. This is basically a game event that aims to showcase speed.
The race is quite simple to watch. It is played upon an arena with three barrels arranged in an isosceles triangle pattern where the intention of the racer is to gain the quickest speed by circling the 3 barrels within a cloverleaf pattern. While there may be standards regarding the distance of each and every barrel, governing bodies as a rule have various preferences on how far each barrel needs to 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 applies to all competitors.
The action begins as soon as the racer enters the arena towards the first barrel. On this, the rider must enter with a slight angle since its much simpler for that racer if he would not come straight onto it. A whole turn must be accomplished on the first barrel before moving towards the second one.
A 2nd turn, but this time 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 a number of other horse racing events, horse barrel racing has its common problems too. We will enable you to distinguish some of the most common problems and would attempt to suggest a few things to discover a solution on it. Please read on.
The 1st barrel is usually termed to as the “money barrel”. This makes by far the most difficult turn since the horse has got to approach it at full speed. Remember that the main purpose of this game should be to take it as quickly as you possibly can. This really is probably the most tricky barrel because if you knock it off, you’re certain to be out of the game right away and if you passed over it, you will have the opportunity to take some cash with you.
The problem though comes with the horse that normally passes over this barrel due to not enough rate. Because the horse is charging at top speed, it’s got the tendency to become too aggressive. Thus, they may either knock the first barrel off or they may pass over it. This issue can be resolved through conditioning your horse to perform the turn perfectly.
Some horses generally have problems entering the arena. In this case, the horse is called “barrel sour” or “ring sour”. This is known to have rooted from running a lot in the arena or during practice. Sometimes it is resolved through a little time off the track and giving your horse a break from 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 let 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 once you happen to be confident enough of its speed and its ability to halt.