Originally a sports activity created 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 many years now. This is basically a sport event that aims to showcase speed.
The race is pretty 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 three barrels in a cloverleaf pattern. While there may be standards regarding the distance of each barrel, governing bodies normally have various preferences regarding how far each barrel needs to be set from one another.
The general distance is 90 feet from each barrel. However, some may also use 60 feet up to 100 plus feet. The setting is applicable to all competitors.
The action begins once the racer enters the arena for the first barrel. On this, the rider must enter at a slight angle since its much simpler for that racer if he would not come straight onto it. A complete turn must be accomplished around the first barrel before moving towards 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 for the third barrel. The 3rd barrel then will need to be circled around in the same direction as the second one. After a complete loop, the rider will have to accelerate to the starting line, and that is 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 many of the most common problems and would attempt to suggest a few things to discover a solution about 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. Remember that the primary aim of this game is to take it as quickly as you possibly can. This is also probably the most tricky barrel because if you knock it off, you’re certain 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 challenge though comes with the horse that normally passes over this barrel on account of lack of rate. Because the horse is charging at top speed, it’s got the tendency for being too aggressive. Thus, they may either knock the 1st barrel off or they could pass over it. This problem can be resolved through conditioning your horse to perform 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 too much in the arena or during practice. This can be resolved through taking some time off the track and giving your horse a rest from the barrel routines. One ideal way of doing this is to do trail riding.
Some horses are apt to have no breaks at all. In such a case, you must not let your horse to run unless control is gained upon it. Fix for your problem can start 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 capability to halt.