Ok so i have a 3 year old gelding quarter horse. He is an excellent turner. That is as long its not around a barrel. He will turn around trees bushes nothing, everything except barrels. He can but he either fights it or stops and then takes off again he doesnt run all the way around it. I know he can but he just doesnt. and he is NOT scared of them trust me. Iv tried a lot of things to get him to run around them in a perfect run but nothing seems to work. He has good footing and lead changes so its not that. If you have any addvice or tips it would be much appreciated. Thanks! Oh and if you know any good websites that would help to.
Answers:
You should be working on arena excersizes with a 3 yr old, only walking or trotting a barrel pattern from time to time but for now you should be fine tuning his training. Getting 100% control of that horses body, turning on the forehand and the rear, side passing, rollbacks, backing, etc. etc. etc. A 3 year old has not had a enough time to mature mentally to such a high stress sport, taking a colt directly to a barrel pattern and running the horse will confuse him and more than likely sour him to the pattern if it is over worked. It takes a lot of patience and time to train horses on barrels, if you want to actually have a "barrel horse". All horses can run and turn, some just get "turned loose" while the rider kicks and pulls and the poor thing tries to do what the rider wants, others will refuse the patterns. Training is key, you need to put the foundation on the horse 'cause something WILL arise later and without a good foundation you have nothing to go back to when its time to make a correction.
If he is as conditioned as you say he is you have half the battle won. You need to condition him to the barrel. Horses aren't stupid, he may just not want to do it.
Make it a game for the horse. Start with one barrel(competition style) and 2 other objects he will turn on. get him to go around the 2 other objects first then try the barrel. If he goes around the barrel give a lot of praise and positive reinforcement. If not, be firm and more stubborn than he is. Don't run him full tilt yet. Keep at him until he turns on the barrel. Once he does 1 barrel consistently, remove 1 of the other object and replace it with a barrel. Then start the process over again until he does 2 barrels. Then do 3. After he has that down, begin working on speed and timing. Work him on this 2 or 3 times a day for moderate periods of no more than an hour.It is absolutely important that you put the time in every day. Some days can be easier than others but, it has to be every day. I know its tough but don't lose your cool. If it gets frustrating take a break and do something else with the horse then go back to training.
Good Luck and keep at it. He will come around
I had an older horse (about 12 years old) who had this same issue. The person above me is correct in that you need to build that foundation using arena work. As far as the barrels are concerned, you need to bring it down a notch for right now. Your horse is only 3 years old and it is a lot to expect of him to run the barrels in a perfect pattern and a great pace at such a young age. The most important thing you can do is slow down your training efforts so you do not spoil him.
I would suggest that if you want to continue working on the pattern, that you begin by doing your work in the arena, walking, jogging, loping. BUT do not begin your pattern by loping or even trotting. Take your boy and walk him around the pattern several times. Do this daily for some time so that he gets used to the idea of the pattern and the fact the he needs to go around the barrels. This is also a good way to develop the idea on how close he needs comfortably without without hitting the barrels. Once you have developed the pattern and perfected it walking, bring your gait up to a jog.
You need to continue this work from ground up and not begin every session just galloping and expecting him to understand. He is very young so you need to just go slowly. You can eventually work from a jog to a lope and then to a gallop but only when you feel as though he has perfected the pattern at each gait do you move up. I hope this helps you. Good luck with your boy :)
You need to do more slow work. He is only 3 years old. Sounds like you are trying to push him too hard. Walk, trot barrels as much as you can. Once he turns them nice at this speed, you can gradually start speeding up. Any time this happens, you need to slow back down and correct. Try taking your barrels wider than normal and turn them in opposite directions. He needs to know that you are in charge. Also, some horses get sour when worked on something to hard. Maybe try taking a week or two not working the barrels at all and do other things. Good luck.
sounds like you have blown him out and he just doesnt want to do it any lkonger. try trail riding for a little while then coming back to barrels later. he is too young to be pushing very hard. they will break down fast. or just turn sour.
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