Exercises We Use For Barrel Horses
Daily Exercise (around the edge of the arena, on the trail, wherever there is a flat area to work)
5 min trot to one side, continue w/ 5 min lope in same direction, making sure you’re in the correct lead, then turn around and lope 5 min in other direction, then finish w/ 5 min. trot in that same direction. Do this 6 days a week if possible before you start to do the rest of his work.
Barrel exercises:
With all these exercises, slow down for the barrel by sitting deeply in the saddle, sit slightly forward when leaving. Emphasize sitting in the middle of your horse….do not lean at all. Elbow should be near your hip or side and your hand should end up somewhere above the fork of the saddle…never pull back…that drags a horse’s shoulder down. Shape your horse’s nose and body by lifting up on your inside rein on the way to each barrel and maintain your pocket by using your inside foot.
All right barrels:
Turn all 3 barrels to the right, 1st barrel, third, then second.
All left barrels:
Turn all 3 barrels to the left, 2nd barrel, then third, then first.
Turn twice barrels:
Keep your hand planted and manage your horse w/ your feet as you turn each barrel twice the regular barrel pattern.
Opposite way barrels:
If your horse normally runs to the right first, run left first and just switch their pattern.
Counter Arc barrels #1:
Trot or lope the pattern, stopping when your horse’s shoulder is at the barrel, keep nose tipped toward the barrel and use your inside foot to counterarc off the barrel (don’t turn it), then lope or trot to the next one, repeat.
3 barrels in a straight line, can also do W/ 6 of them, turn opposite way each barrel, make a loop and keep repeating, do both sides.
Funnel Barrels:
6 barrels set up with 1st two the farthest apart, last set of two closest together. Go across, then diagonal, changing the direction of the turn each time, emphasizes move over point, keeps rider using their feet!
One barrel exercise:
Lope a BIG circle around the barrel with quite a bit of speed until horse flattens out, then come in, sit deep, park your hand, use your feet and turn one slightly slower barrel turn, lope out w/ power. Turn around and do the opposite way. This will quicken a horse up on his turns.
Stop, check position of hind end, wait 10 seconds, turn barrel:
Do the reg. barrel pattern, stop when nose is at barrel, check your position, if butt is out of line, use outside foot and correct, wait 10 seconds, turn the barrel. Do this at a trot and lope.
Turn single barrel, move in and out w/ your feet, never moving hand:
Using a single barrel at a walk, then trot, continue turning it keeping your hand in position and managing your horse using your feet and body position.
Speed Control:
Trot to the barrel, walk around it.
Lope to the barrel, trot around it.
Sprint to the barrel, lope around it.
Horsemanship
Stopping:
Use the fence, lope w/ speed toward the fence, 10 feet out, sit, say Whoa, then squeeze on the reins. Turn around and do the same.
Backing:
Sit back, squeeze, then release upon every step just slightly.
Sidepass:
To go to the left, hold rt. Rein up slightly, left rein out, put pressure w/ rt. Foot. To move right, hold left rein up slightly, rt. Rein out, put pressure w/ left foot.
Pivot:
Park behind by sitting down and back. Keep horse straight through the body, apply pressure at the cinch w/ outside foot, move horse’s front end in 90 degree movements, 180 degree movements, 360 degree movements.
Back in a circle:
Back horse up and push his behind around in a circle lifting on the outside rein and applying outside leg pressure while backing up.
Arc/Counterarc:
Turn a 12’ diameter circle on a trot, nose in, ribcage giving to your inside foot. Then, change hand position with nose out, pushing ribcage w/ outside foot. Switch back to arc, then counterarc. Make sure you do this both directions.
Rollback on fence:
Lope or trot parallel to fence, then sit, tip nose slightly toward fence and use outside foot to get shoulder to move toward fence while behind stops, after turn is complete, hands ahead and hustle the other direction, repeat to turn off the fence both directions several times.
Loping spirals:
Lope a very large circle to the right, start sitting down and using outside leg to move horse to smaller and smaller circle, sitting deeper and deeper in saddle until you get to about a 10 foot diameter or so, maintain lead, continue, then stop, turn around and repeat other direction. This gets a horse powerful in their hind end and causes them to reach up underneath themselves better.
Figure 8’s:
Lope to the left in a circle, change leads, lope the right in a circle, repeat several times.
Loops:
Go around arena in the left lead, make 20 foot circles to the left and loop back out to continue around the arena. Repeat to the right. You can vary the size of your circles.
Countercanter:
Lope on purpose in the incorrect lead, then go into the correct one. Loping in the incorrect lead tires your horse out and makes the correct lead feel easy. Don’t overdo this.
Speed Control:
Walk, then lope, then trot, then lope, then trot…change speed using your voice, seat, hands, etc. Get your horse very sensitive by varying speed many times in a loop around the arena.
Almost spin:
Speed up the front end by using outside foot and slow down the back end by sitting deeply. Ask your horse to trot and continue to speed up the front, slow down the back.
