Preventing a Rodeo Horse from Not Finishing a Barrel

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Holly Heidemann on behalf of Expert Village and one of the things you are going to notice when you are running barrels and we're watching people run barrels is that sometimes as they're coming around the third barrel they'll come in really nice but then they come out really wide and that is called not finishing a barrel. We did some exercises today that are going to help with that but the biggest thing you have to do as a rider is to stay in that turn until it is time to complete it. So we are going to go ahead and we are going to come up to this barrel and I'm going to show you how that works. This would be a third barrel, you've got a little pocket coming in here. Watch how I stay committed to this turn. I'm holding my horse down and back until I finish it. Then I allow him to go forward. Watch the difference between that and when I allow him to go forward to soon. I am going to stay committed to the turn to start with and then half way around I'm going forward. Watch where he goes out. See how he comes out really wide. That's because I didn't keep him held in there. What we want is we want to approach this barrel with our pocket, keep him held in there until we are at the proper place to exit it. Then those hands come forward and out he goes. So it's as simple as just keeping your horse in that turn. If you want your horse to finish it and not come out wide you just sit a little bit longer. People think that sometimes that actually adds time because your sitting longer but what it does is it straightens up that run home which actually shaves a lot of time in the end."