Equipment involved with Barrel Racing

             Barrel Racing equipment is hereditary, it is very important to your safety and your horses.  When barrel racing you require a helmet, girth so your saddle stays on, splint boots, these are wrapped around the fore arm of your  horses leg, they protect the canon bone and some very important tendons.  Bell boots are important to the rear part of your horses hoof, because when a horse gets running (if they are a correct walker) their back hoofs will come up and rub on the rear of the front hoofs causing raw and tenderness.  And with your saddle depending on what you want out of riding western pleasure uses longer fenders where barrel racers like to have them up and be ready, always on their toes up in the saddle.  With your saddle the tree should fit your horse in the proper manner touching down were it needs to also making sure it does not pinch the withers.  For gaming i prefer and rounded skirt so the leather doesn't dig into the horses back along with a fitted neoprene waffle saddle pad and im all set.  To retain the saddle in position i use a breast plate so the saddle does not slide down his back and irritate him.  For my bridle i use a hackamore or a 6 inch O ring snaffle nothing to harsh because you do not want to damage their jaw or their teeth. and i also use a tie down just for my safety so he doesn't swing his head up.

                                          

                    My Passion Barrel Racing and Pole Pending                              

              In my opinion, a horse is the animal to have. 1100 pounds of raw muscle, power, grace, and sweat, It isn't considered failing off of your horse. It's considered failing when you don't get up and try again that's when you can tell if someone should be up on the back of a 5 foot tall studley beast. the latest show that i had gone to was a galloway's fall cash classic and we were doing great got the first 2 barrels ok then the third barrel was coming up, my horses favorite barrel because he gets to bolt the whole way home but, this time he was digging to hard with his back legs and not really going with the front ones and all 4 legs went out from under him and he landed on top of me. the great past was everyone kept asking are you sure you want to go back in the ring and i obviously said yes, and in doing that i placed 5 in pole bending and 3 in keyhole. 

              In barrel racing there are certain breeds that you should and should not use.  the breeds you should use are, Appaloosa'a, Paints and Quater Horses,all these breeds are smart, versatile, they have natural muscle, easy to train and they are all heavy built to be able to handle the rigging and pounding on their joints when they're running in deep. i prefer the paint myself because they do not have such a lengthy body and it is a whole lot easier to turn them on their front end and not have to worry about their back end is going.  But my appy that i have now sold had a very long body and it was harder to deal with because he would over turn the barrel and try to go around it again, also for pole bending he would knock every pole with his but if you didint bring him round at the right time.