Approaching, Turning, Accelerating in Rodeo Barrel Racing

"Hi, I'm Holly Heidemann on behalf of Expert Village and today I'm going to show you the proper way to complete a barrel pattern. We're going to go both to the left first and then to the right first so you have a vision of each of those. We're also going to talk about the proper way to approach each barrel, to slow down for the barrel, and then to accelerate. We are going to talk about some terms that, that we're going to use the rest of these videos also. One of them is approach, that's the way that you come into the barrel. In that approach you need to make sure that you leave what's called a pocket and that's some room around the barrel that will allow your horse to turn it. So we're going to be talking about pocket a lot and that just means the space between the horse and the barrel. And then we're going to be talking about inside and outside reins and feet. So you need to know that an inside rein is when you are turning to the right, the inside rein would be the right rein - your inside foot would be your right foot. The outside, conversely, would be your left hand, left foot. So we'll be talking about that, you'll need to know that term. And then we're going to talk about the acceleration point, the point after you get finished with your turn that you're going to turn your horse loose and allow them to accelerate and head to the next barrel. So those are some terms you're going to need to know as we complete this next segment. We're going to start this barrel pattern out right between the first and the second barrel. You need to envision a straight line between those first two barrels so that you can head up like it were an imaginary alley until you get close enough that you're going to make sort of an arc to go around that first barrel. You don't want to head into it straight. Make sure you head into it with some bend and then you're going to see the point at which I'm going to sit down and I'm going to ask my horse to slow down. A horse can not turn a barrel as fast as they can run to one. So at a slow speed, at a trot, we're going to be teaching this horse to slow down for that barrel so that when I sit down during a run, he's going to gather up so he can run around that barrel with speed but not as fast as he ran to it. Then you're going to see me continue holding in that turn. I'm going to keep my hand down and back and I'm going to keep that horse held in that turn, I'm going to use my inside leg to keep the bend in his body and then when I reach the back side of the barrel, you're going to see me raise both of my hands forward so my horse can run off of that barrel, in this case trot off because we're working, working him from a trot to a walk, and then you're going to see me use my inside leg. Preparing for the next turn as I go across between the first and second barrel, you're going to be using, if you're going to the right barrel first - going to the second barrel will be a left turn so you're going to be using your left leg between the first and the second barrel, all the way across to get that horse pushed over and be in the proper pocket position to turn that second barrel to the left."