I showed Jumpers/Dressage Horses for many years. Started lessons when I was 6 years old. But, I would come home and not have a lot to do in my off time. I got a GREAT Idea – I was going t buy prospects off the track ride THEM and sell READY TO PATTERN BARREL FUTURITY PROSPECTS!!!
When I decided I wanted to do this I was about 13. After two years of selling Futurity Prospects, I decided I wanted to train Barrel Horses!!! I wanted to learn everything in one day, lol!!! I was 15 years old and all I wanted to do was Train a Barrel Horse!!! I’d had TWO Finished Horses I Junior Rodeoed on, and had no credintals at all. But, I was going to be a FAMOUS Trainer (LoL) Luckily I had a GREAT father who slowed me down, and gave me a little reality check. He thought my DREAM WAS A GREAT ONE, something I could successfully accomplish. But, he said I needed to put tools in my tool box before I started to build a house (lol)… HAHAHA! (My father is the king of analogies).
He bought me every book and video on the market. I watched video after video, read book after book… Hmm… I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I started making deals with people when they bought horses from us. You buy the horse you give me a lesson! (HAHAHA!) And Dad hauled me to ride with any Professional Barrel Racer who had time and would let me. I also went to clinics and had help from my friends who barrel race.
I learned so much that year!!! I probabley rode with 12 different people!!! The problem was that none of them did it the same way!!! Some of them had similar styles, and did similar things… But, no two of them trained a like and no two of them rode a like. I started to get confused.
I remember sitting down and asking my father what he though, and he just smiled and laughed. He told me that when he was younger he had worked for some of the greatest race horse trainers in the world, none of them did it the same way! He told me what he had to do was take what he liked from each persons program, and bridge those pieces together!!! He told me “You Have to Make Your Own Program!”. So, that is what I set out to do. “Make MY OWN Program”.
Finally 3 years after my original DREAM to train Barrel Horses, my father thought I was ready to start! I remember when he said he was going to help me get a horse to train! I was so excited as I started to day dream about what an amazing horse he was going to get to ride and how well it would be bred… My DAY came, as my father unloaded my FIRST “Trainee” the day dream I had came to a scretching HOLT (haha)! Dad unloaded a 10 year old kid broke Two Eyed Jack bred Palomino Gelding… WHAT!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!! Well, I learned more from ol’ Pokey than any other horse. I had to RE BREAK HIM, he knew neck rein and stop. THAT WAS IT! Gezz, after a month or two I had ol’ Pokey ready for Level 2 Dressage (hahaha) And then I finally got to start him on Barrels. I WAS A BARREL HORSE TRAINER. hahahaha I sold Pokey 6 months later to a 7 year old Girl to be her PLAY DAY HORSE. He got the best home. Dad then let me have the profit and he went back to go to the Local Auction and bought Two More. I did the same thing! I brought them home, got them looking good. Got them “Dressage Horse” BROKE, then I started the Trench Digging. And took them back to Auction. I took $600 geldings and turned them into $2,500 GREAT BROKE Started ON Barrel Gelding =). That was great for a BROKE High School Kid!
I went threw LOTS of those old geldings. And what I love the most about them was I learned about getting a horse really broke, the maintence that is over looked by so many people, I didn’t just have to take care of these geldings, I had to bring them back from death warmed over. I had to learn about shoeing routine for each horse, and the correct angle for each horse. I had to learn about a worming routine, training charts for each horse, and LEG work. Because some of these guys weren’t the soundest things in the world. They were old geldings, with good hearts and my father made me take care of them like $100,000 Race Horses. If I ran them I had to do thier legs up and the day before I went to a barrel race I had to pack their feet and get them “Race Ready”… lol
5 years and 20 old broke geldings later, I finally get to ride COLTS out of My Fathers Race Barn (hahaha! Very Exciting) and I have now TRAINED a Multiple Futurity Money Earners and a FUTURITY Champion!
I have taken what I know from Dressage and Jumping and applied it to what I have learned from each Barrel Horse Trainer, and hwen you mix in the leg work I know from race horses you have my very Unique training style and my very Unique riding style. I did take what I knew from English and what liked from each person Program to form my own, but the hardest part was bridging those pieces together. But, lots of riding everyday and lots of different horses have helped me so much with that part of it!
I have learned you have to listen to each horse. I rely on my FEEL for each horse indavidual horse to help me make the proper training choices for that horse. Even though I have “My Style” so does each horse. So, sometimes it is very important that I have learned from so many people, I can take things I’ve learned that I don’t use a lot and apply them to certain horses who may fit that style. It’s very important to help each horse develop their own style. I think it is very important to listen to each horse, and your feel for that horse. Allow your self to mold to that horse and allow that horse to mold to you.
There is more than one way to train a Barrel Horse… And Their is More Than ONE way to RIDE a Barrel Horse… You just have to listen to your horse and to your heart and make the RIGHT Choices for the BOTH of you. And sometimes certain people don’t fit certain horses… And that’s okay. Doesn’t make them a bad rider or that horse a BAD horse… There is just more than one way to do the same thing!!!!!!! =0)
Tara Michelle~
