9 Body Position Tips for Turning a Perfect Barrel!
Guys! I am soo excited to introduce this blog to you. My mission is to help you become the best version of yourself possible and of course, that includes you as an athlete! Today, I am sharing my top 9 body position tips on how I ensure to turn a perfect barrel with any horse that I run in the barrels. I hope that you learn something valuable- don't forget to share your results with me!!
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- Use your horn to stay within your horse’s center of gravity. Right behind the horn (where you sit), is right above your horse's center of gravity. Keep your body centered there for optimum balance (for you and your horse)!
- Keep your weight slightly shifted to the outside stirrup. I keep my inside shoulder up to help ensure that my weight is properly adjusted. That helps me get off my horse’s inside legs and shoulder.
- Lift your inside rein. I have found that lifting the inside rein helps my horse’s achieve their best shape while turning. There is so much less resistance and more control than when I pull out.
- Keep your heels down and feet under you! This is huge for ensuring that you are in the correct position. If your feet are too far back, your upper body will be pushed too forward. And if your feet are too far forward, your upper body will be pushed too far back. Focus on keeping your feet right underneath you.
- Keep your elbows close to your body. If you bow your elbow out, your horse will bow out. Be careful with that!
- Keep. Your. Eyes. Forward. Your body leans towards where you are looking, therefore, so will your horse!!
- Stay seated! Enough said, this is essential for good balance.
- Use your inside leg to “lift” your horse’s shoulder up and apply slight pressure coming into the barrel- switch to using pressure with your outside leg leaving the barrel.
- Ride tough! That pretty much speaks for itself but make sure you are riding all the way through your barrel. Most mistakes come from not riding as strong as you can throughout every aspect of the turn.
I hope that this helps shape a vision for your perfect turns! Last little tips, make sure to study the heck out of your past runs to evaluate what you are doing right and wrong throughout the turns. This is how I know exactly what my strengths and weaknesses are. Thank you for reading this, I'll see you on Wednesdays blog!