If you have ever heard R.E. Josey talk about the first barrel, you will know that he calls it the barrel racers "money barrel". It's called this because a good first barrel sets a rider up for the rest of their run. Whether you go right or left, the first barrel can prove to be hard for many competitors.

Problems on the first barrel can include cutting across at the approach, not enough rate, squaring off and no snap. A bad first barrel can usually be corrected by good horsemanship. A horse that moves in going to the first barrel is usually due to rider error and can frequently be corrected by more time in the saddle and focusing on going to your spot. Sometimes it is caused by the rider's weight distribution from how they are sitting in the saddle. A rider that sits leaning too far forward and into a turn causes the horse to do the same and they land on their front end. In my classes I stand right by the first barrel and coach riders to stay two handed and balanced coming to the barrel. I want my students to be square with absolutely no leaning.

Horses that are running by the first barrel need to go back to the basics. Slow working your horse and teaching rate will develop a good first barrel. I encourage riders to use their voice as well as body to rate their horse. The rider should say whoa and then sit down in the saddle at each spot where rate is needed. At our clinics we also teach "stop offs" which teaches your horse to rate when you ask for rate.

A horse that is squaring off a barrel and losing time can be helped by rounding out his turn while keeping forward motion. Use your inside leg to round your horse's rib cage. Loping big circles, down to a smaller circles then back to bigger circles is an excellent drill to teach rounding. If your horse is slow in the turn or has no snap then you must learn how to drive and push him with your body. I will sometimes smooch to my horse as I leave barrels to get him pushing off. I never want to stop my horse from accelerating out of a turn. If they accelerate properly when I'm doing slow work, I wait until a few strides away from the barrel to slow them back down. I do lot of trotting to the first and walking around it. Slow work is critical to your horse's overall success. Understanding your horse's stride and balance requires you to feel your horse so that you know where his feet and legs are at all times. I teach my students that every movement on the horse's back causes a reaction and has meaning.

The right equipment and using it correctly plays an important role in a horse's success at the first barrel. Riders that have their reins too long risk of losing control of their horse while reins that are too short can also create problems. Your hands play a critical part of not only having good horsemanship but in having a good first barrel. Learn the right time to reach for the saddle horn and push against it to keep from falling forward. The bit I use varies with each individual horse and whether I'm competing or practicing. My slow work and conditioning bit is usually something that will encourage flex and bend unless I am working on rate and then I will use a rating bit. I like to save my competition bit for just competing to keep my horse running fresh and solid in that bit each time.

Because practice time is precious to me, I don't want to rush, I don't want interruptions and I want to take the time to do things I will do in my run. I like to use markers at the first barrel to help me focus correctly. One of the things we teach at our clinics is where to put the markers around the barrels which help the rider to put the horse in the right position. Remember that barrel racing is a guiding contest. You want you and your horse in proper balance going to, around and leaving that first barrel. Once you can do that smoothly at all speeds, your first barrel will be your money winning barrel!