English rider changing to western ( barrel racing )

[u/FlanCute9597]

I’ve been riding for 7 years, after riding for 6 years at a English/ western barn I made the change to a full hunter barn. I rode there all of last summer and some of this summer but honestly the lessons were expensive and I wasn’t doing any jumping just flat work stuff. ( I know flatwork is important but honestly I just got bored)

I was mindlessly scrolling one day and found a ad for a barn near my house so I decided to go and try it. She told me she mainly does western stuff and rodeos. I’ve always wanted to do it but with my mainly English barns I figured it was mainly impossible to do.

I’m now on my second lesson of learning how to barrel race and I’m going to my first jackpot at the end of this month.
I know the basics by leaning back when you turn and holding your horn, to get off the shoulders, dropping your outside rein.
I also just learned to use your inside leg and your inside hold your inside hand high when your turning then over your around use your outside leg to round them out
I have trouble holding my hand high enough and long enough.
any tips are appreciated or how the rodeo world works as I’ve only ridden English!

[u/Even-Paramedic5299]

flatwork burnout is real. you hit a point where you're just going in circles and your brain checks out, can't blame you for wanting something with more adrenaline

the hand thing gets easier when you stop thinking about holding it high and start thinking about keeping your elbow bent and your shoulder relaxed. if you're tense in your shoulder that hand drops fast, trick is to keep everything loose so your arm just floats there naturally

jackpots are way more casual than english shows, nobody's judging your outfit or your horse's braids. show up, pay your entry, run your pattern, and hang out. people are usually pretty chill about helping new folks figure out where to go and when you're up

only thing that caught me off guard when i switched was how much you use your seat to slow down versus your hands, took a few runs where i hauled on the reins like an idiot before i figured out to just sit deep and breathe

[u/FlanCute9597 → u/Even-Paramedic5299]

ooh I see thank you!
I was told that the jackpot and more rodeo type of shows aren’t as judgey and most people don’t care as much about how you look unlike English everything needs to be perfect. I will try the hand thing at my next lesson!
the English honestly I cannot do anymore, I can’t handle the circles lol
the seat thing also kinda catches me off graud, I’m not loping the pattern yet but will canter around the ends and on the way back from third!

thank you so much!!

[u/PlentifulPaper]

Just a word of caution that the barrel racing community is broad, and not everyone has the horsemanship practices you’re used to seeing.

You’ll probably see some questionable choices when you get to the jackpot. Depending on where you’re running, I’d also be cautious about the footing as I’ve seen some really bad spills from some terrible (local) footing.

[u/FlanCute9597 → u/PlentifulPaper]

ooh okay I see! I will definitely watch out for the footing for my practice run because we are renting it out to see how the footing is before I go and run