How to Kiss Bad Barrel Racing Habits Goodbye!
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Train your body, ride better, and unleash your potential!
Judging by the title you might guess that this article will cover steps to overcoming bad habits – quite the contrary!
This article WILL cover a step by step process that will allow you to embrace new habits in your riding; habits that will better serve you in an actual run.
There’s quite a difference between the two (overcoming bad vs. embracing new), but more on that later…
When it comes to the mental game, there is plenty of talk about the importance if quieting the mind. It IS ideal for us to hand the reins over to our subconscious and let go of “thinking” our way through a run.
To do this, however, we must rely on our bodies to operate in a way that allows our horse to perform to their fullest potential.
But what if our body doesn’t hold up its end of the deal?
Over time we find ourselves riding in a way that may have worked for us as a kid or may have worked for a horse we had in the past. When it’s time for a change – feelings of frustration are common.
Because barrel racing is a high speed event, there is only time to react, making it very difficult (if not impossible) to think about changes we must make in our riding during a run.
As barrel racers, we can be hard on ourselves when our riding doesn’t measure up to the way we want to ride in a run, and how we know our horses must be ridden to perform at their peak.
Studies show that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Sounds simple enough. That is, until you apply it to barrel racing!
The reality is that most of us don’t have a string of finished horses to make several runs on every day for 21 days straight. And we wouldn’t want to jeopardize our horse’s physical and mental health to better ourselves. But if something doesn’t change, the wheels continue to spin.
The good news is that you don’t have to keep banging your head against the trailer! IF you are determined to accomplish your goals, it IS possible to create new habits, and do so without sacrificing your horse (or your sanity).
