# Barrel Horse Conformation



## emeier83 (Mar 10, 2019)

This is my 5 year old and I’m thinking of sending him to a trainer to be put on barrels. Would he make a good barrel horse with his conformation? He’s a calm horse and has a lot of speed. One picture is from summer where he was in shape more than the picture that he’s eating in, which was taken today.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

He has a heavy body and light legs which I don't love for any strenuous discipline.

He appears fairly well built, slightly downhill but not too much, which is helpful for barrels. He needs to get under himself and be agile. Fast but still calm is good. I have a wonderful book that talks about conformation as well as what is better for different disciplines, I'll see if I can find it. There are also some really good barrel racers on here that will hopefully find this thread!

My thought would be to try him out, but be extra careful with his legs.


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## emeier83 (Mar 10, 2019)

Thank you for your reply! I found your thoughts very useful. 🙂


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Hi,

Firstly, I would personally NOT start a 5yo on barrels or other hard, high impact athletic things, but would wait until they're mature at least. He's ready at 5yo to be trained for less strenuous stuff though, including the basics of barrel racing without the hard & fast.

You need some different pics for a good critique, including front- & hind-on. I too don't like the heavy body & light legs, if you are wanting to put him to something so hard on horses. It could well be just the angle of the pic, but that first one makes it look like he's got a raised lumbar area, and again maybe just the angle that he's standing, but if this is his general stance, he's under himself in front a tad. He looks like he has longish, steep pasterns in front, but it seems that the right fore at least is a bit high heeled & flared of toe - don't know how much he may be 'high-low' & 'need' to be higher on that foot or some such. His hinds look a bit... not sure, and of course again, may be just the angle of pics, looking down...

All the 'faults' I've pointed out are, IMO minor, and also bear in mind there is no 'perfect' confo, and that some at least of these 'faults' may be changed - it's not unfixable, perhaps with a good chiro vet & farrier... and they wouldn't stop him being a good horse generally, but just something as hard on a horse as barrel racing, I'd want to start with very good confo & other factors.


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## emeier83 (Mar 10, 2019)

loosie said:


> Hi,
> 
> Firstly, I would personally NOT start a 5yo on barrels or other hard, high impact athletic things, but would wait until they're mature at least. He's ready at 5yo to be trained for less strenuous stuff though, including the basics of barrel racing without the hard & fast.
> 
> ...


Hi. I wouldn’t be sending him for a while because I know he’s not ready yet. I’m just thinking about in the future because I am trying to sort things out with my herd. As for the first picture, that is not his general stance and is just a picture I snapped. I will attach some more pictures. I would love to hear your feedback.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Loosie I noticed the same thing with that foot.

New pictures show the same stuff. Well built in general but heavy top and light legs. He looks a little plump (though I suspect it's mostly his build) and I'm mentioning it not because he looks completely huge (he doesn't and I know these are old pics) but because I would want him nice and lean to try and offset the weight of him being big bodied. Not sure if he has much to lose, but something to keep in mind.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Unfortunately, a lot of the 'hot' barrel racing sires throw light bone...so there are a ton of 'big body small legged' barrel horses out there. Your horse is a nice colt, but that would be my biggest concern, too. Start him with a trainer who goes SLOW and see how he holds up. If you're a light rider and are careful to keep him sound and in shape and only race on good ground, he may do very well.


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