2026 Exciting Times Ahead

When starting your horse on its barrel racing journey it may seem like a walk in the park but the more highly trained your horse is the capable it will be in turning a barrel.

There is a big difference from running round a barrel to actually asking the horse to sit and turn.

Most training should start at a walk and jog and the more perfected the task then ask for it in a lope.

Ideally we want the horse to be picking up speed going into the barrel so it can sit and turn and to help do this the Roll back drill is very helpful

Ideally starting in a walk, walk a 10meter circle with a barrel sitting approximately 6ft off the fence line and within your circle.

Once you are behind the barrel stop rein back and turn and walk two or three paces and then repeat the rein back and turn and finish your circle, each time turning into the fence line making your distance between the barrel and the fence shorter. Once perfected in a walk move on to a jog then a lope.

Always finish your circle off and do on both reins

2026 is definitely turning out to be a jammed packed year. We have already started with a riding club clinic in Redcar Cleveland UK and the first Irish clinic will be on the most romantic day of the year with Bullhorn Ranch.

We then head north upto Northern Ireland for our very first clinic.

Our clinics are approximately 2-3 hours long and are ideal for beginners. We aim to teach beginners the basic pattern allowing them to walk jog and lope the pattern. Riders that training for competing and to further their knowledge, we progress their training with drills, techniques and perfecting their performance. On average it takes 3 years to train a barrel racing horse from ground work to flat work and putting them on the pattern. Most people dont realise that a barrel horses training is on par with a reining horse and Grand prix dressage horse.

Competitions this year will take place after clinics and are open to everyone who wants ti compete they will also hold Qualifying classes for NBHA and WBHA, to enter NBHA classes you must be a member.

NBHA membership is now open to everyone and runs from 1st January to 31st December and allows riders to qualify for NBHA Youth & Open World.

WBHA also has 3 Qualifying classes this also allows riders to qualify for the WBHA World Championships this year held in Brazil. Membership for WBHA is required by members once a team has qualified. Rules and Regulations and dates will soon be announced.

NBHA and WBHA are only available in Ireland

This year there will be more of barrelsbon the beach. What started out as a few friends having some fun has grown in to a bigger occasion.

Barrels on the Beach is aimed at everyone who wants to have ago at barrel racing. It Free just come along and join in the fun.

We aim to take Barrels on the Beach to Ireland this year so watch out for the dates !!

WBHA is one of the largest barrel racing Associations in world with just over 20 countries participating.

As like NBHA riders have to do 3 qualification runs to qualify for the world Championships, which are held in a different country each year.

Riders are allocated a horse 5min before each run, they arent allowed to know anything about the horse . This can make for an interesting competition.

This year the WBHA was supposed to be held in Australia but unfortunately they pulled out and it has been moved to Brazil

WBHA membership is paid upon entering the World Championships and not a yearly membership.

Riders also have the opportunity to compete in Nicaragua's summer Festival

Ireland will have 3 qualifiers this so riders can be eligible to compete at the World Championships

23rd March / 11thApril / 29th May

The first clinic of the year and the weather chose to nearly freeze us to death, but we had an amazing time.

This clinic was a little different as we held it in a round pen....but as I had decided to work more on the horsemanship side of barrel racing it worked really well.

We started the day by Steve giving a demonstration on the lovely Bandit on how a western horse was trained and showing how a rider would move their horses round.

After Steve's demo we started with basic drills that encouraged riders to bend and move their horses feet. I took them onto figure of 8 where we covered approaching the barrel the pocket and also their seat and hand positions as this is really important when barrel racing.

Your seat must always stay centered and when pulling your inside rein it should go back towards your hip. If you lean in or out when moving round the barrel this can un balance your horse and make it harder for him to collect himself and turn going round the barrel.

We also covered hand positions as this is also important to running a pattern. Your hand should always be soft and your elbows slightly bent and subtle so there is always a connection to your horse. However your hands should only be used as a back up aid to your seat and legs when riding the pattern

The rest of the clinic was spent practicing a small pattern and putting into practice what we had covered.

Thank you to everyone who came along especially those that spectated and braved the cold

Thank you to Steve from Bullhorn Ranch for the use of his round pen and demo and also to Morris Haggerty Photography for all those amazing photos that will get winging their way to us soon.

To keep upto date with everything we do head to our Facebook page Northern Lights Barrel Racing International and like the page, there is so much going its hard to keep up with it all.

Next Time

I will be heading to Ireland will be the 21st & 22nd March and we will be heading to Northern Ireland for the 1st time. This will also be the start of the NBHA & WBHA competition season