Charmayne James Barrel Racing Clinic

Last week, I talked about mine and Secret's first few months together, and how by the end of summer, I needed a confidence boost and she needed a little experience herself. 

At the end of summertime, Secret had been hauled to a handful of shows, exhibitioned a couple runs, and was overall doing well with the barrels.  I however, had a lot of confidence issues, I didn't know how to ask her to correctly turn to the barrels, I didn't know when to cue her, and wanted an overall learning weekend with her, so I signed us up for a Charmayne James barrel racing clinic on the last week of September 2012 in Winona, MN.

The weekend started off well, Secret trailered the 4 hour journey across the state with her half brother, Salty as Charmayne was going to ride him for her demonstrations.  When we got there and checked in, we got their stalls for the weekend ready and got them situated.  The first order of business with this clinic was to ride the barrel pattern as fast as we were comfortable so Charmayne could watch us and evaluate how we do and then she would ride our horse to see how they rode the pattern.  To say the least, I was a basket case, which doesn't translate too well to Secret because she then becomes a basket case too.  At home with Julie, Secret could lope a pretty nice pattern, but with me, I get so nervous that she started getting jacked up and would throw her head around and keep her nose in the air and wouldn't like to control herself, so I did our first pattern with Charmayne at a walk.  I told Charmayne that we were really green and I was nervous for the whole weekend.  When Charmayne rode Secret, it was like she knew that greatness was on her back and she needed to be on her best behavior.  Secret did well for Charmayne and although had a little issue with turning into her second barrel too soon, put on quite the performance for her. 

I had my work cut out for me.  Secret knew what to do, I just had to get over my own obstacles in my head and learn to communicate with my horse and relax a little.  I went to bed that night full of excitement that Saturday would bring a day of bonding with Secret and learning a lot.  Although I was excited, at the same time I was scared that something bad was going to happen, that I was going to make a fool out of myself. 
Saturday morning came way too soon, as I half asleep dragged myself out of the hotel room and drove the ten minute drive to the Equestrian Center where the clinic was held to feed and water our horses and make sure everything was kosher.  Secret was happy to see me and I was glad she made it her first night away from home since she was born without any real issues. 
When I came back after having some coffee and getting ready for the day, my excitement turned right back to anxiety when I was getting Secret tacked up for the morning session of the clinic.  After we went out and warmed up for the morning, we went inside the arena and got our first lessons from Charmayne about turns and how to do them correctly.  Secret did great, she was very patient with me as I figured out how to hold my hands to turn her correctly and where to put my feet.  We worked on right turns a lot because Secret was really bendy with them, it was almost too bendy and I couldn't get a good forward drive out of her going to first because she anticipated too much. The other thing we worked on a lot (a lot more than I cared to at this clinic) was standing still.  Secret would not stand still for the life of her for more than five minutes.  We did a lot of forwards, backwards, circles, flexing and prancing around because five year old horses with little pea brains don't have the attention span for all day work from 8am until 4pm.  I felt bad for the people and horses who were around me, because we needed a lot of space for all the dancing around we did while we waited for our turn to do stuff.  If you think a horse will tire themselves out doing stuff like that, think again!

At the end of the day on Saturday, I had Secret consistantly doing a fast trot around the barrels, she was fitted with a new bit to help her stay broke at the poll (keep her nose down, she enjoyed keeping her nose in the air lately), and learned a lot about the whole barrel racing thing in general.  I was getting better with my hands, my confidence was alright for now, Secret was coming along well, I was pumped for our speed show on Sunday morning before we went home!
Sunday morning came, and I went to do chores half awake like I did on Saturday, everyone was fine and happy to see me, but when I came back to the hotel to get ready, Julie had gotten a phone call that Secret went down and she was collicking.  At this time, full panic mode set in.  I was dressed faster than I could ever imagine possible, and we were all piled in the truck not knowing what to expect when we got back by Secret. 
I will be forever thankful to the people whose horse was next to Secret at the clinic for being thoughtful enough to check on her when she laid down and to take time away from their own horse to walk Secret around the parking lot to make sure she was okay until we got there.  You could see it in her eyes that she was uncomfortable.  We figured she was dehydrated from yesterday and since she pooped in her water bucket that was almost full, didn't drink a lot last night.  So, I let her eat a little moist grass that had dew on it and prayed that she'd poop so I'd have a little reassurance knowing that things were still going through her system.  She did go and I had a little relief, but when we saddled up for the morning's festivities, she was still acting a little punky, and Charmayne could see it in her eyes that she wasn't 100% just yet.  So, I got off her, and sought out help from the vet who was overseeing the anesthesia for the dental work being done on the other horses at the clinic to see if he could help her.  I don't know what it is about the people at these clinics, but everyone is so caring and go out of their way to make sure if you come to them for help, they can help you in some way.  The vet gave Secret a shot of Banamine, which is an anti inflammatory that helps them get over their collic, and his vet tech mixed up some electrolytes for her and within 20 minutes, I had my spunky little girl back who looked like she had ants in her pants and wouldn't stand still.
We were able to get in a couple more runs around the barrels before our speed show and a new day brought new problems for me.  I had a hard time picking up her leads going around the barrels and was not able to lope a nice pattern because I could not tell if she had switched to the correct lead or not, so we were stuck on an awkward half trot, half lope, half lope on the wrong lead kind of pattern.  When we did our speed show, I started her on a trot and went to the lope, but had the same problem.  I went home knowing what I needed to work on: my hands and our leads.  We weren't going to get anywhere quick if I couldn't get her on the right lead or tell if she was on the right lead, and we definitely weren't going to get anywhere if I couldn't let go of the reins a little bit and give her some head room. 
I was excited to work on all this new information I had gotten from Charmayne James throughout the winter, and when I got home, I was excited to see my videos that my friend, Rachel had taken of us throughout the weekend.
In the next blogs, I'll talk about the fall and the winter time of year, how our rides were going, and what eventually became the straw that broke the camel's back and made me realize that Secret needed a break from barrels and needed to start over.
Thanks to all who read my first blog, and to everyone who is reading this one and following along on our journey! Again I appreciate any comments about confidence building or any natural horsemanship tips you have for me in general.