Don't Forget To Barrier Break Your House

People assume that every competition horse has been behind a barrier, but with so many ropings using electric eyes these days that’s not necessarily the case.

- Kendra Santos

At the highest level, we face a barrier every day, even at the jackpots. Very seldom do we see an electric eye. It’s always a rope barrier. And on occasion—like the rodeo at Prescott (Ariz.), where both partners come from the right side of the box from behind the barrier, or Salinas (Calif.), where both partners come from the left side of the chute and behind the barrier—the heel horse has to go through the barrier, too. When you get to those places, you’ll see a lot of heelers having their header hold up the barrier before they go, to try and get their heel horse used to that barrier at the last minute, so he won’t jump it. Regardless of whether you’re a junior rodeo kid or competing at the pro level, if your horse stalls and hesitates or jumps the barrier you’ve basically forfeited your run. Any hesitation disrupts your run, and there’s no time for it. You’ll basically embarrass and eliminate yourself due to a preventable lack of preparation.

The place to introduce your horse to a string barrier is at home. I ride a horse through a string barrier—in and out—at a walk until he gets comfortable with it and isn’t too worried about it anymore. He might snort at first, but a horse will tell you when he’s comfortable.