3 Ways to Prepare Your Horse For Rodeos

The rodeo atmosphere can be difficult to replicate at home, and there are not many ways to find out how your horse will respond during a rodeo performance. But here are some ways you can prep your horse before you ever get to the rodeo arena, that will hopefully result in a good experience for your horses first rodeo queen endeavor.

1. Queen Run, flags, Push Cattle, Stand At Center of the Arena

   Yes, the top way to prepare your horse for what you will do at rodeos is to practice those elements of the rodeo at home. Make sure your horse understands a queen run, and how to enter and exit the arena with speed but remain under control. I would also practice doing a full lap with speed and stopping in the center of the arena, your horse should be capable of standing quietly and patiently just like they would in a show arena line up, regardless of how fast you just ran. Remember that the rodeo arena will be a lot to take in for a new horse, and while they may not stand still or behave perfectly at a rodeo, they will at least have an understanding of what you are asking them to do. Cattle work is especially important if you are a State Queen, or your home rodeo lets you push cattle, at least expose your horse to cows and push them if you can. A rodeo is not the time to find out your horse is terrified of cattle.

2. Horse Shows, Barrel Races, Competing in Rodeos

   Exposure in new arenas are a great way to gauge how your horse will react to an unfamiliar setting like a rodeo, hauling out to different arenas or trainers is one option. But ideally a setting that will also challenge you as a rider will be a better representative. Nervousness and stress as a rider is a vital component to practice, because it can cause your horse to behave very differently than it would if you were calm and relaxed. Allowing the pair of you to experience this, gives you knowledge and information to draw from in unfamiliar environments. Competitions also introduce the aspect of a crowd, hopefully cheering you on, that can give your horse practice hearing applause.

3. Exposure

   Exposing your horse to different sounds can help represent the noise heard in the arena. Plastic bags, bottles filled with rocks, random kids toys that make noise, all help with desensitizing. Playing noises like crowds cheering, fireworks and the like off of YouTube can also help make your horse more bombproof. Ask for a couple friends at your barn to make noise, sudden movements, yell, clap etc. while your riding so your horse can learn to focus on you in scary situations, and give you practice on how to handle it. Take time to show your horse new things, a blanket hung on the fence, a piece of trash caught in the tree, anything that they look at for more than a second or two should be explored. Overall exposure to new items and sounds will make the rodeo arena just a little less terrifying, and instill a lot more confidence in both horse and rider.