How do I start racing?

I want to start barrel racing on my horse but I don't know how to work with her?

• My horse is a 13 year old arabian, quarter horse cross with a bit of thoroughbred. Her name is Destiny or Destined To Be Gold and used to be a gaming horse. She is always ready to run and that kind of makes it hard. I don't know what her previous owners did with her and that's the difficult thing. I have always been fascinated by barrel racing and I want to try it on Dessy (Destiny). She's really well muscled and fast. I had a thoroughbred that was used in races and she was even faster than him. I don't have any barrels so I was thinking of using plastic garbage cans but I'm not sure if that's good or not. Dessy is well mannered and sweet. She loves attention and riding time. I have used her for trails and a bit of jumping which I still have to work on because every time I take her over a one foot jump, she bucks. The last owner said she never bucks but the person was wrong because I've had her over a year and she's bucked several times. But overall, she's a very good horse and I think with her attitude, stamina, and determination, she'd make a fantastic barrel racer. I've ridden horses since I was at least 2 years old, I'm 13 years now. I've taught myself how to ride with occasional tips from my mom and I started out on a very green-broke horse which led to me getting bucked off a lot but I learned to get back on. My mom has ridden her whole life like me and she had a horse that she could ride with nothing but a piece of twine acting like a bridle and my mom could basically do barrel racing that way. I want to be kind of like my mom, able to do barrel racing perfectly. Any tips that could help with my horse's training? Oh and it would be hard getting a professional trainer since my family is sort of low on money.

• Answer:

  Hi, I am posting a couple of sites to help you get an idea. Good luck http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/articles/mcnamara_startingbarrels.html http://www.freebarrelracingtips.com/