I understand the theory that the taller the horse, the longer the stride, and therefore the faster he can run... but in all my experience I've always found the fastest barrel horses to be around 15 hands, give or take.  I used to ride English (H/J's), and being 5'9" (even when I was 13!) was always a little daunting when trying to find the right prospect for the job, but when I got into barrels, I ended up with a couple of 15 hand horses and have NEVER felt "too big" for them.  So why is it nowadays when you tell someone that your barrel horse is 14.3 and 1100# they balk at you and roll they're eyes?  I've had 5'3" gals tell me that he's too SMALL to be a barrel horse!!!  What's that mean?  To me, the smaller the better, and all that means is there's enough muscle to power the run and not too big as to not be able to get around the barrel!

lilqhgal

I think it depends on the horse. I rode a 14.1 Arabian Mare, and she was faster than a 15hh mare who was TRAINED for barrels. Im riding a 16.1hh Quarter Horse Mare, who has a great stride length, but has longer time than the 15hh (but we trotted around the barrels though).

People are just to immature sometimes.

Hi Karrie,

You're absolutely right -- it all depends on the horse.  I just get miffed when someone says they won't "look good" on a smaller horse.  I'm 5'9" and feel just fine on my 14.3hh stud and my 15.0hh mare.

Thanks for coming to the website!  

Ramsey

Size never matters.I run in big rodeos and NBHA shows,i've had smaller horses beat me out plenty times.My 2-D mare is 15.3hh and always wins and i went to a out of state show and a little 14hh pony beat me out!I also had a 13.2hh AQPA mare who has beatin out all of my horses,but she is now retired after 21yrs of barrel racing.It all depends on the horse,some shorter ones are not made for barrels/poles and other are.Hope this helped![confused][grin]

NO WAY!  I have a 14.1 hand mare and she holds her own to BIG horses, where the big horses make up for the time in between the barrels, she beats them in the turns.  Her mom is 14 hands and just got 5th up at congress in barrels and a 1st and 3rd in poles. She may be little but she is mighty

Definitely no.  I think what matters more is heart.  To prove it, I watched a little 13 hand pony at an NBHA race run only 1 second off of the big horses!!  That pony was amazing!!

The important part is to keep your horse conditioned and work at perfecting your pattern!  Good luck!!  [wink]

The best barrel horse I ever had was 13.2 QH stud. My kids had (now shes my grandaughters) a 10.1H pony that could run 20 sec barrels where the horses were running high 16s & 17s to win.

My currrent horse in training is 15.3 1/2H.

I don't think it does at all!! I have a friend who ran a 17 hand horse and she won Rookie of the Year in our circuit (I don't know HOW he made it around the barrels but he did!) And I have another friend who just ran her futurity mare that is 14 hands, for the first big futurity and did great!
All that matters is the size of the heart!!

If size mattered then a 16 hand horse wouldn't be losing to a 14.1 hand pony, that runs top 1D times...I'd rather have a little horse over a big one, trust me i've run both of them...a 16.2 hand gelding and a 14.1 hand mare, the mare had a big motor and a HUGE heart!

My three horse range in size from 14.1 to 16 hands. The bigger is just a huge dog! He can get lazy on me.The one i am running right now is 15.1 hands tall and I love him dearly. The smaller 14.1 hand mare is for my daughter when she out grows her ponies. I am just beginning her training.
We have a POA pony geldng in our club than can rn with the big horsesand he is only 51 inches tall.
So in my mind Size DOES NOT matter. Its the size of their Heart![grin]

Hello all!

To those of you with shorter horses that responded to this thread, THANK YOU!  I have heard many times about folks "getting beat" by the smaller horses but not from folks who actually RIDE one that wins!  This makes it seem like they are few and far between and that whether folks get beat by them, they won't ride them themselves.  

I have been a bit reluctant to consider how my two paints can do because of their height.  Nothing has made me as optimistic as the responses to this post and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it! (BTW, they are 14.1 and 14.1 1/2 at 2 1/2 years old).  My colt is bred to do it and I like his build for it but I was losing hope because he's short.

On the other hand, maybe they'll both get a couple more inches before they're done!

S.

I think talent, want to on the part of the horse, & the training make much more difference than the size of the animal.

I have heard many times about folks "getting beat" by the smaller horses but not from folks who actually RIDE one that wins!

My first real competetive barrel/pole horse was less than 1/2 an inch from being measured a pony (in 4-H measurements). He ran poles in 21 seconds and was awesome at barrels.  I remember once these girls were making fun of my "pony" and a girl on a huge 16 hand horse told them to shut up because "that girl's little pony will probably win", and I did!! [grin] I still have the buckles to prove it!![lol][lol][lol]

Don't ya just love when that happens.

When my 55" QH/QP stud was frist starting everybody laughed at him cause he was so small & he bucked all the way from the third barrel home, but in a couple of years they quit laughing when he got down to business & started kicking their butts on a regular basis.

Wow...this topic is pretty old but I'm gonna reply anyway!

I have a 14.2hh 21 year old QH that I've regularly RACED (not barrels, flat out racing) against a field of other horses numerous times (none were older than the shortest one was 15hh and the tallest was 17hh ranging from Arabs to TB's back to QH's. My old man cruised on past them all like they were pack donkey's ^^!

Lol it's so funny I showed up on my little old horse and his name is POKEY of all things and when he's just sittin' around he naps hehe, so people were laughin at us. However, I knew that they wouldn't be for very long ^^. Hehe it's so funny because my horse will get about 5 horse lengths ahead then stop accelerating and keep even at that distance. No matter how much they'd encourage their horses he'd always remain that 5 lengths ahead and he still had more left in him. It's amazing how much speed, and more importantly heart, my little old man has.

I'm not racing him anymore due to arthritus in his shoulder and fetlock but I do still ride him a lot (gotta keep him in shape!) so I guess other people will actually have chances now hehe!