Thread by @rodeolifeprobs

What it’s like owning a true 1D barrel horse: a thread

Because I am tired of people thinking LOW MAINTENANCE and 1D coexist

Because I’m also tired of people saying girls just “sit there” on good 1D horses. This is a little bit of what goes into actually keeping those “automatic” horses going

For starters, chiropractic/accupuncture monthly or more often, sometimes massages or other treatments depending on the horse or how much you haul.

2nd off. supplements: ulcer, joint, body conditioner, sometimes muscle builders/blood builders/mare herbs/ anything else for that horse based on its nutrition needs. Sometimes needs switched up EVERY SEASON

Next, we have injections. You’ve got a badass horse going full time to rodeos? Have fun injecting hocks, coffins, knees, SI’s, patterns, shoulders, etc, some times every 4-6 months.

And your jo smo farrier isn’t gonna cut it. One degree angle off and your 1D baby is crippled, so you’re putting ou good money in shoes every 6-8 weeks, and your cattle vet isn’t gonna cut it. They better know that horse better than you know the back of your left hand.

And let’s not forget about what you have to do on the road. While everybody else pulls Bucky off and saddles, you’re hand walking, wrapping or unwrapping legs, linimenting, poulticing, icing/cold hosing, and hand walking that 1D horse since that hauling puts a toll on him.

And during the week, you’re conditioning that automatic horse, switching up his workouts so he doesn’t get bored, working him in different bits, doing barrel drills so that he can look AUTOMATIC at the rodeo that weekend, carefully planning out when to rest/run him

And you’re making sure you plan your routes so that they are perfectly suited to the pen, ground, climate, etc that they prefer to run in.

And my favorite: AFTER the rodeo, when everybody is busy going to the bar and bashing you for beating them on your AUTOMATIC horse, you’re hand walking, linimenting again, wrapping legs again, finding a safe place to keep your horse, icing legs again, setting up

Portable fences, going over every INCH of your AUTOMATIC horse and making sure he feels 100%, especially if he didn’t win that night, then you wake up 3x in the middle of the night to make sure he’s doing okay wherever you may be.

So the next time you cover somebody’s automatic, 1D horse, why don’t you take a minute to ask them what they’ve done that day, week, or year to get that horse to the top, and more importantly, HOW they KEEP THEM AT THE TOP.

And before you whine about never getting to own a true 1D horse, ask yourself if you’re REALLY ready to make that kind of commitment to the horse to keep it going??

End rant. Que barrel racers flipping out. And fun fact, I could have gone on a lot longer about all of the things that go into keeping a 1D horse going. Good day Twitter.