[font="Verdana"][/font][size="1"][/size]This is for all the other people who barrel race. or do any other types of speed events such as poles bending, flag race, down & back, + keyhole. =]] talk about anything. I have some experience on this topic, so any questions are welcomed!!
thanks everyone,
sarah.

Which is your favorite of these events? Which one would you recommend to someone who has no experience doing speed events but wants to try some?

My favorite would have to be pole bending.
You can start absolutely anywhere. Wherever you want to.
It would all depend, if you horse is fairly young, you may want to try down & back.
It's a simple event, you just run around a cone, come back & stop in a chalked out box.
If your horse changes leads well, then you could pole bend.
Flags is another very simple event, the barrels are set up in a clover leaf shape like for barrels,
and on each outside barrel there is a bucket, you pick which bucket you want the flag in, you run to that barrel
pick up the flag, and run around the middle one & place the flag in the opposite bucket.
With determination, and training you can train any horse to do any of the events.
But the simplest, are down & back & the flag race.

- Sarah :]

Maybe I could get Alvie doing this. He's not quite sound enough when it comes to hunters, but I think if I kicked him and pissed him off enough, he could run around a cone pretty fast.

Are you kidding? I think tight turns at high speeds is just as hard on a horse as jumping over a few dopey jumps at a canter.

It is hard at high speeds, i agree. But i cannot say that its harder because I have never jumped.
Basically it just depends on the horse.

Def. flags you can sometimes place by trotting because the fast horses often miss.

yupp [: that actually happens a lot
mainly that is just acquirecy (sp?) so if you can make it in the bucket you got it!