I thought today would be a good day to take a small break from working on the pattern. I don't want to over work my horse on the pattern and make him not want to barrel race. So I worked on some ground work with my horse to build up my leadership role. We then did some long trotting to get some exercise. Along with the long trotting we practiced our stops to make sure he has good breaks on him. During this time the barrels were laying down at the edge of the arena. As we came trotting past one my horse freaked out because some dirt hit the barrel making a strange sound. Because of this I made him trot passed the barrel and up to it making sure he kicked dirt on it. After that I got off and picked up the barrel and made it fall over on all sides of his body to desensitize him.