I was watching an NBHA Barrel race when at the first barrel, the rider came off. To everyone’s relief, the rider was ok, but the horse continued to run the barrel pattern. To my amazement, the horse ran the complete pattern nearly perfect …. Without the rider.
I’ve seen parents put a small child on a seasoned barrel horse and let go. As the child was screaming and crying, the horse did a fine job at running the pattern.
I hear barrel racers say, “I need a trainer to put “The Pattern” on the horse”. I think, ok…. in barrel racing the pattern is the same (given the left-right-right or right-left-left turns). Sooo, what if I took my mounted shooting horse to a trainer and said, “Put the pattern on my horse”. Of course, in mounted shooting, there are 40+ different courses (patterns), at least four of which are used at each competition! I would probably get a strange look from the trainer.