Poles and Barrels

Yesterday, I rode Santana (1/4 hackney, 1/4 arabian, 1/2 quarter horse gelding) and I worked on getting him to listen to me to change directions. I did this with the poles first. I would start going around the poles in no particular order, and anytime he turned to take a pole I would turn him the opposite direction. I eventually got it so that I would trot past a pole and he wouldn't try to turn. I did the same thing with barrels. Every time he would turn the barrel without me telling him to I would turn him to the outside. You may think that this will ruin how your horse does barrels. It doesn't. First, I think every horse should be able to do barrels whether they've had professional training or not. This is because every horse should listen to your cues.