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I will do one training scenario for circles to fix a started/green reiner horse who has a habit of diving in: I am riding a large circle one handed traveling to the left on the left lead. Horse is approaching the part of the circle that arcs toward the center and wants to start that turn early without waiting for cue (anticipating/dropping shoulder/not staying in between reins) so instead of doing a perfect 8 circle, it looks like &. I would switch to 2 hands, bring horse down to a stop, tilt their nose to the inside while asking for them to walk/turn around while turning their shoulders to the outside (my body position would be using my inside leg to cue for shoulders and if necessary tapping shoulder with my toe to reinforce cue while lifting both hands to the outside so the nose tilts in and the left rein lays across the neck while right rein gives direct pressure). Once we have done a turnaround and horse is appropriately yielding nose/shoulder and stepping away from my inside leg, we go back to loping the circle as if nothing happened. If horse starts doing it again, the same steps are repeated until horse begins to respond to the cues to stay between my reins. Finished horses would be treated the same way except one handed. If I am in the show ring and horse starts leaning in, I should be able to lift my rein slightly, lay it across the side of the neck of the side horse is leaning in, and squeeze my inside leg. If I have done my homework right, the horse should immediately respond to that slight cue and straighten back up.

Good lines (for me personally) include Shining Spark, HollywoodDunnit, Gunner, Wimpys Little Step, Topsail Whiz. There are many excellent reining lines but these jump off the top of my head as they really do show up in the winner's circles often. I've always been impressed with the Hollywood and Gunner foals- easy going, trainable, athletic, and they are pretty to look at! Gunner's legacy is very strong and his babies/grand babies/ and so on are always easy to spot from a mile away, what with their flashy chrome.

With how specialized reining and jumping has gotten, it would be very unusual to see a reiner compete in jumping and vice versa at a high level successfully. Each discipline has specialized skills and equipment and some of the techniques/skills are counter intuitive to each other. The build of the horses are markedly different (at least in the quarter horse world). Reiners are short stout little beasts with stubby legs that go a million miles a hour while the hunter jumpers are tall graceful and thoroughbredy looking gazelles (heavy infusions of thoroughbred blood) with legs of a supermodel. Now at a local nongraded show for fun, I could see a reiner pop around a little course and have fun at it but again, if the horse is wearing sliders, traction will be an issue and horse could lose its balance while taking off or landing. Jumpers doing reining, I am not even sure about that to be honest as I have never seen a jumper try to rein while I have seen reiners have their shoes pulled and go on to do some jumps. It just seems to be a easier transition from reining to jumping- the horse just needs to get used to more mouth contact and learn how to address a fence. Jumpers to reining transition would be harder because the horse has to learn to turn around, carry itself with minimal mouth contact, sliding stops, circles. I could be wrong though- do not have much experience with jumpers.

I hope this is helpful.. I tried to sprinkle some jargon throughout the talking but I can compile a better list if wanted or elaborate on anything or discuss something new/ other training scenarios.


Good luck with your book! I hope you will get it published and share the title so I can read it!

Again, broken up into 2 parts.

Oh good phew. So glad this info was helpful- I was a little hesitant to post at first since it was so much hahah.

You comment about leg protection made me realize I never elaborated on typical leg protection so I'll pop that in a second.

Your description of the horse character sounds good- I completely forgot to post this picture but if you google "hunter versus reiner" you'll be able to see an image of a reiner standing next to a hunter. The disparity is hilarious but it would allow you to visualize the physical differences of a horse in either discipline. From what I recall of that picture, it was at AQHA Worlds a few years back- the reiner is 8-9 years old and the hunter is 4 years old. I can't get it to host right but just google it.

There is also a video of a reined cow horse and a hunter whose riders have switched horses. The western rider is riding the hunter in jeans, western boots, and a hat while the hunter rider is in white breeches, helmet, gloves and so on. The horses are doing their respective disciplines but I thought it was an excellent way to showcase how the riders' techniques are different- hunter had more mouth contact and wasn;t really able to get the big sliding stops, western rider was a little unsure of the distances to fence and horse had to pop in extra short stride or reach to make the jump. https://thehorseaholic.com/watch-video-duel-in-the-desert-cow-horse-riders-switch-places-with-world-cup-riders/

There is also a video that show the similarities/differences of dressage and reining and riders again switch horses- https://thehorseaholic.com/reining-vs-dressage-magic/

Your questions are awesome! Anytime I can help, please feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll answer or if I don't know, I'll call someone who does and relay the answer on :)

-Do sliders affect the horses gait when not doing reining?- No the sliders don't affect gait- it's like any other horse shoe in that the first intention is to protect the feet. It is different, however in its "grippability" of dirt surface- very little grip so the shoe just skates across the surface. I've successfully taken horses out on trail rides in sliders-the only thing I had to watch for is if we were going downhill or uphill with minimal footholds- sometimes horses would sit down because they'd lost traction and their feet slid under them. WE usually slide down a point until the horse regained traction but honestly that could happen to any horse going barefoot and with regular shoes.

A consideration we did have to take with horses with sliders- we had to monitor them carefully in turnout- the shoes extend beyond the heel quite a bit and it's far more common than you think for another horse to run up behind the reiner, step on the exposed metal while reiner is moving, and the reiner loses a shoe. Overreaching and clipping is pretty common, especially with the super big stoppers who really use their butts.


-Have you had horses that can produce a naturally big stop in the pasture but is unable to successfully produce that under saddle? Short answer, after work was done, no. Horses who naturally do the big stops in pasture without training or prompting are usually built in such a way it is just natural and automatic for them to stop with their butts underneath themselves, regardless of rider or no rider. All training should do for those types of horses is enhance and refine the technique.

That said, I have had horses who have done stops in pasture but under saddle, they were heavy on forehand, sluggish, not wanting to sit down. I had vets and chiropractors to look at these guys and almost always they would find something physically wrong- kissing spine 1 time, sore backs, stifle/hock injury and so on. Sliding stops would aggravate so the horse was not inclined to rock back on their back end and use it to stop. Stall rest, injections, equipment adjustments, (and in the kissing spine case, retirement) and within a few weeks/months of rehab, the horses would be sliding under saddle like nothing was wrong.

Another instance I could think of is a horse who has been trained, either inadvertently or deliberately, to stop heavy on forehand. Those might be the ones who naturally stop underneath themselves while by themselves but when ridden, they aren't prompted to lift their shoulders, allowed to travel lazily, etc etc and their stops are sloppy/ not reinforced.


-What would be a deal breaker for you as a trainer when it comes to a horses attitude or talent level? A big deal breaker for me as a trainer would definitely be their attitude and aptitude. A horse that is rank and unpredictable even after 60-90 days would be a wash. If their conformation is totally unsuitable- i.e. really downhill, legs are crooked (with some exceptions- slight cow hocks would be acceptable in my book) or they have something medically wrong with them- kissing spine, a recurring stifle injury, bowed tendon are just a few of the things I'll veer from and redirect horses with these into less physically demanding programs. A horse with a poor work ethic is not going to enjoy the rigors of a reining program and while you could improve their ethic, these horses do seem to burn out earlier than a horse who enjoys its job. Horses who have shown/ridden for years and years on the same patterns and drills and are completely sour.

The beauty with reining is, I think, is that it is an awesome foundation that instills skills every single horse should have regardless of their discipline. Every horse should be able to guide lightly off their shoulders and back end, walk, trot, lope and have their speed/momentum easily controlled and changed with just seat cues, rock back and stop using their powerful back ends (which helps preserve joints rather than a slamming jarring stop that is heavy on forehand), do pivots both ways, do lead changes both ways, back up, you get the picture. Reining just has taken these skills and made it more extreme- for some horses, the big warmbloods, the flashy action horses (friesians, harness breeds), to ask them to do a sliding stop from a full rundown would be really hard for them physically and unfair in my opinion because of their biomechanics BUT they can and should be able to come down from a canter and softly stop and be prepared to go into a back up if asked on a light contact. They don't have to do the big flashy spins but by george they should be able to plant a foot and pivot around it smartly. I have seen a gypsy vanner who, while built like a draft but with longer legs, could do sliding stops like no one's business but bless his heart, ask him to do turnarounds and he'd fall down on his face because he couldn't get his big ole feet and feathers outta the way and trip himself up. He would go to the local open shows, compete in all the classes and at the end of the day, do the reining and do well though because while he couldn't do the big hold on to your hat spins, he had a solid pivot and his form was fundamentally correct.

Ok, I've done a bit of writing and I've got a zillion more questions, but the story has evolved into something a bit different that I had originally anticipated. I've got about 40 pages written over the last few weeks (not, much, I know!) and I figured I would share the first few and get some critique. Forgive the website, as I've just slapped it together in a few minutes using a template. I'm not even sure if the link will work - fingers crossed!

https://koolkuebaby.wixsite.com/highfiveacres/new-beginnings

Thanks! The main character has been shaped by the past she has run from, but the best way to deal with pain ( at least from my perspective) is through horses. I'm hoping she can be a likeable, relatable person. From my own experience, I am a terrible at confronting my problems, so I want to make her understand and deal with things in a MUCH healthier way than that. :)