YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Also, on top of what he does for reining (gallop 60 foot circles, slow lope 15-20 foot circles, spin at 40+ rpm, rundown up to 35mph, slidestop, rollback, back up at fast walk), my reining horse (11yr old) sidepasses, half passes, turns forehand, two tracks, shoulders / haunches in / out, sidepasses head in / head out circle, backs up in a circle, lopes a two foot circle with lead changes, turns without reins, changes leads on the straight repeatedly. And I can open and close gates off him, too.

mcashman44 1 month ago

Reining and dressage don't target the same things in horsemanship or horse training. Reining is about self-carriage and self-control. The horse is run at very high speed on a loose rein and is expected to precisely carry that speed and that form without intervention. To come down from flight level speed in a heartbeat to a calm, very slow speed without rein pressure. To stop, rollback and depart in quiet relaxation. To go from gallop to slow lope with a lead change between. It's hard. Try it...

mcashman44 1 month ago

Pardon my ignorance, but is this a "beginner horse" level or something? People applaud a simple flying lead change, something even as schooling-show level English horse can do. Do reiners ever get to something like tempi changes we see in Dressage? It really seems that the only thing going on here that would take much ability/training is the spins and slides. Surely, there must be more to reining than that?

blkgryphon 1 month ago

@blkgryphon Having a horse willingly guided on a loose rein, with speed control, being able to circle, change leads, stop and spin at the markers on a loose rein takes a great deal of skill. Don't knock it until you've really tried it, showing and all with a broke reining horse capable of scoring a 70+. I came from an English riding background as well and thought reining would be easy and boy was I way wrong. The skill it takes to make this look easy and effortless is astounding.

TheRainingromance 1 month ago

@TheRainingromance I don't doubt it takes skill and a lot of practice -- I'm just comparing it to upper level dressage, and it seems relatively simple. A flying lead change on a circle? What about tempi changes on a straight line? A reining horse is in its prime at 3-4...a dressage horse, not until it's around 12. You tell me which is more "astounding"!

blkgryphon 1 month ago