Reining in the Rain

Ahhhh! With another weekend here at Sherwood Forest Faire under my belt, I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit down on this rainy Monday and write out another post for all you avid readers. As promised, I really want to focus on my riding and the specific ideas I’ve been trying to work on. So while the rain pitter patters outside, I’m going to take this opportunity to try and go more in depth about some of the things I’m working on.

In some of my previous posts, I know I’ve gone over some of the ideas Dave and Kelly advocate; more specifically the idea to ride a horse more with your seat and body than with your hands. This pretty much boils down to the main goal of working towards having a horse that is relaxed and responsive to minimal aids. As I’ve also stated previously, all our horses are trained in Western Reining, an equine sport that focuses on these ideas. The National Reining Horse Association handbook defines the reining horse as such, “To rein a horse is not only to guide him, but also to control his every movement. The best reined horse should be willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance and dictated to completely. Any movement on his own must be considered a lack of control…”

Now, growing up, I was aware of reining, and loved watching the shows I was able to get to, but never had actually ridden a reining horse nor had any inking of the way one was trained or properly ridden. Having just come from a strong jumper background, reining was completely different than what I had been used to. The notion of spending so much time on technique and fine details was foreign, as most of the equestrian sports I’d competed in had been about speed and time. Now I’ve gotten to a point where I’m becoming more aware of the finer details in riding a horse, and can take the time to focus on and refine those techniques.

There’s just so much I could go into and talk about, and so much that I’ve learned so far, but the one important idea that I feel I’m really starting to unearth and discover is how to use my legs and seat in an effective manner. Specifically speaking, learning to use my leg and spurs to get a horse to frame up and also stop and back up. This has been, by far, the most difficult idea for me to grasp. I’ve been riding for 15 years, and learning to use my leg to stop is the exact opposite of what I’ve been taught. For me, I learned leg = go and reins = stop, so the idea of using my legs/seat to stop has been quite different for me.

This last weekend though, I felt like some things are starting to finally become clearer to me on the topic. Abraham wanted to rush off at the end and would want to pop up his head and just run off, but as soon as I felt him wanting to surge forward, I squeezed him with my spurs and pushed him backwards. And it worked! It was my “Aha!” moment of the day, I could get this horse to back up and go forward quietly without having to hold onto his face and then expect a big surge. Every time he felt like rushing off, I squeezed him with my spurs and told him to back it up and hold on. Then, when he’d settled back down, I’d quietly ask him to walk forward, and then nicely pick up the canter.

I know that I’m just touching the tip of the iceberg at this point, but the fact that I’m finally actually starting to understand these ideas is wonderful. It’s amazing too how little you have to use to ask these horses to do something. Another thing Dave preaches is the use of the outside rein to help balance a horse, and again I had another “Aha!” moment with Abe. While asking him to side pass, I always found him over-bent to the inside and trying to move too fast. After stopping and assessing what I might be doing wrong, I remembered Dave preaching about being aware of how you’re asking a horse to do something. So I let out my reins a bit, used my seat to ask him forward, and then very quietly lifted my outside rein just as a support while gently asking him over with my leg. By simply using less spur and not trying to force him over by pulling his head over, I was able to get a wonderful side pass!

It’s always so hard to remember to nicely ask a horse to do something rather than thinking that you have to muscle them into something. For me, when I get panicked, I find myself wanting to snatch at the reins to find control in the situation again, something I’m sure many of us equestrians are guilty of. But I’m finding more and more just how much you can accomplish without grabbing on a horse’s face. Riding horses is a sport which constantly pushes you to constantly keep learning and adjusting, and although this can lead to much frustration, also leads to wonderful success when you are able to finally grasp something.

I’ll wrap this up with a well written quote by author Jane Smiley, “All equestrians, if they last long enough, learn that riding in whatever form is a lifelong sport and art, an endeavor that is both familiar and new every time you take a horse out of his stall or pasture”.

So I will keep learning, and keep growing, constantly chipping away at these ideas, and constantly working on becoming a better rider.

Stay dry this Monday my friends, and remember to keep pushing forward and working towards your goal. Much love.

Abraham and I after a wonderful weekend.