Question for reiners -

When your horses do those fast spins - how in the world do you keep from throwing up or passing out???

I was watching from video last night on YouTube of some horses that were spinning so fast they could have created their own tornado's.

Does that affect the horse - dizziness wise? Pretty interesting to see.

I got to ride a reining horse (sans tornado spin!) once when I was a kid. It was just sit in the saddle and hold on. Horse did everything for you. Pretty amazing.

Once you get used to it ,its fine. I love spinning and if your horse learns not to suck back it becomes very flowy and comfortable.

I have never heard of a horse or rider getting dizzy.

I get dizzy really easy but the best thing for me to do is the same thing that figure skaters do; get a point on the arena wall and focus on it, then whip around to focus on it again. Others will keep their eyes on the horse's neck/ears/poll, but that just seems to make it worse for me. I guess that is why most reining patterns seldom call for more than 3 spins. I honestly don't know if it is physically possible for horse's to get dizzy. I would assume that it is but they would probably lock down before they got to that point.

Actually I have never seen a pattern with 3 spins. There always 4. Check out NRHA.com

All the patterns that I know are from the AQHA handbook from the old days, back when my Dad was still showing. I have never really looked at the NRHA patterns. I guess you learn something new every day.

I knew a lady who owned several reining horses and just watching her spin made me feel queasy!

I am taking lessons on a reining horse right now, I absolutely love him but I'm not up to even trying spins yet!

I suppose I will eventually find out what spinning is like, my sister-in-law is training my horse and when I went to go ride tonight, she told me my horse loves spinning! It was starting to snow though, so she wasn't able to show me.

I sit deep in the saddle and push my heels down. I remember the first time I did it, I wasn't ready. But once you get to practice it gets better and better every time. :)

There's a video somewhere of a lady who rides a black mare completely tack-less to Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw in memory of her father. She does a complete reining pattern, even a few spins. Can't remember the name...

But anywho, she was on an episode of Ellen [Degenerous, LOVE HER!] and the lady put Ellen on her horse - tacked up, of course - and had her spin. She just put a little bit of leg on and the horse spun around. Apparently, the firmer the leg pressure, the faster the spin. But Ellen only did about half a circle and was like, "Woah... O_O" when they stopped. It was cute, if you can find the clip. =]

On another note, Ricci doesn't like to spin. Or turn quickly, she hates it. Gracie, on the other hand, will probably love it. She's going to be my western gaming pony. So in a several years when she's broke and we do our first spin, I'll let you know how it feels, haha.

Apparently it's Stacy Westfall. Here's the clip of her ride.


And Ellen's ride. =]