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Neck reining

1K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  Smilie 
#1 ·
Well here we go....I found out yesterday that I'm the official Canadian Flag carrier for the 2016 Calgary Stampede. We have 6 weeks before that busy week, and I've just found out a few big things we need to be able to do by then.

While the anthem is going to be sung by a professional singer, I am supposed to ride my Canadian horse(obvious why they asked us to do it), while loping a specific pattern while holding the flag.

My girl had never seen a flag 1 month ago, and I nearly ate dirt when she did. I've worked my butt off since to get her to get over the fear and can now comfortably trot around the arena while carrying the flag. Loping with a flag shouldn't be an issue. Neck reining however is. My background is English and have never needed or thought to teach her to neckrein.

I've watched many videos online of the ways people recommend teaching a horse to neckrein, but do any of you having suggestions to quickly and successfully teach a horse to neckrein when you're on a time crunch.

She's currently being ridden in a French link.
 
#2 ·
Congratulations! That's really exciting!

Now to the not so exciting stuff...unfortunately, when you try to hurry training, that's when things go wrong. I would REALLY suggest sending the horse to a trainer if you can for this. I'm not saying you can't teach it, but IMO it's not worth walking the line of a potential disaster. If she's a broke horse, she should be able to get a really good handle in 30 days with a trainer.
 
#3 ·
If your mare works off of legs, seat, weight, and core, she should take to neck reining like a duck to water. Set up some barrels or poles and try working a pattern at a walk without touching your reins to see how responsive she is to your seat as you look where you want to go. Technically, neck reining is a misnomer since it's all about using the natural aids, not the reins, to cue the horse. Your hand, when neck reining correctly, should never cross over the withers or the horn of your saddle.
 
#5 ·
If you have been rotating your body, including your hands, when turning while riding “English”, you have been teaching your horse to neck rein. Just do the same things while holding the reins in one hand.

If you have trouble, come back with specifics and let’s see what we can do to help.
 
#7 ·
Apply outside leg and rein to ask for the turn, if she doesn't, pick up inside rein to "show" her. Turn for a couple of strides, then let her straighten out on a loose rein. Wash, rinse, repeat about a million and one times. When I'm first teaching neck reining, I like to ride in squares instead of circles. As they progress, I start to include serpentines and figure 8s. Once they get the idea down, if they don't respond to the neck rein snappy enough, I will begin to over-correct them with direct rein. Meaning I ask for a 90 degree turn and they were mushy, so I pick up direct rein and demand a 180 or 360 degree turn.

The most important (and sometimes difficult) thing to do is to start riding her and expecting her to neck rein ALL the time. You can't work on neck reining for 10-15 minutes in a ride and spend the rest of it direct reining and expect much progress. Everything you do, schooling in an arena, plodding around the pasture, trail riding with friends....ride her as if she already knows how to neck rein and correct her when she doesn't.

Since your time is limited, I would probably spend at least a couple hours on her daily if possible. Some of that just dinking around with informal practice or enjoying yourself, but I'd do 15-45 minutes of intensive schooling each ride. It really doesn't take that long if you are consistent about it.

One other thing to practice just in case though. Work on being able to use both neck reining and direct reining with one hand in case she has a blonde moment during your pattern. I do this by keeping my reins shorter so that I can easily pick up contact if I need to but they are still loose if I don't. I usually hold my reins like this during this time. That way, if I start having a bit of trouble or they get confused for a minute, I can stick out my first finger and pick the right rein up with it....or stick out my pinky and pick up the left rein. It takes some practice and I can get better pictures/video if you'd like so you can get a better idea of what I mean.
 
#9 ·
You guys are phenomenal! Great fun for the time you took to respond to my post.

It is a great honour to carry the flag. She wasn't quite 3 last year when we missed the opportunity to do it. She had barely 30 days of training at that point and just was just not ready for it.
Thank you for all the great info to try to get her going on time for stampede. As it is right now, I already ride her in such a way that I can pick up a direct rein to re-inforce a turn if she missed the memo-but thank you for that because it's a great way to have a back up in case something goes wrong.

Thank you again for the feedback. Will take some photos tonight to post on here.
 
#10 ·
If she works well off your seat & legs,next I would transition her to a shank bit:wink:. I have ridden my mares primarily in snaffles. Recently riding them in either a myler level 2 western bit they work well in & took to neck reining no problem:D.

look something like this https://www.toklat.com/Products/BP/89-11047
 
#11 ·
IMO there is no reason to change the bit at this point----you can neck rein in whatever bit she is in now so she just has to make the adjustment to the neck reining. Our the ranch horses were ridden in snaffles unless we were going to be seriously working cattle---then we wore spurs and used curb bits as a signal that we weren't just taking a leisurely stroll to count noses. When DD and I showed western, all training and riding at home was in a snaffle---the curb bits were only used for the warm up at the show and during the class.
 
#13 ·
Cool!
I know some Canadian horse people, through my natural hoof trimmer, whose wife also does competitive rides on Canadians
I agree that you really don't need her to learn to neck rein, per say, as you would riding patterns that contains flying lead changes, or even on a drapped rein, for that matter, ect=just the ability to ride one handed, while carrying a flag, doing a simple pattern.
Thus, if she rides off of seat and leg, it should not be difficult to ride some simple circles
Probably a bit late to change bits, and one can certainly use a snaffle this way, for your purpose, but I would prefer a curb, if the horse has been introduced to one, simply because of the way acurb is designed to be used, one handed, with the rein hand held highest then with a snaffle, able to check the horse with a slight bump, versus a pull, esp when going at speed, if you intend to do that flag run in, as those professional rodeo gals!
 
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