[beau159]

Another "dumb" question....

Do you always turn away from the rail in the spin? When the girl talked me through the patter she said "You always spin away form the rail" but I'm not sure if she was talking about that specific pattern or always?

I have no idea what she would be talking about. You do whatever the Ranch Riding pattern tells you to do. Sometimes it's toward the rail; sometimes it's away from the rail.

In the Ranch reining, then you usually spin toward the rail as the pattern tells you. (Reason for that is because you will be on the correct lead when you come out of your rollback.)

If you are doing Ranch Rail (basically the ranch version of western pleasure) then you turn away from the rail when you switch directions.

 

[farmpony84]

Maybe that's what she meant. Ok so if it says left lead spin then you spin to the left and vice versa ... correct?

 

[beau159]

Maybe that's what she meant. Ok so if it says left lead spin then you spin to the left and vice versa ... correct?

Not sure what you mean by this.

Which class are you referring to, as an example? Ranch riding? Ranch reining?

If you are doing a spin, the pattern will specify which way you go. For example, it may say do 3 spins to the left for a maneuvar. And then the next maneuvar might be make 2 small circles on the left lead. As an example.

Sometimes, the pattern might let you choose which way you spin. If that's the case, it will say make 2 spins (either direction) on the pattern. Then you can do whatever direction you want.

Again, just do what the pattern tells you!

I attached two pictures of the patterns I just did at the Versatility Ranch Horse show last week. The reining pattern has you start with spins in the middle but you pick which way you go first. The rollbacks, you roll into the fence so that you are on your correct lead coming out.
For the ranch riding pattern, there really was not a spin anywhere in the pattern. Just a "turn". While the directions didn't say which direction to go, I turned to the left because that is how the picture is drawn. So I usually do how the picture is drawn if the actual directions do not give you enough guidance. I also try to execute the pattern as close to the drawing as possible.

As other things are simple things. For example, on the ranch riding, before you make that turn, you do NOT stop. Because the pattern doesn't say to do that. It's also NOT a rollback. And you go right from that walking turn into a lope (NO trotting in-between) So the devil is in the details!! The more correct you do the pattern without other things that aren't called for, and the more precise you are, the higher you score.

Still working on getting my videos uploaded. YouTube has a cap on how many I can upload a day.

And sometimes you have to make adjustments on the fly. For the reining pattern, they switched something right before it started. They had you enter on the opposite side so you would be facing the opposite way, so that you would be coming at the judges based on where they were sitting so they could see best. (basically flipped the pattern) So always be listening for announcements b/c they can and do make quick adjustments like that!!

 

[beau159]

Okay, here's my corresponding reining video to go with the pattern. I messed up our first flying lead change.

And the ranch riding video to go with the pattern. We broke gait on the first extended trot - my mistake.

And our winning ranch trail pattern, (pattern below). It was very tight and very crowded in the small arena so super proud of him.

So at least should help you see when patterns call for things, how they are actually done and what they look like.

 

[farmpony84]

These videos are great. Thanks! I will be looking at them a lot. The pattern is posted now, looks like my first spin is 3 and a half to the left then lope to a halt and three and a half spins to the right. It was really confusing for me until I did it in my head. I felt like both spin were the same direction but they aren't because you are facing opposite directions when you spin.

I'm full of "dumb" questions and I'm sorry I keep asking them. It says (after the second spin) run past the center line and sliding stop then back 10 feet. The sliding stop for a ranch reiner is not the same as for a reiner right? I mean, it doesn't have to go on for miles, it just has to be a good solid butt down stop with a small slide right?

And the enter... You enter at a trot and then either walk or halt before picking up the lop. Does it matter which I do? I though trot to walk might look cleaner for me. I will practice though.

 

[farmpony84]

I'm still struggling with the gate. He lines up well and backs up so I can open it, then walks through and that's where I lose him. He turns to face the gate when I need to push it shut. I'm trying but man it's hard... Everyone keeps telling me the gate is the easiest obstacle. It's the hardest for me... Any advice would be appreciated. I am sure I'm part of the problem but I do believe he is honestly confused or not comfortable. And I'm sure I'm giving some wrong aids/cues. I doubt he's messing up the same way every time on his own.

We also worked on the curtain. First from the ground and then the saddle. He's going under it now but still nervous. That one is definitely nerves. He is willing but not comfortable. I'm assuming that one is just doing it over and over and over? Right now we could pull it off in a show but it will be a zero or a minus half I think. He starts out slow and calm but ends it in a jig as the streamers and the pool noodles hit him. I'm also struggling with the roping. I can't figure out how to keep from closing my left hand so when I throw, I don't release the rope so the lasso falls short. How do you force your hand to stay open?!

On a happy note, I introduced him to cows yesterday!

 

[beau159]

I'm still struggling with the gate. He lines up well and backs up so I can open it, then walks through and that's where I lose him. He turns to face the gate when I need to push it shut. I'm trying but man it's hard... Everyone keeps telling me the gate is the easiest obstacle. It's the hardest for me... Any advice would be appreciated. I am sure I'm part of the problem but I do believe he is honestly confused or not comfortable. And I'm sure I'm giving some wrong aids/cues. I doubt he's messing up the same way every time on his own.

Slow it down if you need to.
My guess would be your WEIGHT is not in the right spot.
Let's say you are trying to reach to grab the gate. You are now putting your weight on the wrong side of the horse,and it's going to PUSH him away more from the gate.
While you are training, if you need to let go of the gate to finish it, fine. Let go of the gate.
Make sure to keep your WEIGHT on your OUTSIDE seat bone so you need to stay sitting square in the saddle.
Use your outside leg to ask him to move his hindquarters or ribcage or whatever you need back toward the gate.
Honestly, this is a common problem spot for horses.
But just be patient. Take your time. Let him understand where you are asking him to put his feet. I think people panic because they are in a rush to get that gated closed, but if you are having trouble, then slow it down and break it down.

This is an old video but it's of a horse Romeo that I tuned up for a month or two for my aunt, and I helped her sell him.
I was at a local show. This was "show horse trail" (and not ranch trail) but they had a gate obstacle nonetheless. He'd never done anything like this before but I figured, what the heck, this will be good experience for him so we did it. While he didn't quite face the gate like you are having a problem with, he didn't want to sidepass back over. I sacrificed the ride by letting go of the gate and even going 2 handed with him (which DQ'ed me) but we were there for the purpose of training so I didn't care.
Really watch how I actually put my WEIGHT to his left side, so that he can sidepass to the right. He was a little confused but I just kept at it, and he eventually figured out what I was asking.
Because remember, when you LEAN to go close the gate, now you are putting your weight on the wrong seatbone and you'll actually cue your horse to move away from the gate. So be mindful of that.
He was a cool horse. Fun to ride.

I'm also struggling with the roping. I can't figure out how to keep from closing my left hand so when I throw, I don't release the rope so the lasso falls short. How do you force your hand to stay open?!

I'm not a real roper so take my advice with a grain of salt, LOL. But I just focus on having a good hold on the tail of the rope AND my reins so that when I let go "of the rest", I don't let go of the tail.

Perhaps a real roper can give you advice on that!

 

[farmpony84]

That actually makes a lot of sense. I will keep that in mind. Thank you!!!! And I think you are right. I lean for the fence so I am definitely pushing him away from it. UGH!

 

[farmpony84]

We showed this weekend. The gate was a rope gate for the regular trail class and we did it. The ranch class was yesterday and it was getting so late and Cloud was cranky so I scratched. The day before we did our patterns and I was so ecstatic with how he did. I didn't place, but didn't care because he was SO good. And then when I looked at the score sheets.... We would have placed in both classes but I held the split reins in my hand (the end of them) and it counted as two hands so I DQed. We actually would have earned points in both classes. We got a -1/2 in just one spot for both patterns. Everything else was 0 or +1/2.

The next day we placed 2nd under both judges in the first pattern and it was a big class. We didn't place in the second pattern because he was getting cranky and try to run out of the gate at the end and our back was atrocious. It was too huge a class for that error. They hadn't posted the scores yet when I left so I didn't see how we did. I am guessing -3 on the back and probably something bad not he spin as well for the second pattern. Oh well... We had fun and we did it! (I wasn't brave enough for the rail class - too many people and he's still really nervous with that many horses in the ring).

I don't think I have any more questions yet but you know I will have some! I did meet a group that is only about an hour from here. They had great trainers and so I'm going to call them for a lesson. They are actually reiners but they do the ranch as well. I don't think we can pull off reining. Ranch reining yes, but actual reining... Not sure we have the athleticism....

 

[beau159]

Well done!

One of the main trainers I take lessons from is a reiner. But he usually also entered in whatever ranch classes he can too (when rules allow). Because it's good for the reining horses too.

I'll enter Red in the ranch reining classes. Usually then, I can't enter the real reining classes due to rules. He does not do a sliding stop. And his spin is fairly slow compared to a real reining horse. But he can do the pattern correctly and it's a good excuse to nail our flying lead changes and get perfect circles.

So do it!!!! You obviously won't feel ready to show until confident with flying lead changes, but more training will just make your horse more broke, which will improve the ranch work too!

And random - I would probably ditch the bling belt for a more plain one, for ranch. And also tighten your back cinch one hole.

 

[farmpony84]

I did not wear bling on day one but on day two it was either wear a brown belt or a bling belt. (Both my black ones have bling). I was worried I would get in trouble for it but no one said anything. I need to buy a black belt. Day one I wore my brown work chaps but day two, my black chaps were eq chaps and I thought that was worse than no chaps.

The cinch, he must have been holding his breath because there wasn't much room when I put it on. LOL...

I'll be asking for c-h-i-n-k-s for Christmas!