[rocky pony]

I don't know if this is anything that's at all possible, but it's worth a try.
I'm looking to buy a horse to do a little bit of reining on for fun, and will be buying one who already knows how to rein. I used to kind of do a modified version of reining with a horse I had in the past, but it was a weird situation...I pretty much trained him entirely myself and made up all of the cues for everything we did based on what made sense to me and what worked for him. I've never really been properly taught what is the normal way to cue a horse correctly to do these things.

Is there a way that cues for different reining maneuvers could be described, or a good place I can be directed to to read further? I'd like to be able to get a feel for the reining ability of the horses I try out, but there is no reining trainer to bring since I will only be doing it for fun and probably not competing (plus I'm broke, haha) and my barn is pretty much english so I don't know anybody there who would know...and I'd hate to have to ask the owner what to do hahaha

I believe that for the stop generally you pretty much just sit down and move your legs forward, is that correct? I think that's about all I really know.
I know that I won't be able to do things perfectly of course because that comes with practice, but it would really help if I could get a general idea of what to do, enough that an average reining-trained horse would get what I'm saying.

I hope I'm making sense...:lol:


Thanks for any and all help!

 

[StylishK]

Ugh I had this whole post written out then tried to press the back button and lost it all...

Anyways do you have msn? I can tell you on msn I just don't feel like typing it all out again ahha. I might later if I'm not so lazy but if you have msn pm me and I'll give you my email and we chat about it

 

[SorrelHorse]

I might not be the best person to tell you, as my horses are all differant so I don't know the "Correct" cues either I just know what my horses know. I think Jester is the most correct of them all so I'll tell you what I do or him...

Stop - Say "Whoa" and melt your hips into the saddle. Move your legs forward but don't shove them out so far that they're straighter than fence posts.

Spin - Just a haunch turn. Outside leg around the girth area to move the front over and a little bit of neck reining.

Transition (Fast to slow) - Melt your hips into the saddle.
Transition (Slow to fast) - a litte squeee with your heels and sit forward more in the saddle, moving your hands up farther on his neck.

Lead Change - (Pretend you are on the left lead to begin with) Slide your left leg back to push the hip to the right and move your hand to the right as well to tell him its time to change directions. I've ridden some reiners who you don't even need to use your legs you just shift your weight and they change. Hell, Jester will almost change leads with a vocal comand. Still working on that

Rollback - Lean into the turn and use outside leg and use your reins to steer.

Did I miss anything?

Like I said, I don't know what's "Correct" anymore, I just know what I do with Jester. But like I said, all my horses do things differantly....which is odd o.o

Like I said

 

[bethsone]

im very interested in reading about the correct aids also!!! there are so many conflicting methods it gets quite confusing! I was at a clinic two weekends ago and there were two trainers there giving obviously two clinics' one trainer used the oethod of constant leg pressure and then removing the pressure of one leg to cue the horse to move away from the pressure of the other leg and vice versa and then removing pressure altogether when he a asked for the stop. the other trainer used pressure only when asking for a reaction what i mean is only when he was asking to bend or turn or spin would he put his leg on the horse otherwise his legs stayed off the horses side. you can see why im a little confused!! I myself have always trained with my legs off and only applying pressue when asking for change however i have not trained a horse in reining before so i thought maybe this method of applying constant pressure helps in asking for the stop? not sure can someone in the no clear this up for me. Cheers, B

 

[nrhareiner]

It will vary from trainer to trainer. Most trainers that I have worked with and use do not use constant pressure with their lower legs/spurs. Once you get a horse in a direction even in a turn your leg comes off. You might bump them but once they have the direction and are doing it the leg/spur comes off. This way you will not get a horse leaning on your leg and become immune to the cue.

You will find that most reining trainers are some what consistent in their cues. That being said I have horses with 2 different set of certain cues b/c they where trained by different trainers.

 

[ReiningTrainer]

Cues

I expect my horse to maintain a 'position' until I ask for something different. Thus my cues are applied to obtain the maneuver then removed. I do not hold my horse as this will burn out a cue and could cause the horse to 'lean' into a cue.

There may be some differences in cues for horses as they all have strengths and weaknesses. Thus, one horse may need more cue for shoulders or hips in a maneuver or even one direction. However, all my horses are taught to move their shoulders away from leg in front of the girth, hip away from leg behind the girth, move shoulders away from 'neck rein' and into a 'leading rein.' Stop off "whoa" and whoa meaning back up, so if I do not put my rein down after the stop the horse should go right into the backup.

Then you put these body part controls together to get your movements. It is easy enough if your horse knows these controls, but it takes a lot of work and training before you get to that point.

I would only add that leg cues should be taught to the horse after the horse is responsive to the bride. In the beginning of training, I teach the horse how to move each part of his body with the bridle. It is less aggravating than the leg and is better to reinforce with than going to spurs. One of the most distracting things to see in a reining horse is the ear pinning or tail wringing during a maneuver that the rider taught with leg/spurs. Once the horse associates the maneuver with the pain it is almost impossible to stop.

 

[nrhareiner]

The horses I start and/or I have stated and most of the trainers I have either talked to or watched start horses by teaching them to move off you leg. Before just about anything. They learn to follow their nose and move their hip shoulder rigs side pass and so on before they even are trotted. So by the time you get them into the trot they know how to move off your leg. There is no pain involved so that is a moot point. I do not do a lot of direct reining that is not also done in conjunction with leg and seat cues. For me it is not a teach this then teach this when it comes to leg cues. It is all done at the same time as is neck reining.

 

[ReiningTrainer]

The horses I start and/or I have stated and most of the trainers I have either talked to or watched start horses by teaching them to move off you leg. Before just about anything. They learn to follow their nose and move their hip shoulder rigs side pass and so on before they even are trotted. So by the time you get them into the trot they know how to move off your leg. There is no pain involved so that is a moot point. I do not do a lot of direct reining that is not also done in conjunction with leg and seat cues. For me it is not a teach this then teach this when it comes to leg cues. It is all done at the same time as is neck reining.

Yes, I would agree most do. I agree all from the walk first as well. Get correctness first then add speed. You said 'rigs' meaning you do teach it from the ground first?

Direct/leading rein is taught as a connection to the shoulder, I like both shoulders to be responsive to the rein both directions to allow for adjustments in the spin and circle work. I actually teach the hip to move away from and into the rein as well.

It's all about consistency and having a lesson plan. The actual cues are just buttons we feel are in a convenient place to communicate our desire the clearest to the horse. And the horse is simply a mirror of it's training : )

 

[nrhareiner]

Typo should be RIBS.