Reining is a western riding competition for horses in which the riders guide the horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins, and stops. All work is done at the lope (a slow, relaxed version of the horse's gait more commonly known worldwide as the canter), or the gallop (the fastest of the horse's gaits). Originating from working cattle, reining is often described as a Western form of dressage riding, as it requires the horse to be responsive and in tune with its rider, whose aids should not be easily seen, and judges the horse on its ability to perform a set pattern of movements. The horse should be willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance and dictated to completely. A horse that pins his ears, conveying a threat to his rider, refuses to go forward, runs sideways, bounces his rear, wrings his tail in irritation or displays an overall poor attitude is not being guided willingly, and is judged accordingly.

Ranch riding is such a fun and popular new discipline.  It is a combination of maneuvers that you would perform in a working ranch environment.  You and your horse are judged on the movement and fluidity of your horse's gaits and upward and downward transitions. A ranch horse should be easy to guide and should not resist the rein or the bridle.  It should demonstrate that it is willingly being guided throughout the pattern and the maneuvers with a focus on encountering different scenarios and staying between the reins and focusing on its job.  Your horse may have to walk, trot or lope over logs and pass through gates and  cattle depending on the pattern. It should also be able to cover ground at the walk, sitting trot, extended trot, pleasure lope and extended lope. Executing sharp speed control and smooth and efficient transitions from gaits will result in high points.

If you are looking for a new challenge, I highly recommend giving ranch riding a try.  You may enjoy the laid back atmoshphere of this discipline in comparison to other disciplines that require very expensive show gear and tack to compete at the highest level. Ranch riding will do that for you and motivate your horse to learn the different patterns and obstacles involved in ranch riding.  Another benefit is elongating your horse’s show career by changing up training your horse in another discipline and keeping his mind fresh by doing something different that it will likely enjoy. Check out my first  DVD on Ranch Riding Fundamentals