Dating back to the Spanish settlers of Mexico and the Southwestern United States, reining was originally used for cowboy’s cattle ranching. They needed a quick and obedient horse that could turn and stop on a dime, a good reining horse’s cues are nearly invisible to a spectator.
Eventually reining reached the East Coast as a popular sport and that’s where we meet Gary Yaghdjhian, Owner and President of Pickering Horse Centre and long-time international reining judge. Like Gary, I was also incredibly impressed with the speed and athleticism of these horses.
Typically, the horse is a smaller, more compact breed like a Quarter Horse or an Apaloosa no more than 15 hands high otherwise it becomes difficult for the horse to make theses quick, tight maneuvers. Some of the freestyle classes can include music, costumes and a choreographed routine into their pattern to add more of an entertainment factor (as if it wasn’t entertaining enough to watch horses slide up to 20 feet through sand straight from a gallop)!
All the best reining horses are well connected to their riders and to the maneuvers, they start to become familiar with the patterns but always wait for their rider’s signal before executing them, that is a sign of a very well trained reining horse.
Reining as a sport has been gaining popularity not only in North and South America, but internationally as well! In 2000, reining became the first Western Discipline to be approved by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) and introduced to the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain in 2002 and Aachen, Germany in 2006.
At the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, reining reached its peak popularity and was broadcast to over 44 million viewers worldwide; it has also been introduced to the Olympic Games. It’s no wonder this sport has become so popular, it’s explosive and exciting, the discipline that the rider’s and their horse’s have is amazing to see. I anticipate the popularity of this sport will keep growing and with the coming of the Pan Am Games, it’s the perfect place to show case the talent.
Reining has also been compared to the sport of dressage in English style riding, check out this link to see the comparison of a dressage rider trying to rein a horse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqyV9kGQpEc
And you can view Gary’s interview here
Laura Ω 