Horse Trainers

Quoted from the DownTheFence.com website - to read the full article visit www.downthefence.com - one of the SRCHA Sponsors in 2006.

Horse and rider stand poised in the middle of the pen, slightly out of breath from finishing their quick spins and powerful sliding stops in the reining pattern. Two sets of eyes and ears are now locked on the far end of the arena and a gate slowly opens...

A single black heifer pops out. She stops short when she sees the pair’s attention trained on her. The horse approaches - cautious, ready for a move in any direction. The cow hesitates, looks - then breaks left!

You’re spellbound as the horse blocks the cow's path first left, then right, then left again, driving the heifer back to the end of the arena. Now they’re easing through the corner and headed down the long wall, building into a dead run. You gasp as the horse nudges ahead and folds its body around the front of the cow, forcing it into a dirt-moving stop. The cow leaps back the way it came, the horse drives powerfully up out of the turn - and in an instant is right where it needs to be to drive the cow back down the wall and into another breath-taking turn. Deftly horse and rider then guide the cow to the center of the arena. They tighten the galloping heifer into a left circle, drop back, and surge forward on the opposite side to finish the figure eight.

The crowd is on their feet cheering, the judge’s whistle blows, and the flushed rider’s grin is visible across the arena. You think to yourself, “I’ve got to try this!”

Welcome to the world of reined cow horse.

Few can deny the appeal of the event: the precision of the reining, the pure adrenaline of the fence work. But what’s involved in the sport? Is it really something you want to do? And if so, how can you get started? Multiple NRCHA and AQHA World Champion reined cow horse trainer and coach Benny Guitron, current President of the National Reined Cow Horse Association and a successful competitor in cow horse events for over three decades, has some helpful words of advice for the newcomer.

“The most important thing, as in any sport,” he says, “is to find out what is expected of you, what is required when you enter the pen. You can’t be successful until you know what it is you have to do when you show a cow horse.”

One of the first things to know is that it's a physically active sport; balance and coordination are required to stay with your horse through quick turns and exciting stops. A foundation of good horsemanship will enable you to have a safe and enjoyable experience.