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Reining Essential 4 – More Advanced Backing
When I introduced backing, we reviewed how to start a green colt backing from the ground (or an older spoiled horse who needs a “life review”). Today, let’s go over how to advance your horse in backing. While mounted. From his back, use the same rein action you used...
’Reading’ a ‘Good’ Cow vs a ‘Challenging’ Cow
One challenge a rider has in cattle events is being able to predict what a cow will do as he or she approaches it on a horse. That ability to interpret current cow behavior as well as predict future cow behavior is called “reading” a cow. It’s a skill that takes...
Do You Have the Potential for Greatness?
I'm going to talk about the myth that certain types of people have an ability for higher levels of success. The relationship between personality and performance is often misunderstood. The truth is your beliefs about yourself determine if you give yourself the gift of...
Fence work credits Part A – boxing, rating, quality of the turns
Let’s go over ways that the score for a fence run can go up (or down) from a 70 by getting credit in the run content boxes. In this article I'll go over boxing, rating and quality of the turns.Boxing - your score can go up if you step right up and challenge your cow,...
Evaluating Your Horse’s Desire to Work a Cow
Recently I received a question about how to evaluate a cow horse that is nonchalant about his job. How do you know if there are untapped talents within your horse … or if the horse is just not up for cutting? Of course, without asking lots of questions and digging...
Reining Essential 4 – Backing (green horse)
Backing up is important because it’s not only a maneuver in itself but also the correction for a poor stop. At this point, however, backing doesn’t mean the same as it will later on (when we’ll want it super-straight, very fast, and in response to few visible cues)....
Riding Smart 5-7
In an earlier article I shared 4 tips for Riding Smarter Not Harder. Now here’s 3 more! Be a contrarian. This goes along with training every moment. If your horse is wanting to do one thing, make him do the opposite. Is he leaning in one direction? Make him go the...
Are You a “Tough” Thinker?
You can learn to be a tougher competitor in the same way you learn any other skill. In essence, you are an equestrian athlete. Professional and Olympic athletes train mentally, emotionally, and physically. As riders, we can do the same. We can utilize the EXACT same...
Boxing Pitfalls to Avoid
I really don’t like to dwell on the negative aspects of a run, that’s why I started the previous segment on boxing with the ways to improve your score. However, the score card has many more ways to lose points than to gain them, so let’s spend some time on things we...
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