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By Charlene Strickland,
Green Grass Syndicated Features
Tim McQuay demonstrated guiding the horse to lope circles in response to neck rein. Circles are the foundation to how you direct the horse to lope, turn, and stop in correct position. To help nonpro reiners improve their horses, he shared his approach to schooling.
Stepping into the Turnaround
The guide builds toward the turnaround. In this maneuver, you also rely more on the rein than your leg. McQuay coached, “Use your rein, not your leg, to tell him to steer.”
When you practice the turnaround, envision what you expect. McQuay emphasized correct form first. The horse should crossover with his outside front foot, stepping over his inside foot.
McQuay looks for the horse to step around, to “step over the top,” so he establishes the habit. “It’s just repetition. The horse will get into a rhythm.
“I just lay my outside rein on the neck. I want the horse to get where his head is, get his body correct, and go around all by himself. I want to feel the front end first.”
With your neck rein, you tell the horse to start the turnaround. “But after the horse gets going, he should go on his own, not with me pushing him around with the neck rein,” said McQuay.
He advised to signal the horse without pressure, with your outside hand low. Some horses have been reined too hard, and they respond by whirling too fast, losing form in the turnaround. “Slow down—-step, step, step. I don’t push the horse. If he quits going, I’m going to kick him. I don’t care if I go faster, as long as I get a nice step, a nice rhythm.”
McQuay uses his leg only to keep the horse going. A finished horse should need only calf pressure.
He cautioned against the neck overbending, or the horse raising the neck. The amount of rein depends on the softness of the horse’s response.
“When he doesn’t give to me, I pick up,” said McQuay. “I want him to give his face to me.” He helps a horse stay relaxed through rein and leg corrections. If the horse pulls against his hand, he uses his bootheel and rein pressure to ask the horse to yield.
“Soften the jaw so you can put the nose where you want it. Get your horse to trust you, so you get him soft in the face, soft and low. Don’t hold his head to the inside, but with your neck rein, work on keeping the head and neck where you want them.”
What about the pivot foot? McQuay advised not to worry about it—just think about the horse turning inside an imaginary box. Horses tend to find the pivot foot during training, and judges don’t necessarily concentrate on only a hind foot.
If the horse tries to spin too fast with a tense neck, slow yourself down. Don’t get going faster than your horse. McQuay said, “Spread your hands out and tell him to slow down. He shouldn’t be afraid.”
He sees riders trying to bend the neck with the inside rein, which can “bind up the shoulders. I spread my hands out quite a bit.”
Keeping your hands wide helps free the shoulders when you’re schooling the turnaround. You’ll want to move your hands closer together as the horse learns to turn freely.
With a confident turnaround, you’re ready for reining’s most exciting maneuver of the stop. McQuay said, “You need to have the horse guiding and steering well before you let him stop.”
Whoa for the Stop
McQuay aims for his horses to learn to like to stop. He emphasized stopping at different places in the pen, such as the middle of the pen rather than at the fence. “I want horses to like the middle. They have to do a lot in the middle of the pen, so I want them to like standing in the middle.” By “a lot,” he meant picking up a lead, lead changes, halts, and turnarounds.
He coached riders in stopping on the circle, first asking for whoa and allowing the horse to stop on his own. “Just say whoa. Put your hand down and see if you can stop him without picking up. Remember that the whoa has to get to his ears, to his brain, to his body. The more he starts believing in whoa, the quicker it happens.”
To practice the sliding stop, he instructed riders to lope to the arena fence to stop. Stopping at the fence, called fencing, helps the horse to concentrate on the rider’s signal. McQuay advised riders to start fencing at a lope. “I take the lead so I can push him away from the barn. When I say whoa, I expect him to try to stop. Whoa means stop, period.”
He varies fencing by riding the horse right to the fence, stopping and turning around, or stopping a few strides before the fence. When loping straight to the fence, he tells the horse to whoa at the fence. “Your horse will stop if you say whoa,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure he understands it.”
Maintain a consistent speed as you start for the fence. You want to build your speed early, and lope or gallop at the same rate. When you say whoa, sit back and let the horse stop. Riding two-handed, hold the reins slightly above the saddle horn, and avoid balancing on your hands.
McQuay pointed out errors in the sequence. “Your hands go quicker than your whoa. You don’t give the horse a chance to stop before you pull on him. Don’t pick up on him. Let him learn what whoa is—leave your hands alone. Sit back and let him stop. Let him learn what whoa is.”
He reminded riders, “Slow yourself down. If you run down and say whoa and start to pull on him, he’ll start to brace on you.” Realize that the horse may not be ready to stop instantly, and give him a stride to let him find the stop.
Responding with the Rollback
Learning whoa and the stop leads to the sequence of the rollback. McQuay demonstrated loping, stopping, a slight hesitation, and then the 180-degree turn. When he stops, he lets the horse step back a step. The horse is sitting on his haunches, ready for the next signal.
He explained, “Get the whoa really installed. My horses, when I say whoa to them, they stop and back off the bridle. I want the horse to stop and say, ‘What should I do next.’ Not, ‘Here’s what I’m going to do next.’
“I want him to say, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’ll wait for you. Tell me what to do next.’ I like that feeling. I want him to stop and just step back. That’s all I’m asking for, to drop that head a little and get off the bridle.”
In the rollback, the horse readily makes the 180-degree half-turn, waits for you, then instantly lopes off when you signal. McQuay waits to use his leg when the horse has completed the half turn. He stops, sits back slightly more to rein the horse back over the hocks, and then picks up to rein the horse into the turn and lope.
He explained how the rollback signal contrasts with how you ask for the turnaround. “Try to make a definite difference. When you stop, you say whoa, pick up, go toward the shoulder, and then you’re out of there.”
Let your horse stop, count two beats, and then turn. Wait to cue with your leg when you’re going the other direction, and don’t be too quick with your leg. Slowing your cues gives your horse time to get his feet under him, so he’s not sliding to a stop but is ready for you.
McQuay explained, “I don’t work with my hand down low on the neck. I always try to keep my hand above the saddle horn. I might be leaning into the turn, but I’m not standing up.”
The horse must steer effortlessly in the rollback. As in circles and the turnaround, you move the neck rein in one motion, and the horse moves away from it.
“Make him go someplace,” he coached. “Make him run off, and then let him relax. Make it crisp.”
McQuay counters any resistance he feels from the horse in the rollback: “Don’t give your horse a second chance. Reining is not a second chance event. When you lay the rein there, he’d better steer.”
You may have to “help” your horse with the inside rein, so he learns to turn crisply. “Bump him so he sucks his nose back over his hocks,” coached McQuay. “Then put your hand down when he’s being good, so you tell him, ‘I’ll get out of your way.’ After you fix him, then you turn him loose.”
In this maneuver, you still want your horse to be soft. He shouldn’t pull on your hand.
“If you keep him soft in your hand, he’ll roll back better. If he leans or pulls on you, pull on the face until you feel him give to you.”
McQuay expects a quick response to the leg. “I cluck when I go the other direction. Cluck when you spur. I want him to roll over his hocks and then go.”
In his coaching, McQuay communicated how you need to balance that “crisp” response in maneuvers with not rushing the horse before he understands what you want. He repeated, “Slow yourself down. Give your horse time to figure it out.”
He told one rider, “See how this horse is starting to relax now, because you stopped picking and pulling on him. Slow down and make sure everything is correct—then I think your horses will improve.” |
