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Les Vogt’s first lesson is to teach the horse how to flex its neck with a soft request and to teach the rider how to teach the horse. Sounded easy enough.

The exercise: walk the horse in about a 10 foot circle asking him to bend his nose toward the inside, which flex’s his neck (flexion).

Rules for the horse: (1) ears remain level (the horse’s) as he flex’s, meaning he can’t just tip up his nose, (2) should respond to the lightest request, (3) should bend his body as well as he walks the circle

Rules for the rider: (1) no pulling on the bit and holding (request, release, request, release), (2) no touching the outside shoulder with the outside rein , (3) use inside leg to request the horse to bend his body

So there I am again, the big weirdo in the center of the arena with one arm stiff and stuck out so I don’t touch the outside shoulder, the other arm asking Leo to be bendy, and English riders circling me in perfect posting formation.

The outcome: Well, I’m pretty sure that I still don’t have control of my body. I think I was actually riding with a bend in it, the same bend I was hoping Leo would make. He would give in to bending his neck pretty easily, but then he would break out of the circle by just giving to my inside leg as well and doing a lovely two track. So then I’d try a little outside leg, which made him think I wanted him to do turn-arounds. Ugh! I know it’s all me. We’re getting better at it, but still have some weeks to go I think.

Questions: I’m not sure how far his neck should flex. I don’t see how he could trot and canter with the same kind of flexion he has at a walk. And how big should the circle be at a canter? Not 10 feet surely?

I realized recently, and this is the neatest thing, that Leo, the angry horse, has started to listen. He seems less intent on getting rid of me and getting done, and more intent on listening. A friend of mine rode him the other day and remarked on it, “he’s sure listening.”

My independent study program has arrived in the mail! Because I don’t have access to a reining instructor, I ordered Les Vogt’s CowHorse U DVDs. Along with the four DVDs, it comes with a workbook, and a training schedule, which are exactly what I need. I get all these tips and tricks from riders here and there, but no one seems to ever really know HOW LONG I should practice each maneuver and HOW LONG it should take the horse to learn it. And, I never know what to teach first (or what to teach) and when to move on. It looks like this is just the thing. It has a week-by-week training schedule, so cool.

Since I’m learning reining on my own, I plan to read as many books and to watch as many training DVDs as I can get my hands on. I have Sandy Collier’s DVD, Bag of Magic Tricks, on the way. After reading through part of Les’ foundation workbook though, I can see that I’m not ready for “the magic” just now. Hopefully by spring time though. The foundation course is supposed to take about six months. If I start tomorrow, we’ll have completed the program by mid-March.

What I know so far about this foundation course is:

Les has broken it down into “five easy pieces”. The idea is that Leo and I master number one before we move on to number two and so on. The first piece is Lateral Flexion. I’m going to try it out tomorrow. Thankfully it doesn’t involve anything but walking because I’m riding a lopsided horse until Sunday. He threw both shoes on the right (right front, right rear). Leo is just that fast. My theory is that while he was doing his daily full-tilt rip around the field, he took a hard left and the right shoes just launched right off.

A note about equipment: I need split reins. Jim (Leo’s owner) found some in the old barn and cleaned them up for me tonight (very nice of him).

I also need to switch to a snaffle. I’m not sure how well Leo will do with that because he’s pretty chargey. We’ll see though. I’ll probably end up experimenting with a few.

When I worked with Leo on Sunday, I was very lucky to have the company and watchful eye of Dan. Dan is the only person at the barn that rides a reining horse. Since he is usually off on some mountain, trail riding, he isn’t around the arena very often. When he is though, he will usually give me some pointers (in between the times he’s busting my chops of course).

Again, Leo spent 3 months in training to become a team roping horse and then spent a few years on vacation. Team roping horses are generally asked to pick up their left leads because they really only need to go left. If you ever find yourself in a team roping arena during warm-up time, you’ll notice that you never see the horses going around to the right.

I’m sure this has something to do with Leo being so stubborn about picking up his right lead. Since I’ve been trying to just get him to go without bucking, I haven’t asked him to do anything very challenging. I’ve started to now because in the last few weeks, he hasn’t given me much grief. In fact, he seems to have settled into the fact that he has to go to school now.

With Dan watching, I demonstrated how on a right lead, Leo leans VERY hard to the inside of the circle as though he’s about to round a barrel. His whole body is tilted in a way that my body can no longer be straight up and down. Instead I’m riding tilted with my left shoulder high above my right shoulder.

Dan taught me the way to correct it. While Leo was ripping around in a right circle on his right lead, Dan told me to take the right rein and pull it up towards my left shoulder and then just bump Leo’s bit with it. After I figured out where my left shoulder was, I bump, bump, bumped on his bit until, like magic, he straightened up. He straightened up and went around in a nice easy vertical canter until I asked him to stop. Success!!!

I ride at a predominantly English barn, so I don’t have really anyone there to turn to for reining advice. I also don’t have the money for a reining instructor right now even if I could find one in this dressage soaked area (no offense to haute ecole; I’m a fan). However, I’ve never let lack of resources stop me from pursuing a goal (have you ever noticed that people who are used to not having resources become very resourceful?), and after all those years in college there are a few things that I am now very good at. Aside from the standard skills one acquires in college (drinking and shooting pool), I am now very good at research and learning. I know that all I need is a great course, and it has to be on DVD because learning about horse training only from books simply won’t do.

I have my heart set on beginning with the training series that that horseman told me about (see last blog). He and his horse were proof enough to me that those videos he watched worked. So, I made a dedicated search on the Internet and found the name of the trainer/instructor. It is Les Vogt. I was so excited. Finally a little guidance! A man with a plan!

On the site there is a 20-minute sample video of the training DVDs. My eyes were glued to the monitor. Les not only appears to be a gifted speaker and teacher, he is instantly endearing. His laugh is contagious. There is nothing pretentious or intimidating about him; he seems to be a person genuinely interested in and thrilled about teaching horsemanship. After I was finish reading about his accomplishments, I ordered the foundation training DVDs from what is called CowHorse U: Independent Study Program for Performance Horses.

The next morning I had a few questions about my order, so called the number on the site. The number was for Linda, who I found out is the technical/marketing half of CowHorse U. She answered all of my questions and sounded like an incredibly knowledgeable and experienced horse trainer. It was also really nice to speak with someone who is able to work in the equestrian industry. Very cool. We chatted for nearly an hour. By the time I got off the phone, I felt like I had my own mini reining support group and that if I ever needed anything I could call her or Les.

So here’s my big experiment/goal. I’m going to do every single thing that those training DVDs tell me to do — I’ll follow the course exactly. Can a person learn enough from DVD’s to teach a horse to rein? We’ll see!

In Al Dunning’s book, “Reining,” he recommends arc drills for improving control of the horse’s body. He says you should have the horse walk around in small circles so it has a small arc in its neck. THEN, and here’s the tricky part, you’re supposed to back the horse in the tracks of that same circle. He says that when you can do this, “you have very good control of you own body as well as that of your horse.” Now I don’t know about you, but I think Al is something of an authority on the subject, so I’ve been working at it for about a month. This is what I’ve learned – I have no control of my body.

Getting this horse to bend while backing up is like trying to bend a plank. There I am, applying pressure with my legs, torquing my body around, and pullin’ on reins up high like some kind of crazy puppeteer. After a few seconds I end up with a very irritated horse who expresses this by tossing his head up and down. I’m fairly certain that he would like to know just exactly why I spent all that time teaching him to back straight only do what seeeeeems like, ask him to back crooked. It’s become an obsession of mine though. I feel like Daniel in the Karate Kid trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. The girls at the barn started giving me funny looks, and I was beginning to think it was impossible.

But recently, I saw the impossible! Out at that the ranch that we go to for Team Roping (Leo’s owner is a roper and lets us tag along) in the center of the arena was a cowboy backing his horse in a circle, a perfect circle. It was beautiful. I of course immediately introduced myself, and he gave me the name of a training video. It was the very video that taught him how to train his horse. He said it was the best purchase he’d ever made. I didn’t have a pen on me, so promptly forgot. Great. It was something Von…Van…Voughn…ugh. The quest continues….

This photo is of Leo, a.k.a., “The Leonator.” Leo spent 3 months with a trainer a few years ago. One day, after spending the day in the field working cattle, Leo refused to respond to a cue. So the trainer reportedly, “put the spurs to him.” They were on a hill. Leo, being the powerfully athletic horse that he is, put everything he had into bucking that trainer off. Not only did he toss the trainer into some bushes, he bucked himself right off balance and tumbled head-over-hoof all the way down the hill.

A few years later, his owner took him out into an arena filled with riders warming up their horses for team roping. Leo was cued into a canter, but would not slow down when asked to. His owner gave him an impatient jerk on the bit. Leo, being the powerfully athletic horse that he is, put everything he had into bucking off his papa. I hear it was a pretty spectacular display, complete with horse butt going nearly vertical on a few occasions. He not only launched his papa high over the heads of other riders, he continued his bucking spree for a full lap and a half around the arena (just in case anyone hadn’t noticed he was irritated).

Leo was intended to be a roping horse, and he will be. Why do I think he’ll be a great reining horse as well? You should seeeeee him! I’ve never ridden a horse with a softer mouth or more sensitive sides. He’s a speedy little guy and has delivered some impressive stops. Did I mention his agility in turns? Ok, so I don’t know a lot about what makes a great reining horse, but I’ve seen the videos! I think he can do it.

Training: We began training together a few months ago, and have had all kinds of challenges. I am learning about reining through books, training dvd’s, and other riders. I’m hoping to create a community here where reiners can share their experiences and build a knowledge base for the discipline. I will be logging the challenges that I’m having with Leo, who will definitely provide plenty of material.

First obstacles? How to start him on turn arounds properly and how to keep from getting launched. So far so good. I don’t use spurs and the most he’d ever get out of me in terms of punishment for bad behavior is backing him, a series of small circles, or some extra work in the round pen. Does anyone have any advice on curing a horse that bucks? He seems to be getting a lot more gentle with just consistent riding, but there are times when I can tell that he wants to get rid of me. I usually change the subject when that happens.