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I asked Al Popovich of the Smokin P Ranch if reining horses really wore special shoes. He gave me such a great reply that I thought I would share it:

Yes there are special shoes for reiners…they call them slider plates. They are wider than normal shoes, do not have any fullering for the nails but the nails are countersunk flush. They also make some changes in hoof angle at times if the horse can handle it. All to make them slide farther of course. But you do have to be careful…it can actually scare a horse if he feels the loss of traction. They have what they call “baby sliders” for starting colts…not as wide so they don’t slide as far. Everyone has an opinion as to when to put them in sliders but I tend to wait until they are pretty darned advanced. I’m not a big believer in horseshoes anymore since studying some of the barefoot research. But in this instance it is a necessity when the time comes. But whatever you do get the best farrier you can find…even if it means paying his plane fare…it is that important. Continue Reading »

I was told by this very knowledgeable horse trainer (Les Vogt) that if a horse is dropping out of frame all of the time (like drastically dropping it’s shoulder in a canter all of the time), it is possible that the horse could have sore hocks. Les says that it can be hard for a horse to be that out of frame, and it could be pain that is causing the problem. I was told about an easy test you could do with your horse to see if it may have sore hocks. I won’t go into the “how” to do it. If you follow this link and watch, about half way through it you’ll see Les demonstrate how the hock test is done. Leo (horse), Jim (owner), and I (fledgling reiner) tried out the hock test first thing Saturday morning and Leo passed. Wheeeeew! So it turns out, that his lean is not the result of pain, but more the result of a faulty rider. Before we did the test though, I did a little online research and found out that sore hocks are not uncommon in the world of performance horses. This is a good article I found on the topic:

Sore hocks: To inject or not to inject? by Michael Scott, DVM

Les mentioned one more issue that could be causing the problem, so I skipped ahead in my training book a little and read about how to cue a horse in a canter. One of the things that I wasn’t doing in circles at a canter was using my inside leg. I was so preoccupied with everything else that I completely forgot about my legs. I tried it out today and yesterday and it works like a charm.