In order for a reining horse to perform well, consideration must be given to the position of his head, Neck, Back and hip. Without this frame being correct nothing else will work. The smooth stop, the fast spin, the pretty circles will not be possible. The question that plagues many amateurs is what should this frame be, and how do we achieve it. Before you start pushing and prodding your horse into various positions first decide exactly what the correct frame is. Establish a clear, well defined goal. How high or low should his neck be? Should his nose be straight in front of him or should he be looking into the circle? Should his back be straight? Should his hip be aligned straight with his shoulders, or should it be pushed laterally left or right? It would be nice if there was a master plan somewhere that spelled out the answers to these questions. The truth is that all horses are different. They achieve maneuvers in different ways. Different riders seek different levels of performance. So do not pressure your horse and yourself by attempting to achieve a form that you do not need. Make a plan based on your horse and your goals. It is a mistake to try achieve the form of a horse that you saw at last years futurity. Chances are your horse can not do what that horse can, and realistically you do not need to. If your goal is to be competitive at local shows at an amateur level do not try to make yourself into a world champion. You will only frustrate you and your horse. Be aware that a horse can not do everything. Success will come if you focus on only those maneuvers that you need. There is no point in trying to train something into a horse that you don’t need. Lots of horses are tortured into doing things that are of no value at all to anybody. Horses are forced in positions and movements that are of no use to the horse, serve no purpose to the rider and are annoying to the judge. If you are going to take your horse to a horse show, where your success or failure is determined by the decision of a judge, you had better begin by learning what the judges want to see. Start by reading the rule book. This is the guide for the judges. The National Reining Horse Association rule book states that "The best reined horse should be willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance and dictated to completely. Any movement on his own must be considered a lack of control." "Willingly guided and with no apparent resistance" is the key to winning and training. If there is resistance it is because you are doing something wrong. Too much pressure, not enough clarity in your program. A horse traveling in an unnatural frame shows resistance. Examples include a head t hat is unnaturally high or low, a nose bent in or out at a strange angle or an open mouth. So what is the natural position for your horse? Watch him in his stall or in the pasture when he is relaxed and free from your pressure. Generally his head and neck will be relatively level and his body will be straight, no extreme bends or contortions. If he gets scared he will lift his neck up and look around. He will do the same when you ride him. If you say whoa and he lifts his neck and opens his mouth, it shows resistance. You scared him. If you are in a show, your score will go down.

So how do you maintain a natural frame while still dictating the action? Start by maintaining a comfortable frame. The Poll within a few inches of level with the Withers and the back straight. Not only will this keep the horse more relaxed, but it will also put him in a position to use his back and hindquarters better. If his neck is too high his back will hollow and he will not be able to use those back muscles to achieve that stop or spin. If is neck is jerked down to low, he will become intimidated and show resistance. Use your legs to help stay in frame. Start by riding forward. Everything is easier for the horse when it is done with forward motion. Do not be afraid of going forward. Do not always stop him when something is not quite right. Do not tell the horse that something is wrong, rather show him what is right. If he is going forward to fast or in the wrong frame, stopping will not help anything. It will not show him what the correct frame is. The trainers job is to teach form and maneuvers, not to punish for being wrong. Maintain motion. When you use your leg you need to get a change in forward motion. Beginners often make the mistake of constantly restricting the motion of the horse. The nature of the horse requires motion. Restricting the motion raises the stress level. By letting the horse move, his self confidence will be higher, he will learn more and perform better. If you lay your leg on your horse he must move away from the pressure. So if you squeeze with both legs he should go faster. If you squeeze with only one leg there should be some movement away from that one leg, laterally. Pretty simple. But if is it is so simple why do we see so many intimidated, mad, bad eared, tail switching horses? These horse resist and fight because the rider takes the simple task of moving away from pressure to unnatural extremes. They change the horses frame too much. Moving the hip away from the leg is practiced and practiced until the horse refuses. The horse is bent and bent and then bent some more. Until he resists. Do not practice something just because you can. If it works leave it alone. If its not broken don't fix it. Maintain a natural frame, horizontally and vertically. When you squeeze with you leg(s) the horse moves away from the pressure. When he learns that, leave it. Go on to the next task. Teach the horse that when you bump him with the leg he should round his body and slow a little. Teach the horse the difference between a squeeze and a bump. Rounding his body means dropping his head and neck and driving up underneath himself with his hindquarters. Train the horse to recognize the difference between the two types of leg pressure. Keep it clear and simple. Make it easy to learn, and easy for you to use. Allow no compromises. If you lay your leg on him and he does not move, push harder and roll your spur on his ribs a little if necessary. Its alright to use your spur, most people wear them, and a lot don’t know how to use them. Do not use them like a harpoon. The idea is to teach the horse to move away without resistance. If you jab him like Moby Dick you will get resistance. Spurs have rowels so you can roll them. As soon the horse starts to move away from your leg release the pressure a little. Release the pressure both physically and mentally. Let him know that it is Ok to move forward. The best thing to help your horse stay happy and receptive to training is his self confidence in being able to move. Common mistakes are to lift your hands and pull his mouth at the same moment that you leg him. He cannot go forward if you close the door with your hands. Well he can, but it means busting through the door. Your hands being the door. Another road to confusion is to not stop kicking him when he does move. Many people get in an extra two or three jabs with the spur after the horse has started moving. They could be called revenge kicks. The rider is a little mad so he kicks him again. Or the rider is an over achiever and feels that if one kick works, three will work even better. Not so. A horse will initially move away from a spur, but if they have started to move away from the pressure and still get kicked they will often reverse direction and move into the spur. Reward them for moving away from the leg pressure by removing some of that pressure, but don’t punish them for not reading your mind. It is just as bad to take too much leg away when the horse moves off. If you take your legs totally off the horse he should stop. The horse should not run on by himself. You need to tell him what speed to go. You cannot kick him into motion and hope that he knows how fast you are thinking of going. Also use your legs to tell him how fast to go. A gentle squeeze or bump in time with the horses stride puts us in rhythm with the horse. At first this won’t mean a thing your horse. Like everything else he has to learn it, but we need to start doing it from the first ride. Keep a little leg on him as he moves forward. Even if he is moving a little faster than you like, stay in rhythm with him, gently. Do not be afraid of the forward motion. Do not simply stop him for going too fast. Pulling him in the ground will only scare him. Stay in rhythm with him. As he slows a little reduce your leg pressure a little. This reduces the mental pressure on him, a reward for going slow. If he speeds up increase your rhythm a little, hold him gently in frame and stay with him. Encourage him to slow slightly, and when he does, reduce the pressure and slow the rhythm slightly. Teach that slow means a little less pressure. If he is moving you need to be telling him how fast, with the rhythm of your legs. Do not control the forward motion with your hands. Your hands should tell him what frame to be in. Your legs should tell him how fast to go. So lets try to put this leg plan together. The horse is going faster than you want, so you pull slightly on the Reins, hold him gently in frame. As you pull you keep bumping with your legs. Slow down the rhythm of your legs and bump just a little harder. The moment he slows down because of the pull on the reins, bump a litt le softer, and little slower. This takes the pressure off him. He is being rewarded for going slower. The bumping with your legs achieves something else. It drives his hindquarter up under him. It increases his stride length. It rounds his back and neck. All the things necessary to increase his collection and to put in a the proper frame for more advanced maneuvers. This all sounds goods but it only works if you pull and bump with some feel, some sensitivity to the horses reaction, and patience. Whenever he begins to take on a better frame or a better speed you have to release the pressure a little. He must be immediately rewarded. But not turned loose. Do not throw away the reins, do not quit using your legs. Simply reduce the pressure, slow the rhythm. Now you are pushing forward with our legs, telling him what speed to maintain with our legs. You guide him and hold the frame with the reins, but your legs are the masters of the situation. Hands are passive. If he will not slow down with a pull on the reins it is your legs that get his attention and increase the pressure on his mind. It is your legs that are the first to release the pressure and reward him when he does slow down. Hands help him maintain the frame necessary to make it all easy. Nose down, neck flat, back round. Do not confuse frame with style. All reining horses need to travel in so mewhat of a rounded frame. Some more, some less. The frame is required for the horse to physically be able to use his back and hindquarters to perform the maneuvers. Style is the profile that we like to see. It is a personal preference. Some people prefer a lower head and neck, some prefer a more natural carriage. A fully draped rein or maybe slight contact are preferred by others. Judges are instructed not to mark style. The score is based on the horse preforming the maneuver without resistance and with consideration given to the degree of difficulty through speed and the amount of rein contact the rider has with the horse. How much time and effort that you put into teaching a horse to travel in your preferred style is up to you, but do not lose sight of the prime goals in search of a cool style. Horses are different from each other. Some travel flat some do not. Some can be taught to travel flatter but some cannot. Keep your focus on the important points. For example did he approach the stop without resistance, stop hard and hold the ground? This is much more important to the score than whether his neck was lower than his withers or if the rein had slack or light contact. We never have time enough to teach the horse to do everything exactly the way we want them to do it. Do not try to teach them a style that is not natural for that particular horse and in doing so sacrifice something more important. If the horse moves away from pressure and maintains a natural frame, leave him alone. Move on. Riders practice the same old bend and flex simply because they do not know what else to do. Keep it simple and remember what you are trying to achieve. A horse that is "willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance."