I miss having a horse. I am thinking about doing a care lease on a nine year old PB Arab who had a year of reining training and competition. He didn’t do too well in competition because he was intact and more interested in the ladies. He was gelded at age 7.
He has not been ridden in two years. No fault of his. His owner was in a car accident. He has been getting fat in pasture.
I know little about reiners. Are they super broke? What could I expect out of this horse?
Sheilah
Most of the reining stallions I am around, you have to look to see if they are intact.
One thing to know is that whoa means stop. Not slow down. Stop. He may or may not know neck reining, depending on what age he was shown. Arabs and PB are more likely to have shown in a snaffle first before one handed in a curb.
He was shown in a snaffle. I have worked with him in the round pen and he responds to voice immediately and when he stops, he really stops.
I really like him. But worry that he is too much horse.
Sheilah
Depending on where you are, can you take some lessons on him with a trainer? Just to learn the buttons?
He may or not be too much horse, reiners, like so many other performance horses, come in all kinds, some suitable for top trainers, some that can even carry a junior or green as grass rider around carefully and not work so hard they can’t manage.
Best as already advised above is to take some lessons, so you AND the horse won’t be confused with each other, so you know how to ask and guide the horse you have.
The trainer you use will also then evaluate the horse for your skills, if he would fit or indeed be “too much horse”.
You don’t want to be over horsed, is hard on your confidence.
Try NRHA for names of reining trainers in your area, shows to go to talk to them, see what they recommend:
Best luck forward.
Yes. In fact, I can board and train with the trainer who started him as a reiner and competed him at Scottsdale. He is local.
Sheilah
Thank you. This is so helpful.
Sheilah
Wow, that is a great opportunity!
Most people that get to ride a nicely trained reiner tend to fall in love with how light and responsive they are, once they learn how to ride them.
Even if they never ever again ride any reining movements, that lightness carries thru to all else we may do with a horse, tends to make better riders out of everyone that tries it, showing a new level of communication they before had not experienced.
It does require a properly trained reiner and it seems you lucked out with access to one. 
I have my fingers crossed. So many things will have to align to make this work.
Sheilah
Just agreeing that if OP doesn’t want to do reining, OP doesn’t have to do reining. Maybe horse didn’t really like reining either, and that’s why he was always looking around at the ladies. (And that ain’t over til it’s over. My mid-20s Arab mare fell off the trailer ramp because she was checking out the real estate at a group trail ride on a particularly inspiring day.)
Arabs are so smart that they can learn anything.
I contacted the trainer and spoke with him at length, which helped me then talk with the seller at length. I decided that this horse was way more horse than I wanted or needed. But it did solidify the idea that if I get another horse, it will be another Arab.
Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge with me.
Sheilah
I would be real careful about taking a horse anywhere near a reining trainer. What they do to horses to win is unbelievable. check out the site Reining Trainers. WD would be a great option for your horse - you should look into it.
Thigs are getting a bit off topic, but eek, from that link I went to this one from the end of March 2022: NRHA says Respect the Horse: What About This Distressed Reining Horse (reiningtrainers.com) The horse is urinating as it walks and just before he spins. That poor horse.
Bad training is bad training and can be found every place there is an abuser, reining barns, English ones, even in backyards.
We can run down any discipline by the ones abusing.
I also saw a horse so rattled by it’s rider it was urinating as it was walking/jigging coming out of his jumper class.
The rider was later found to abuse horses and banned, as it should be,
I am not disagreeing. I just found that video very sad and shocking.
What is the rider’s name?
You can rein without destroying your horse.
A horse only has so many sliding stops. Remember that.
Former reiner here.
Can’t love this comment enough.
None of this is shocking honestly. It is not just the upper levels that this occurs in.
About 20 years ago, I judged a show in Pennypack Park in Philadelphia. This is actually in the city of Philadelphia, where there are very few places to keep horses and even fewer competent trainers.
Most horses showing were ridden in from different locations around the park, and a few horses were trailered in. You could tell by the appearance of the horses themselves, roached manes on the western horses for example, and the type of tack, that most of these people were not necessarily current on the most up to date equine things.
Halter was the first class of the day. A nice gelding was walked in with his penis dropped, and he never once pulled it up, even though he had to jog to me and passed me, nor did he pull it up through the individual walk through the horses. I excused the horse because of this and told the owner why.
She takes him to the trailer and proceeds to kick his penis in full view of everyone. She then brings him back in for showmanship, again with his penis still fully dropped.
He goes through an entire showmanship class again with his penis dropped.
I excused her again, and was much more blunt with her that time. I told her that the horse had one of two issues- 1) either he had a physical issue with his penis or his sheath, and should be seen immediately by a vet, or 2) he was drugged.
Take your pick, either way the horse should not be shown. The owner’s boyfriend took himself to the secretary’s stand to attempt to rail on them about what I said. They correctly back me up.
This couple waited 8 hours until the end of the show, with the poor horse tied to the side of the trailer. He no longer had his penis dropped by the time I walked out to my truck to leave. The boyfriend had the gall to attempt to harass me on my way out.
I simply turned to him and said,”I think we can all assume the horse was drugged since you saw fit to keep him here all day, and he is no longer dropped. Thanks for proving my point.”
The idiot was speechless.
This show was a basic local show for ribbons and bragging rights- absolutely nothing more.
When human ego is involved, all bets are off concerning the safety, care and welfare of the animals involved.
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