Just thought of sharing as we had some civil discussions last season and its kind of neat watching the way its shot, like spins from directly overhead. Pretty horses, tack to drool over. Whats not to like here. Learn things as well.
.Most of the more popular cable channels are in just a few big management/distribution groups that cross promote others in their “ family”. Not like traditional networks competing for viewers.
This piqued my interest so I looked around, and Season 1 is available through the Philo streaming app. Looks like they will also carry Season 2 starting mid-November.
Ok, so I watched episode one and have mixed feelings. Loved the turnout of the horses - very nice. The one horse with the triple row of banding - very classy. And some truly gorgeous animals. BUT - the horses’ faces in the dirt - NO. The four beat canter in some - no. And what is the point of riding around with your reins held up by your hat? I saw several in the warm up pen doing that. Also some in warm up pen with horses’ chin on their chests or nearly between their front legs? What is that - some kind of western rollkur?
I missed it and while horse’s way of moving is minimally considered in judging, four beat cantering is definitely penalized.
Over-bent horses, stewards are watching in the warm-up pen so is not overdone and judging is supposed to not be favorable to them if it happens to extreme in the run.
Is a show, is a fad, sensible trainers don’t go there, some do as misguided flash to their performance, but it is more and more frowned upon.
Judges have a problem, a horse performing the movements very well, way above others, is getting all those points and there are not enough penalties to take off points for over-bent, some horses then still win over-bent, which confuses everyone.
Reining is a relatively young discipline that is still evolving and changing as it should, controlling questionable fads like over-bent, and four-beating uneven gaits, is all part of it.
The NRHA magazine has regularly articles about all that, but not many read any more, just look at the results and fabulous pictures, the message of what is right and why some times hard to get across.
Crossover event from nonfiction to fiction. The contestants on the Last Cowboy (horses and cowboys) show up on Yellowstone tv show as reining competitors.