Reining Horses 101
Barry Denton, Arizona
posted August 7, 2015
Barry Denton Shoeing the Reining Horse Clinic 3-31-08 042
Reining horses come out of the ground during the slide for a couple of reasons.
Number one: The rider does not have the horse “collected” enough going into the slide. In other words the horse is not in a frame which means bent at the poll, soft in the mouth, an arch in the back which releases the shoulders and hips allowing the horses rear legs to slide easily.
Barry Denton Shoeing the Reining Horse Clinic 3-31-08 045
Number two: The horse does not have enough condition or muscle to hold the slide for an extended period.
Number three: The rider is sitting too far forward hindering the slide. You need to be with or slightly behind the motion.
The horse coming out of the slide has nothing to do with shoeing if the horse is built to slide. I shoe all my reining horses at their normal angle front and hind. The majority of my horses are shod with a sliding plate with a rocker toe and straight branches. This creates the least resistance when sliding.