Reining Geldings

Evaluate and place these prospective reining geldings. Then see how your choices compare to our expert judge’s.

AS A JUDGE, UNDERSTANDING A horse’s balance and structure—and how they relate to performance—is critical. The conformation ideal is supposed to maintain breed standards, but that always goes back to balance and structure and how those factors affect soundness, longevity, and performance. As I assess these three prospective reining horses, I’m looking for qualities that’ll help them be useful and stay sound.

With this class of geldings, as stock breed rulebooks stipulate, I look first for overall balance, then structural correctness. I also look for muscle definition and volume, as that’s the source of power for reining maneuvers. I then apply each horse’s attributes to what I know is required of a useful reining horse. He must have overall balance to perform as an athlete, and he must have structural correctness to stay sound. The intense demands of reining—powerful stops and starts through countless hours of training in addition to show pen performances— will quickly take a toll on a horse that lacks balance and correctness.

This gelding has very good overall balance and many traits that make him a great reining prospect. His topline is excellent with withers that extend nicely into his short back, strong loins, and a smooth turn over his croup to a well-set tail. I think this camera angle makes him look a touch hip high.

His soft eye and pricked ears show a good attitude. His trim throatlatch cleanly joins his proportionate neck, which ties in high to his chest for good flexibility. He has above-average length and slope to his shoulder for a long stride, and the best depth of heartgirth of these three geldings. He also has very good slope to his hip and depth through his stifle for the kind of power required for reining maneuvers.

His legs are very correct with a good amount of bone and excellent slope to his front pasterns to match his shoulders. His hocks have just the right amount of angle. With his balance and correctness, as well as his muscling and apparent fitness, he should be a strong, athletic horse.

With his soft expression, this gelding appears very trainable. His overall balance is good, and though his withers don’t carry back quite as far as Gelding A’s, he has an excellent, smooth topline with a short back, strength across the loins, and good croup angle.

His pleasant head joins his neck smoothly, though his throatlatch is a bit thick. His neck ties in a bit low, which isn’t necessarily a problem for reining horses. He may carry his head low, but his strong topline will help him carry himself without becoming heavy in front. He has adequately sloped shoulders and hips and acceptable depth of heartgirth, but he’s lighter muscled than Gelding A without the depth through his stifle.

Lightly muscled forearms and gaskins and lack of bone in his legs place him behind Gelding A. His front legs give the slightest hint of being back at the knee. His pasterns, though slightly longer than Gelding A’s, have adequate slope, and his hocks have a good angle. He should make a good reining prospect.

This gelding lacks the overall balance of the other two. He’s strong enough over his loins and has a nice turn over his croup, but he’s noticeably higher in his hips than his withers, which will make it difficult for him to get his hind end underneath himself for demanding starts and stops.

The camera has caught him with a dull expression, but his head is adequate, his throatlatch is trim, and his neck, though a bit short, ties in better than Gelding B’s. His shoulder is definitely steeper than ideal, which limits length of stride. His depth of heartgirth and stifle is decent, and his overall muscling is adequate with some definition. He appears fit and in excellent condition.

His front legs are very correct with enough bone and good pastern angle carrying through a good hoof angle. His hocks are well angled but high in relation to his knees, which goes with his hips being higher than his withers. This will make it harder for him to dig deep from his hind end.