Respectful Schooling

I have strong feelings about showing respect for your judges and for the people in the stands when you’re schooling. (See the bonus info at the top of this page.) You never know who’s watching you these days, so you must always be aware. By respecting the officials and the audience, you’re also respecting your horse.

If you know you’re going to school your horse, you can grab the reins with both hands when you enter the arena. This lets the judge know you’re taking a zero and he doesn’t need to track all the penalties you’ll rack up while you tune up your horse.

Reiners get a lot of flak for their schooling habits, but it’s really the only way to keep our horses fresh and honest. We need our horses to know that they won’t get asked to give the run of their lives every time they walk in the arena. If that was the case, they’d come to resent their jobs and the show pen.