Reining is one of the fastest growing equestrian sports today. This rapid growth has dramatically increased the demand for quality quarter horses trained in the western reining discipline. Reining is a sport that displays horses and riders in a graceful yet exciting manner. Reining has been called the "dressage of Western Riding," with a distinctly hard-driving, sliding, spinning flavor. Its purpose is to show the horse's athleticism, smoothness, finesse, obedience and attitude (See a sample reining pattern below).
Reining is extremely popular throughout the USA and is growing very rapidly in popularity on the international level. Reining is one of the six equestrian sports supported by USET (the United States Equestrian Team). This organization prepares teams for international competition.
The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) has approved Reining as an international sport. Reining is the first and only Western riding sport to achieve this status. Western Reining has recently become an event at the Pan Am Games and the World Equestrian Games. Reining has received so much international support as a horseback riding sport that is likely to achieve Olympic status in the 2012 summer Olympic games.
Professional Competition is a major component of the Silver Spurs experience. As noted in our home page, our Director of Training Brett Stone, is a 26-time World Champion Reiner and the champion that rode Boomernic into the NRHA history books when together they won both of the elimination rounds (a feat that has never been achieved before or to this day) and the finals to become the winner of the 1992 NRHA Futurity. Not only did they win it, Brett and Boomernic achieved the highest scores ever recorded to that point. They are credited with changing the style of reining forever and changed reining from being an east coast dominated sport to a west coast sport. Brett and the members of his training staff compete in all of the major reining competitions in the United States.
If you would like to see videos of our breeding stallions in competition including the historic event that rocked the reining world, Brett and Boomernic Winning the 1992 NRHA Futurity, please visit our STALLIONS section. to see where the Silver Spurs riding team will be appearing next, please see the CONTACT section of our web site. |
|
| HOW DID IT START |
| Like all western riding sports, reining had its start on the ranch. Cowboys who had to herd cattle, rope calves, and ride long distances needed reliable, agile and obedient horses.
In the old days riders did not collapse by the campfire with a bottle of liniment, but were likely to engage in riding sports, competing with one another to see who had the fastest horse, who had the most obedient horse or who could do the best tricks.
Out of these cowboy contests came the elegant and exciting sport of reining. Today, the skills of the horse and rider are displayed in the riding of patterns around an arena. These involve a variety of movements that must be chained together in a graceful sequence with no observable resistance on the horse's part. |
|
