Trade Secrets

from Reined Cow Horse News, Volume 26, No 6, November/December 2021

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Luke Jones employs a set of tools to help nail his markers in reined work.

By Abigail Boatwright

While the cow work and fence work are exciting parts of reined cow horse, your rein work is equally as important. But if you’re not precisely hitting your markers for circles, spins and stops, you’re leaving points on the table—and you could incur penalties. Trainer Luke Jones says missing markers is common, but with intentional practice, you can easily improve this element of your pattern.

SCOPEOUT THE PEN

If you’re riding in a new show pen, Jones suggests taking time to look around the arena before you show to pick out landmarks above the ground. Maybe it’s a sign on the wall or the announcer’s stand.

“It’s much easier to tell yourself ‘I’m just going to run toward the John Justin sign,’ and that also helps keep your shoulders back and keeps you back in the saddle, which is where you should be,” Jones said. “When we look down, that gets our shoulders forward, and it’s harder for the horse to stop. So finding that spot and saying ‘I’m going to try to run up to that announcer stand,’ it helps me quite a bit.”

Jones recommends watching other riders while they warm up, and check again a couple of horses before you are you might want to move over a little bit to some fresher ground.”

PRIMO MORALES

At the 2021 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity®, presented by Metallic Cat, Luke Jones rode to the Open rein work preliminary co-high score, tying with a 223.5 aboard Tuff Tuesday Cat.

up in the competition. That way you can get a better idea of where you’d like to point your horse in your pattern, particularly for stops.

“A lot of times you’ll see different spots in the arena where the ground might be just a little bit better or a little bit worse,” Jones said. “That may change a bit, and if you’re late in a drag,

KEEP YOUREYES UP

Riders looking down at the ground to navigate the arena can negatively affect their performances, says Jones. This is especially true for stops

“When we do that, we actually start

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slowing down, and we need to be gaining speed at the end of our stops, not slowing down,” Jones said. “We need to use our peripheral vision to know where we are in the arena and to get past our markers. This will help us get a bigger stop, as well as avoid a two-point penalty for not hitting the markers.”

GO LONG

For stops, Jones recommends finding a spot high up in the arena and riding toward that spot, rather than homing in on the ground. And think about running to the fence when you stop, says Jones. Not completely fencing, but don’t let your horse fade out before the end cones.

“It’s easy to let them do the run in short and hit those markers,” Jones said. “So I try to tell everybody to go long. You’re better off going long anyhow, just to keep your horses going. Not enough to incur a penalty, but long enough that you for sure get past those markers.”

CIRCLE UP

Hitting the center marker for circles is really important, says Jones.

“If you get off center in your circles, and you’re not running them exactly, it’ll be really hard for the judge to plus your circles,” Jones said. “I really try to hit the center marker; I’m always looking for the marker.”

To help nail the center of your circle, Jones says to keep looking forward, about a quarter of a circle ahead of you. And again, avoid looking down.

“If you look down, it’s easy to get lost in the circles, but if you look up where you’re going, you’ll stay on course,” Jones said. “It’s like driving a car. If you look off to the side of the road at a hazard or something, you’re going to send your car that way. It’s the same way with your horse. If you look straight up ahead, you’re going to run straighter in your stops, and you’ll also be able to hit the center better in your circles.”

If you don’t show all the time, navigating the pattern in relation to your cones can be tricky. That’s why Jones recommends practicing with cones when riding at home.

“Getting your sense of whereabouts in the arena and knowing where those markers are is important,” Jones said. “I think there’s some nerves involved when you’re showing—I think we get focused on what we need to do, like an upcoming stop, and it’s easy to forget where you are in the arena.”