Dennis Moreland’s Tack Tips

PRIMO MORALES

Large photo: Kimbro, of Hurst, Texas, is a lieutenant colonel and serves as the Battalion Commander for the 2-149th General Support Aviation Battalion.

Left and above photo: Since purchasing Red Hotz when he was in the snaffle, Kimbro has progressed to showing the horse in the two rein with the help of trainer Wade Meador. “There’s a checklist for everything on an aircraft, so I put that [process] in the rest of my life to make sure I don’t forget details.”—Carisa Kimbro

things and has made me very happy,” she said. “And I’ve had a lot of great times riding him, so that’s all that matters. He’s really a great horse and really quirky and super fun to ride. Always keeps me honest and takes care of me— he definitely takes care of me.”

Brock also relies on her current trainer, Ron Emmons, who trained Shined Wright, for lessons and for as much goal setting as she’s able to do while deployed.

Kimbro’s famed spreadsheets keep her on track.

“Just because I have so much going on all the time, I’m really calendar-focused and have lots of lists,” she said. “I’m not particularly organized, but I can make sure I go down a checklist, like on an aircraft. There’s a checklist for everything on an aircraft, so I put that [process] in the rest of my life to make sure I don’t forget details.”

When she started learning cow horse, she took a few lessons from NRCHA Hall of Fame trainer Don Murphy.

“Don would [coach], I’d stop for a moment and write something down on an index card, shove it back in my coat pocket and then keep riding,” she recalled. “At the end [of the lesson] I would have to reconcile what I thought he said to what he meant. I remember him chuckling at the process, but I was so new and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was getting a graduate-level education.”

These days, Kimbro rides with Oklahoma-based NRCHA professional Wade Meador, and she still takes notes.

“I’ve got scorecards back [to the beginning],” she said. “I’ve got an Excel sheet with all my scores on it so I can see the trends. I can see where my gremlins are on a run-in pattern versus a lopein pattern. At the end of the day, that score means something, and trends mean something.”

While spreadsheets and notes on index cards help, they aren’t the only reason she’s able to stay organized, she said, making time for cow horse among her other responsibilities.

“I have friends who made me realize that I have to schedule my own time and not feel guilty about it,” she said. “While that’s a struggle, I think that’s what allows me to keep priorities. If I didn’t go and make lesson appointments or put more shows on my calendar, I would allow myself to say I’m too tired or I’m too busy. I have to do this.”

TACKLE THE TWO-REIN

Wade Meador discusses three legal ways to hold the two-rein.

Are you considering taking up two-rein training and showing but aren’t sure if you’re holding the mecate and romals in an efficient and legal way? Dennis Moreland asked Wade Meador of Wade Meador Performance Horses, in Marietta Oklahoma, to explain three ways to hold both reins.

A two-rein outfit is made up of a small diameter hackamore (bosalita) with mecate and a bridle with romal reins. When showing, the outfit must abide by rules 5.2, 5.4 and 5.5 of the 2021 NRCHA Rule Book.* With a two-rein you hold the mecate and the romal reins together in one hand and use them together. By doing this, your horse feels and understands your hackamore cues while learning to respond to the bridle.

Meador explained that regardless of which method you choose “the mecate lead needs to be secured to your saddle horn, tied with a saddle string or pulled through a belt loop to keep it handy, but it should be out of the way of the mecate rein and romals.”

“I want my romal reins on the outside of both my mecate rein and the tail. I want the mecate rein to be underneath and closest to my horse,” said Meador “Once I pick up the reins, I’m going to have my mecate rein in front of my romal rein. In the [2021 NRCHA] Rule Book there’s no one way you have to hold the reins, it’s whatever works for you, but the reins must stay in one hand.”

One way to hold the reins is to place your top two fingers (index and middle finger) over the top of the off-side of the mecate and the bottom two fingers (ring and pinkie) over the top of the near side of the mecate (opposite if you ride righthanded). Next, put the romal in your hand under the mecate.

“When you hold the reins this way it gives you a wider area of rein to work with. When your horse needs help you can guide it in either direction,” said Wade. “Another way is to hold the mecate rein and romals is in a closed fist just as if you were going to go show in a bridle. You can adjust the length of your romals based on the horse and what it’s trained for and what’s it’s comfortable with.”

COURTESY OF DENNIS MORELAND TACK

Putting both sides of the mecate rein between your middle and ring finger is a third way to hold the reins. With this method, your index and middle fingers are above the mecate and your ring and pinkie fingers are below it. Open your hand slightly to place the romals in your fist and hold them close-fisted.

A bridle horse that is trained through the snaffle, hackamore and two-rein stages is a true pleasure to ride.

*2021 Rule Book-Official Handbook of the NRCHA National Reined Cow Horse Association Effective 11-16-20: page 22.

///// MEET DENNIS MORELAND

National Reined Cow Horse Association member Dennis Moreland, owner of Dennis Moreland Tack in Weatherford, Texas, has been making quality working and show tack since 1976. Dennis Moreland Tack is a full-line manufacturer of quality handmade tack.. Visit www.dmtack.com or call 817-312-5305 to see how Dennis can help you with your tack needs.