I received a challenge a few months ago from a reining horse who's last recorded score, that was higher than a "0", was a "43". A couple of days into this challenge I was worried that I may not have much success. As I was lying in bed one night pondering, as I often do in other similar situations, it hit me -- RELEASE. I don't mean let go, per say; I mean RELEASE. He needed the queus to mean more to him. So in our next session I had a plan.

His spins were his worst manuever. His usual response for his left spin was a quick rear up and head for the gate. I took him back to the basics -- 1. walk a circle 2. collect him 3. release him 4. ride him forward 5. collect him 6. release him. We did this for a good ten minutes or so. I wanted him to become bored of it. I then asked him for the spin. He hesitated for a split second and then stepped into a very nice spin to the left. I'm pretty sure all he needed was a good reason to spin. The manuever, itself, was his reward.

Then came the test - a horse show. A few weeks later we found ourselves in Springfield, IL. There were no paid warm-ups, so we just went for it. NRHA pattern 8 begins with the left spins as the first manuever. Wonderful! The horse, Kyle, was always worse about his rearing at shows. When I walked him to the middle of the arena and stopped him, he dropped his head and waited for a command. It was time to trust him. I raised my hand, tilted it to the left and clucked. He whipped out four magnificent spins to the left and stopped perfect, again dropping his head. The next thing that happened I couldn't really tell you. I was so excited I kind of blacked for the rest of the pattern. We marked a 65 & 1/2, but that was not the important part. It had been two years of frustration for both horse and owner before I got to work with Kyle.

Later that day his owner showed him in the Rookie class. No hesitation; no sweat. She walked out of the pen on her 'new show horse' with a 68 & 1/2. It might as well have been a 77. She was on top of the world. There were tears in eyes all around me -- mom, daughter, and almost in mine. All Kyle needed was someone to think about how to fix his problem; find something to reward him for.

Corey Wilson is a NRHA Professional horseman and reining horse trainer. His clients have achieved success both in and out of the show pen with their horses.  Visit Wilson Performance Horses @ www.wilsonperformancehorses.net.