articles | Survival in the Reining Warm-Up Pen
Survival in the Reining Warm-Up Pen
Apr 3 2006
Author: Judy Caton
WRHA is on track for show season, We've worked up a slate of classes that offer something for everyone every day which, the board feels, meets the standards our membership has come to expect. As always your input is encouraged and suggestions are welcome so don't hold back!
With the club running like a well trained reiner on Adequan, I'd like to move into another topic I was reminded about recently. Two of my girls and I attended our first spring show. The girls (ages 11 and 12) are still new enough at this sport to get a little overwhelmed by some elements. Their conversation on the way home included some fearful comments about the warm-up and practice-pen at the show that brought back some frightening flashbacks of my own. It was intimidating enough learning all the trigger points of my new fancy push button reiner when I was the only non-pro in the trainer's arena at home. Now I had to maneuver around and through 500 other people that I didn't know well enough to say a friendly hello to never mind have to apologize for cutting them off or almost 'T'¯-boning their horse! Walking the rail was a favorite thing to do but even that included holding my breath. I'm sure I presented my share of arena hazards in those early years, but there are plenty of near misses and actual tragedies that happen regularly enough to make a little refresher course in arena etiquette never a bad thing. Some of this information may be very basic for seasoned riders but please donā€™t be offended as there may be one person who has never had the pleasure of getting the "Reining Warm-Up Pen Survival 101" course served up.
Let's understand the basic pattern of forward motion as it flows around the arena. One end should be circling right while the other end circles left. In this manner, like a figure 8, the rider can circle right, change leads and circle left, change leads again and circle right without interrupting the flow. Ideally the direction of the circles will be the same as if the judges chairs were in the arena. So if you're the first one in, start your circles in anticipation of where the judges would be setting if they were in there with you. When you join a practice pen with riders moving in established circles, be sure to join their directions, even if there are only one or two and even if you think their incorrect. An instant hazard is created when even two people are circling on a collision course toward each other, and good manners are always appreciated anyway.
Unfortunately, turn signals and brake lights are not standard equipment on our fancy critters. When you enter the arena, wait for an opening to merge into a loping circle and always look around before changing direction through the center to make sure you can merge over without cutting someone off. Don't stress and try to force the issue if you can't move over when you want to. Just circle around again and try to set yourself up a little better as you come through the middle the next time. If you're not planning to cross the center to circle the other direction, it's important to stay on your side of that center cone. More cut-offs happen through the center where the two circles merge briefly together than at any other point in the arena. Most of that can be avoided if the riders keep to their circles respective path through the center. While it's nice to hit your marker going through the middle when possible, don't expect to be able to do it every time in the practice pen. It's more important to be safe and courteous than cut someone off just so you can nail your cone.
How many times have you heard "Look Up! Stop looking at your horse!"? The warm-up pen will definitely drive this lesson home. It is virtually impossible to navigate a crowded arena safely if your busy watching your horses ears twitch. Flicka is still going to be there. He won't leave you without letting you know first. A glance now and then won't hurt but keep your eyes on the road for the most part.
- Don't tail gate. Give yourself ideally at least two horse lengths with a minimum of one, between you and the horse in front of you. Same rule applies when traveling beside another rider. Allow ideally two horse widths with a minimum of one between you and the horse beside you. I've seen lots of near trip-ups and shoulder bumps from horses following too closely.
- Don't travel faster than is safe for the traffic level in the arena. If it's open enough for you to run up your circles and work on transitions by all means get 'er done. But use some good judgment and keep Silver Streak to an easy power lope if there's a crowd to maneuver through. There are few things more irritating than an ignorant speed demon hot dog'n through the other riders, striking fear in the hearts of mothers and trainers who start gathering up their children and unsteady rookies to move to safety when one of those is on the loose!
- If you want to stop, angle to the interior of the circle out of main traffic or move to the far outside along the rail and even then look behind you to make sure you won't be the beginning of a pile-up. Never stop in the circle unless you know there is plenty of room for an advancing rider to easily maneuver around you. Never back up in the circle. Never camp out in the middle of the arena. If you do have an opportunity to stop there, don't linger more than a few moments before side-passing into the interior of the circle or moving back out with the flow.
Of course, the fewer number of riders in the arena with you, the longer you can take advantage of setting without testing the tolerance of others but do use some common courtesy and don't apply for an address there. - Turning and talking are both accomplished efficiently in the interior parts of the circles. Of course, when you decide to turn-around, make sure there is enough room around you so your horse doesn't unseat someone with his head when he gets going. It's perfectly acceptable to ask someone close by to take a step or two over if necessary. Just don't be the primadonna that has to make everyone in a 30 foot radius relocate. The practice and warm-up pens can be great places to get caught up with friends that you haven't seen since the last show. A deal or two has even been known to be put together here. The middle of the circle is a perfect spot to set and visit while your horse catches his air. Trainers are known to offer up some pearls of wisdom to their non-pros in the middle of these circles so if you happen to position yourself just right you might even get in on a free lesson. If you find yourself doing any walking, either staying as close to the rail as possible or walking with the flow of the circle is advisable. If the arena is packed, it's best not to walk and talk with a buddy as that can clog traffic. If you're inclined to walk and talk to yourself or your horse, you might get a label but most of us won't hold it against you.
The larger shows have all pretty much gone to monitored practice pens in their main arenas. This means that there will be 20-30 minutes of circling and then 20-30 minutes of fencing. The warm-up arenas and smaller events will still be on the honor system though so you need some basic rules of thumb to avoid causing havoc. Even the un-monitored warm-up reining arenas will be one of the most organized environments you will ever experience, once you get used to the way things work, so you don't want to be the one to upset the cart. Trainers don't like it when we embarrass them. Most riders will always start out circling, then, after their horse is warmed up, do some turns and finish with stopping. You will find the flow kind of naturally shifts from circles to fencing but there are times when there is a mix of both happening at once. During these times, the right-of-way is given to anyone doing a run down. Course it's a good idea to let folks know you're coming also so don't be afraid to holler out a good "Heads Up!"¯ If you don't let the world know to make a path, the fault is partially yours if they don't move.
It's also a good idea to give a wide path to anyone who's engaged in a serious discussion with their horse in which the horse is in obvious disagreement, usually indicated by less than four feet at ground level, lack of forward motion replaced with vertical motion, and vigorous and assertive actions by the rider to convince the horse to see his point of view. If the riders eyes and the horses eyes are both jumping out of their heads and they're going a lot faster than most folks, that would be another good indication to get out of the way. These occurrences tend to bring activity to a standstill until things are back in hand, or in the dirt, either one -partly because no one wants to aggravate the situation and partly because no one wants to miss any of the action either.
I can't have this conversation without including the folks that ride rail class disciplines. We all know that rail class horses and reiners are like oil and water in a practice pen together and when the arena is busy, the experience is more often than not an exercise in frustration for everyone. Each of us have different activities that are necessary to perform in order to properly prepare our horses, but there are ways to share the space safely--for both the horses and their riders. The first consideration needs to be given to the show schedule. If the next classes coming up are reining classes, the priority in the arena needs to meet the needs of the reiners. Likewise, if rail classes are next, don't expect a pleasure horse to get out of your fencing run down as it's their arena. If a rail horse is joining a reining warm-up pen, they should be prepared to move with the same flow the reiners maintain. It's okay that they are probably not moving as fast as the reiners are, as long as they are not trying to work diagonals across two sets of circles. If rail horses are working the perimeter, they should stay as close to the rail as possible so as not to interfere with the circles in progress. When someone calls out "Heads Up"¯, its real important that the rail horse yields the right of way. Rail horses can use the interior of the reiners circles for exercises as long as they don't move into the circle traffic and give room to those spinning. If the arena is not large enough for both disciplines to maneuver comfortably, or the number of one discipline over the other makes sharing the space inefficient, then the priority should default back to the show schedule. Well run shows will have sufficient arena time built in for all disciplines but a little common sense and common courtesy will go along way.
Bottom line is, very similar to the way a blind person will sharpen their other senses to compensate for the missing one, the will to survive a reining practice pen will sharpen existing senses and develop others you didn't even know you had. Like the ability to stay with your horse when he demonstrates quick cat-like agility, you didn't know he had, to avoid getting hit, or those eyes in the back of your head that let you know you'd better scoot to the side a stride or two before that guy in a hurry back there who's closing fast on ya through the center moves you himself, or the intuition that lets you know the rider in front of you is going to stop without warning. Just as in any crowd, there will always be those that are oblivious to everyone else but we can perform some damage control if we just make a point of always being aware of what's moving around us and give others the same consideration we would expect them to give us. Remember to be quick to apologize if you do get in someone's way. As always, look for the positive elements to grow from as even what feels like a traumatic experience now will make for a good story in years to come!
Stay on Pattern!
Judy