The Wonderful World of Reining
By Royal Worbets
I still remember the first clinic I ever had with Lynda. It
was in the fall of 2000, and at the time I was team penning and had this huge
15.2 hand Quarter Horse that was Thoroughbred two generations back!! His name
was Pablos Fox Trot (Foxy) and he acted like a Thoroughbred ALL THE TIME.
This clinic really opened my eyes to a different way of riding. About halfway
through the clinic Lynda brought out this wonderful little string and put
it on my finger. She would pull and release on this string when I did the
action she wanted. Now to anyone she has done this to, you know the horrible
frustrations this little game placed on me. I can't remember
if I ever did figure out what she wanted me to do and kept squirming around
like an idiot for about 10 minutes!!! The moral of the string game is the
fact that horses have to figure out that when we pull on both reins, put our
right leg at the girth, slide our left leg back and kiss, the horse needs
to depart on the right lead. If it weren't for Lynda and this fun little game,
I would have never realized how difficult it was for a horse to figure this
out.
It has been three years since that string, and a few Hi Points later. I sent my horse to Lynda for a few months for training before my first season of showing and well, found out that I had a long road ahead of me. There were clinics when Lynda would suggest we change my horse into a barrel racer because he was so high-strung. The thing about these times I remember most was that when I was on the verge of crying because he was being such a jerk, and not doing things that were so ingrained in him it was ridiculous, Lynda would somehow come up with a different way that would work. I mean, she has such an ability to read what I am doing wrong and then convert that to what I should do with my horse. Her teaching ability is why I feel I have done so well in my two years of showing. In my first year I attained a Hi Point in Beginner A, a reserve Hi Point in Beginner B and a Hi Point in Beginner NRHA (however, this one was on the wonderful little Shania, my mother's horse!!). None of this would have been possible if it weren't for Lynda.
At the beginning of this I used the past tense so you probably thought I got a new horse. Well, I feel that because of Lynda I did get a new horse. I changed my Foxy from a thoroughbred cattle penner into a Quarter Horse reiner. I am sure he would have gone through the roof if I hadn't met Lynda. She really changed my way of riding and I still think of that string every time I want to explode because Fox is being "stupid" when really, it is usually my fault. In my second year of reining, which was this past year, I received a Hi Point for Beginner Reiner Open and a reserve Hi Point for Rookie. I feel hat none of this would have been possible if it weren't for Lynda. She has always been there for me and always has a word of wisdom that fits the situation!! I remember the Prince George show this year when Fox just lost his mind. We had done so well in the first three shows, and then Prince George hit!! He leaped through the center and I had to take him in two hands in two of my three classes, therefore causing my score to be zero! I remember coming out of the ring almost crying and Lynda just looked at me, and made the comment that it was just one show and just think of it as a training weekend. So, that's what I did. I started with one hand, but when he became even slightly out of control, I would very calmly take him in two hands and correct him. If the same thing had happened a few years ago, I would have exploded at him and made it even worse!! Almost three years of training under the wonderful tutelage of Lynda taught me patience even in the show ring! Because of Lynda, the relationship between my mother and I has developed on a whole new level. I feel Lynda is absolutely fantastic for what she has taught myself and everyone else she comes in contact with and only hope we can continue our relationship both in the arena and out, which I am sure we will!!!