Re: RC: Re: Sheila Varian

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/18/00 7:42:55 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
sunibey@sisqtel.net writes:

<< > I always thought reining was a Western version of dressage--with no other
 animals in the arena.  If a horse is after a cow, I thought it was cutting
 or team penning.  Do I have all this wrong? >>

Am not up on my Western terminology, but there IS a class (want to say it is 
called "Reined Cow Horse" or some such) that is essentially a reining class 
involving a cow.  You are right that there are reining classes in which there 
is no cattle work.  But in the others, there is a "dry" phase (no cow) and a 
phase with a cow.  Unlike cutting (in which the horse has to work into a 
herd, separate a cow out, and keep her from returning to the herd), the 
reining work involves just one cow, and the horse has to put the cow through 
a pattern, keeping control of the cow at all times.  VERY challenging, to say 
the least...

Heidi