Nathan Kent Professional Reining Horse Trainer, Kuna, ID

Kuna, ID is as far west as this great adventure is taking us. We rode with professional reining horse trainer Nathan Kent. We worked on our roll back, large fast circles, lead changes, turnarounds and what to do if your horse spooks at things outside the arena.  Nathan’s overall approach to horse training is to find what works for each horse. Even if the horse is not going to be a reining horse he will train the horse so that it could be ridden in another discipline like cutting, ranch riding or trail riding. He feels that this approach is what keeps horse training interesting and challenging.

While we were in the area we were able to go to the Great Western Reining Horse Association reining horse show in Nampa, ID. The fun thing for us was we got to see three of the trainers we visited Mack Weaver, Nathan Kent and Jay Dee Anderson all at the same show. Watching the pros that you worked with show is always a great experience. It inspires you to work toward whatever riding goals you have set. The other great thing about the GWRHA show was the support the members gave every night from the stands as their fellow rider competed. The GWRHA show also had a class called the red shirt futurity for four-year-old horses that did not compete in their three-year-old year.  There were quite a few entries in this class and the GWRHA was really promoting this class for the future.

Rollback

To do a rollback you want to bring your outside leg back and away from the horse’s body to open the door for the horse to move through. You want your reins to come up and across the horse’s neck in the direction you want to turn. Your hand should point in the direction you want the horse to lope off in once they have rolled back. In order to get the horse to snap out into the lope after the roll back kick with both legs in the belly. The goal is to have the horse roll back on their hocks. To do that you need to be soft with your hands during the roll back and firm with your legs to get the horse to snap out into the lead departure. Once you have done this over and over the horse will learn to speed up on their own during the roll back in order to depart fast after the roll back.

Something we have never done before to get that snap out of the roll back was working with a cow flag. A few of the trainers have suggested trying it but we never had time to do it until we got to Nathan’s. The flag is shaped like a cow and is attached to a pulley system that runs back and forth along the wall. The idea is to give the horse something to follow in the roll back.  By working the flag, you are able to sharpen the stop, the roll back, and the depart in the opposite direction faster. My horse wasn’t sure of the cow flag at first but once he got the hang of it he started following that cow like a cutting horse. This was really fun for both of us and it also helped our roll back in the process.

Circles

Nathan likes to warm up for circles by trotting in a small circle.  From a small circle, you ask the horse to follow the path you chose for that circle. If the horse leaves that path, lay the outside rein, and move them back on the path of the circle. This is also done at the lope. Doing this exercise gets the horse sensitive to the neck rein, which teaches them to guide with very little pressure.

If a horse does not want to stay on the circle the other exercise you can do is to stop the horse and turn them around a few times and lope off. You want to turn them into the circle to teach them to follow it. You want to keep doing this exercise until the horse is soft in the face and following the circle with very little pressure from the outside rein. Click this link to watch the video explaining the circle exercise. Click this link to see video https://youtu.be/RMEurlwTr7w

Large Fast Circle

When running a large fast circle your hand position needs to be close to the horse’s neck and forward.  To guide the horse in the circle from that position Nathan likes to have his hand lined up with the horse’s inside ear. This position allows you to direct the horse without lifting up or pulling back on the reins. It also gives the horse a clear direction to follow because your reins are contacting a sensitive part of their neck.

Lead Changes

This exercise is done by making your circle into an oval shape. You want to lope off and start making your oval. As you come through the center of the arena on both of the long sides of the oval you want to pick up your reins and keep your outside leg on. This is how you set the horse for the lead change. You don’t want to do the lead change until the horse is relaxed and straight as you set up for the lead change. Once you have the horse soft and straight, go ahead and change leads. Once you change leads you want to remain in a counter canter circle. Doing the counter canter circle helps keeps the horse picked up and prevents the horse from dropping into the other circle. You can counter canter a few circles and then move into the circle onto the correct lead and repeat the exercise. This exercise helps teach the horse to relax through the center and not anticipate the lead change. It also allows the rider to practice the lead change in the center without the horse getting sour in the middle. Click this link to watch the video explaining the lead change exercise.C lick this link to see video   https://youtu.be/v_56fsgvjMk

Spooking Horse

If your horse is like mine and gets spooked by things moving outside the pen than you can use this technique. Nathan likes to make the horse look into the circle. If that isn’t enough than he makes a small circle and keep the horse looking into that circle. You can also break down to a walk and pump the horse’s face down until they are more focused on you and what you want than what they were looking at.

Turnaround

Nathan likes to trot a small circle in a counter bend to work on the turnaround. To do this you pick up your outside rein and bring it across and above the saddle horn. This bends the horse’s neck to the outside of the circle. The inside rein is back and just above your hip to help balance the horse’s face. Using your outside leg, push the horse’s hip to the inside of the circle. Doing this gets the horse’s front and back legs to cross over. After the horse has crossed over a few times release their head and let them turn in the direction they were crossing over to. So, if the horse was crossing to the right you want to turn right. This exercise helps get the horse to drive from behind for the turnaround. You don’t want the horse to only pull from the front on the turnaround. When you ask for the turnaround this exercise has conditioned the horse to use their whole body to execute the maneuver. Click this link to watch the video explaining the turnaround exercise. Click this link to see video  https://youtu.be/buFxHccptQ0

While in Kuna, ID I logged 9 hours of riding time toward the AQHA riding program. https://www.aqha.com/trail-riding/programs/aqha-horseback-riding-program

I hope you have enjoyed this blog and keep watching for more about our trip across the U.S. and all the great people and places we experience. Please share this with your friends.

For more information about Nathan Kent Performance Horses click on this link: http://www.kentperformancehorses.com/

Check out more reining horse trainers by clicking this link: https://horsetaillegacy.com/063o