Reining Futurity Program

Below is a brief outlined of how you would prepare a Reining horse for the futurity.

In Your Horses 2 Year Old Year:

You start them under saddle anywhere from 21-24 months of age. It is good to put a 90 day foundation on them and then some can benefit from having a spell over the Christmas period.

This year is dedicated to training, education and building a strong foundation. Having experience training lots of futurity horses allows you to know when they are ready to be stepped up in their training, they are all different in both physical and mental maturity. It is important to push them to increase their strength and progress their education but always keeping them sound, relaxed and confident in the mind.

They are ridden in a snaffle bit for approximately 6-12 months and introduced to a short shank bit when they are ready. In their two year old year they don’t go to any shows. You can spell them in this year at times, depending on the horse, John can guide you with this. We are away 4-5 times a year at big shows so they get a week off here and there which does them the world of good as they come back fresh with a short break.

In Your Horses 3 Year Old Year

In their three year old year you continue their training, education and building a strong foundation. They go to their first small show in February or March. The first shows about building confidence and relaxation in the show pen. Then each of the shows this year are building towards the National Futurity in September (Tamworth).