How to Excel in Western's Hottest Sport

To date, World Champion trainer and rider Sandy Collier is the only woman to win the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity - the "world's toughest cow horse event". Her continued consistency and success in the show pen earns the respect of her peers in and around the horse industry, and across all equestrian disciplines, again and again.

Fact is, after years of hard work - studying, learning, and sometimes failing - Sandy now holds the winning hand: an indispensable program of progressive training exercises for the Western performance horse. Whether your goal is just a well-broke ride or a competitive reining run, Sandy's got the right cards to play at the right time, guaranteed to get you where you want to go successfully.

In Reining Essentials, she begins by sharing her own hard-won wisdom on how to "ride smart". Her tips help you set your horse up to succeed, develop great timing and precision, and be systematic - and sometimes creative - when teaching new skills.

Sandy describes the Seven Essentials - the foundational basics she believes every riding horse needs - and then shows you exactly how to "put them on" your horse, and confirm and test them with specific lessons before moving on. These include:

- Vertical and lateral flexion
- Walking the circle and counter-arc circle
- Backing up without resistance
- Responding to "Whoa"
- Moving off the leg and pivoting

Then, like no other book out there, she breaks down the required maneuvers of a reining pattern, along with the tricks and techniques for introducing them, perfecting them, and ultimately showing them off. Learn how to:

- Condense your horse's frame
- Get his feet to follow his nose
- Prepare for the lope and lead changes
- Move backward with cadence
- Rollback over the hocks
- Perfect the slide and amplify its impact

Renowned cow horse trainer Al Dunning calls Sandy's lessons "square meals - pleasing and good for you". Try them. We're sure you'll come back for more.