1963-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1963 February Voice | Page 25

Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
23
Virginia Lamb's Own Column
BY VIRGINIA LAMB
Voice Pacific Coast Representative
2901 37th Avenue, Sacramento, Calif.
Western Neck-Reining And
The Tennessee Walking Horse
A question has come up from
several admirers of the Walking Horse
who are interested in the breed as a
Western trained trail horse, but have
been informed that the Walkers loses
his gait when he is taught to rein.
The question I have been asked is
this, “Is this statement true! Does the
Tennessee Walking Horse lose the
capability to perform the running
walk?”
My answer to this question is this.
It can happen, yes, but not if the
horse is trained properly to perform
his true gaits to begin with. Why do
I say this? If the Walker has been
trained in his three natural gaits and
has been given sufficient time to be
settled in these gaits, then he can be
trained to neck-rein and still retain
the gait necessary to be called a Ten­
nessee Walking Horse. He has to be
settled in his gait first, or an inex­
perienced rider can throw him off and
cause him to do other gaits as well.
It is not necessary to put a fine rein
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OPPORTUNITY
To raise unbeatable livestock.
on a pleasure horse. There are two
types of reining in the Western world,
a pleasure rein and the fine (or stock)
rein given to a good cow pony. The
pleasure rein is what you are after on
a Walker that is to be used for the
trail, or as a Western pleasure mount.
You must remember that there is a
great difference in the two types of
reining, just the same as there is in a
show horse and a pleasure horse. You
cannot put a neck rein on a show
horse and have him execute his gait
properly.
If the horse is taught to neck rein
before he is taught to walk, then you
cannot expect him to perform true,
although he will still probably give
a most satisfactory ride to the novice.
It is not necessary to ride your horse
with an extremely long rein, as do
most of the cowboys you see in horse
shows.
I do not train even a Western horse
in this manner because you do not
have the control necessary as you
never know when a horse is going to
explode under you. Even the gentlest
of horses may do this. I believe in
complete control of your horse at all
times, so even though the horse is
trained to neck rein, the reins, while
longer than those used on a direct
rein are much shorter than those used
by the cowboy. I simply do not be­
lieve in having reins so loose they
drag the ground.
The Walker is quite capable of
learning to neck rein and still retain
a good gait. You must, however, re­
member to keep a shorter rein and
you only want him to know what the
neck rein is for; that when you want
him to respond to the left rein on the
side of the neck, he will automatically
turn to the right. It is not necessary
to put such a fine rein on him that he
will spin out from under you.
I have been working with the Walk­
ing Horse as Western pleasure and
trail mounts for several years and
have found them to be better than
average at learning anything new and
being able to remember what they
learn. A good horse can be ruined by
(Continued, on Page 24)
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