How do you neck rein a horse?

Question

I have a horse named duchess and she is not trained to neck rein she is trained the other way well i am getting ready to start barrel racing with her if i can neck rein her. so how do you neck rein a horse?

Answer 1

booboo??  your name is booboo?!?!  i feel like i'm in a parallel universe...how strange...time to go to sleep and wake up back in the real world...

Answer 2

I'm assuming your horse responds to pressure on her mouth, and you ride with both hands on the reins. A horse that is trained to neck rein responds to pressure on the sides of the neck for turning, and on the mouth for speed control. Most neck reining horses are ridden with one hand (normally the left) holding both reins. The horse turns in response to touches from the reins on the neck, moving away from these touches. So, for example, if you want to turn left, you touch your horse with the reins on the right side of her neck by moving your hand to the left. The real issue here is that your horse is not trained to neck rein, and she won't learn naturally. So you'll need to either have her trained to do this, or to find out how to do it yourself. By the way, I'm not sure, but I don't think your horse has to be a neck-reiner in order to barrel race. I think she just needs to be fast around the barrels and needs to be able to go around them close without knocking them over. Good luck to you and Duchess!