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| ASK AN EXPERT  Question: I’m a level one rider; I’m generally clean of penalties but can’t seem to take a win. I’m consistently 2 to 3 seconds slower than the riders in my level. How can I shave off the time? What am I doing wrong? Answer: It’s not necessarily that your doing anything wrong, your question should be about what can you do different to improve your times? Without seeing you and your horse’s ability, we can’t give exact judgment, but we can give you the most common things riders can do to improve on their times. One of the basic suggestions is RIDE. The more you ride your horse the more confident and trusting you will be with them and they will be with you. Even though you may ride all the time; we mean horse and course management riding. You don’t need to practice shooting all the time, you need to practice getting to the targets and rating with timing. A lot of the courses have distances before your fi rst shot. You need to practice the timing in getting there faster and rating smooth enough to draw your gun. There are even some courses where you have a distance between targets so you need to practice accelerating your horse from one point to another. We see a lot of riders who spend too much time trying to control their horse during a stage. Exercising horse and course management helps keep your mind and your horse’s mind together at a shoot. Another exercise that comes from course management is knowing your course. That sounds pretty basic, we’ve seen some patterns so much we think we know them. Well right there you’re not managing your course properly. Every arena is different and besides the certified courses they are never set the same. Study every set course. Everything, including where the timers are! So many riders start shutting down before the time line. They feel once they’ve shot their last target their done. That’s not always so, you need to RUN through the time line, so you need to know where your timers are. Knowing where the timers are also helps you to know where to cross the time line. You don’t want to start the time line in an area that causes you to cover more ground than necessary. And stopping is the same, run as straight as possible through the time line. Veering off at an angle will cost you precious time. Question: My horse loves the rundown so much I have to turn and hold his head away to keep him from hitting the barrel, which doesn’t always work. How can I prevent this?  Answer: Don’t feel bad, this is very common in competitive horses. Your horse is at the stage in his game where he understands what you’re trying to accomplish. He thinks he’s helping to get the job done. It’s no different than when you RUSH a shot, shooting to soon. Don’t punish the horse for turning too soon; teach him to deal with the excitement of competition. A horse’s head needs to be facing into the turn to make a proper barrel turn. It also helps him see what’s going on and where he needs to be going. Bear in mind, in the practice pen you’re going to have to SLOW down, and show the horse precisely how you want him to make the turns, by using the proper cues and showing the animal the right positions.  1Cueing with the inside heel to curve the horse’s body, slight inside rein to bring the nose around. 2 Continue the heel tapping to keep the shape. 3 Continue the cueing throughout the turn, shaping the head and body properly puts you in the best position for a smooth turn.
“Ask an Expert” will offer answers and insights from proven trainers and competitors Jim Hanson and Andra Olson of AJ Horses.
Neck Reining vs. Two Handed Riening By Jim Hanson and Andra Olson of AJ Horses It is crucial that horses in mounted shooting be able to neck rein. As mounted shooters we are steering with one hand and shooting with the other, for that reason neck reining is essential. It is therefore possible that your “twohand” riding is actually working against you. These two techniques are different styles of riding. We would advise you to work more on the neck reining rather than riding two handed. If need be, you can work on the flex while sitting on your horse, but when warming up and riding, keep your reins together and focus on the neck reining. When directing your horse with one rein, start using pressure with the rein on the opposite side of the neck. This will start him thinking he needs to turn when he feels this pressure on his neck. Even though you are not leading with the inside rein, he will eventually know he is to turn with his head into the turn. It is also benefi cial to incorporate your leg or foot cues along with the reining; it’s a great combination, as each assists the other. TIPS FOR TEACHING THE ROLLBACK AND SPIN By: Sasprilla Sundance 
1. Turn your horse, then 'immediately' accelerate forward and leave the turn. This "turning and leaving" is key for teaching the horse to plant his pivot foot. If you let the horse hesitate between the turn and leaving, he won't get the idea. 2. Your horse 'must' move his front end away from rein pressure. If he doesn't, use your leg as a reprimand. 3. Use your hands with 'rein and release' action. Do not use steady pressure. Using the reins with steady pressure will cause a horse to lock his front end and swing his butt out of gear. Using the reins with the "pull and release" method, keeps the front end free and moving off the rein. Also, use the correct angle when applying the reins, towards the horse's hip. 4. Remember to sit in the middle of your horse. Do not lean into the turn. This will cause your horse to kick his butt out instead of using his pivot foot. Turn your head and look towards the direction you want to spin but keep your body centered over the horse. 5. When spinning, make sure to correctly "time the reins". When the horse's outside front leg is just starting forward, apply rein pressure and then release. Repeat this timing with every step of the outside front foot. Applying the reins at the correct time is what allows the horse to do a smooth cross-over with his front legs. 6. To add more speed to the spin, cluck to the horse. If he doesn't respond to the cluck, use the "outside hip" with the end of the rein. Remember to cluck before you do this. You want to teach him to speed up in response to your voice command. 7. When doing a rollback, it's critical to slack the reins between the "stop" and the "turn". Be sure to jump-out into a lope after the turn. This "jump out" is what makes the turn clean, fluid and correct. Make sure the horse starts the turn "nose first".
8. In the "stop" part of the rollback, the reins are handled the same as if you were asking for a good stop on the hindquarters or a sliding stop. You must ask for the stop when the horse's hind feet are in the air and on the way forward. This timing of the horse's stride is "critical" for a stop on the hindquarter. Miss it and you’ll force the horse to stop on his front end – ruining the rollback. It’s also important to “sit” the rollback just like you would a sliding stop.
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