Todd Martin Performance Horses specializes in the versatile reining horse

What Are Workshops?

Workshops are a new format, that we are excited to roll out. They are half day classes, that focus on one maneuver in small groups. The idea is to provide intense instruction, to a small group so everyone gets high quality training and attention. The one maneuver is so you do not go home with information over load, leaving unable to find a starting point. They are designed to provide you with information that you can go home and apply.

Who Should Participate in the Workshops?

These workshops are geared toward the rider that desires to know more beyond the basics. There is countless numbers of clinicians out there bombarding you with information on colt starting, trailer loading and problem solving. But there is a huge number of you that have been there, done that and become proficient, but really want to advance your skills. Some of you ride reiners, some of you just want better horses, but all of you want to know how it is done. We want to help take you to the Next Level.

The next workshop will focus on collection and suppeling at a lope. We have all seen how to get a horse to bend its head around to your knee while standing still. But how do you attain this type of softness at a lope with a guide. This workshop will work on teaching you how to attain a soft horse at a lope and not just at a walk or standing still.

We will follow collection and suppeling at a lope with teaching the guide and neck rein. We all know how to keep a horse going left or right in a snaffle bit by pulling a direct rein. But the next level is teaching a horse how to go from a direct rein to a neck rein while keeping the body balanced. This is one of my favorite things to teach, because it is a place where so many people get lost and will really benefit from the knowledge.

Next we will cover the Sliding Stop, one of the marquee manauevers of a reining horse event. Ever wonder how these horses are taught how to do this? There is more to the stop than just backing your horse up after the stop. If you are going to teach a horse how to stop, you have to understand good body positioning and be able to convey that to your horse. in this workshop, we will be working on showing you how to teach your horse the proper body position of a stop and so much more. You will be on your way to the next level of stops.

We will round out this series with teaching the spin. This explosive manauver is a combination of skill and beauty. In this workshop we will work to teach you the correct foot fall and body positioning of a spin. We will also teach you the basics of how to teach your horse to spin, and then show you how to increase the speed without causing resenment from your horse.