About Us
The Queensland Reining Horse Association was formed in 1991 and today has over 120 members from throughout the state. The club has continued to grow each year and now the QRHA's Annual State Championship Show, held in August, offers in excess of $40,000 in cash and prizes (including trophy buckles and a trophy saddle).
The club aims to professionally promote the sport of reining, attract new members and competitors, and ultimately retain quality sponsors to boost the profile of reining in Queensland. Our members enjoy a competitive show season with a show program that features beginner clinics and beginner shows, jackpot shows, trophy shows and the prestigious State Championship Show.
The club has a healthy social aspect with regular social events, an AGM dinner and the popular end of season Awards night, Hi Point Awards and Auction. New members are always made to feel welcome and receive plenty of guidance from more experienced competitors.
In Reining Australia competitions, reining horses are judged individually as they complete one of thirteen specified patterns. Each pattern includes small slow circles, large fast circles, flying lead changes, roll backs over the hocks, 360 degree spins and the exciting sliding stops that are the hallmark of the reining horse. One or more judges will score each horse beginning at 70.
The scoring system then adds or subtracts from .5 to 1.5 on each maneuver. Penalties points may also be subtracted from the score for incorrect performance. A scribe keeps track of each judge's maneuver scores and penalties on a score sheet. Scores are calculated and announced after each run.
The reining horse must be willfully guided. Deductions should be applied for gagging, excessive head raising, stopping or backing sideways, refusals, anticipation, stumbling or falling and disobedience. Credit should be given for smoothness, finesse, willing attitude and accuracy. Controlled speed during the
pattern raises the level of difficulty so should be rewarded with higher scores provided the maneuvers are still performed correctly. Reining horses may perform with individual style according to their conformation. The sport of Reining is open to all breeds and is exciting and pleasing to watch. Reining was a demonstration horse sport at the 2000 Olympics boding well to be a future Olympic event.
A. General - "To rein a horse is not only to guide him, but also to control his every movement...".The best reined horse should be willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance and dictated to completely. Any movement on his own must be considered a lack of control. All deviations from the exact written pattern must be considered a lack of/or temporary loss of control and and therefore a fault that must be marked down according to severity of deviation. After deducting all faults set here within, against execution of the pattern and the horse's overall performance, credit should be given for smoothness, finesse, attitude, quickness and authority of performing various maneuver's, while using controlled speed which raises the difficulty level and makes him more exciting and pleasing to watch to an audience.
