What's happening

Link to Clinics


Link to NZRHA Events


Training Reining Patterns
We will be bringing in the Reining 'Training' events for those new to Reining - these will be used for all NZRHA novice events. You can download the training patterns to read here - it is a big file so be patient if on dial-up.

Information about NZRHA Novice Reining Events
Two events: First Year Novice Reining and Open Novice Reining.
Eligibility for classes:

First Year Novice Reining: for those competitors in their first competitive year of reining, must not have competed in an Open, Aged, Amateur or Senior Youth event in previous seasons. May have competed in Rookie or Junior Youth reining in previous or current season.

Open Novice Reining: for those competitors whose average score in past Open, Aged or Amateur events has not exceeded 68. Finished horses with novice reiners are eligible for this class providing they fulfill the above criteria.
For the South Island this season we will be holding Novice Reining classes, they will not be split into Open & First Year. Eligibility for entry is the same as Open Novice.

Horses of any age can be ridden one or two-handed in any bit, so long as the bit is legal to show in. We know that some senior horses going in this class could be quite green and we want to encourage people to enter. So you can ride two-handed in a curb or snaffle and can swap between one and two hands (riders might want to do this when they are doing the two training circles before the judged one etc).

If you meet the criteria at the start of the season, then you may enter these events for the whole season.

We will be running a points system for these classes, with all points counting towards end of season Hi Point awards for both Islands (competitors must be NZRHA members to qualify for Hi Point awards).
- Points will be collated for the horse/rider combination.

There are two Training Patterns with different degrees of complexity. Both patterns are based on NRHA existing patterns but simplified to allow Novice Reiners to gain competency in basic manoeuvres before moving on to the full NRHA patterns. They contain training elements used to teach reining manoeuvres, replacing the actual manoeuvres.

We want to hold these events at as many shows as possible this season. These events are likely to have entries on the day of the show, with the administration of the class being carried out by a NZRHA member. Entry fee will be nominal (likely to be approx. $5), with NZRHA ribbons to 6th place.

We plan to hold training clinics based on these Novice Training Patterns to assist implementation of them (dates will be advertised on our web-site).