Herd Work                                  Fence Work                        Reined Work

Educational Resources 
This page is dedicated to providing educational materials to the members. Especially, if you are new to the sport, read thru the materials & educate yourself to what the reined cowhorse truly is. 

       What is a Reined Cow Horse?
A Reined Working Cow Horse is a horse that combines a reining performance with a cow work performance. A cowhorse work consists of a single horse in the arena who begins by running a prescribed reining pattern (called dry work or reined work). When the horse and rider are finished with the pattern, a single cow is let into the pen. The horse and rider then demonstrate their cow sense, courage and communication by controlling a cow through a different type of pattern (called fence work). The Fencework pattern requires the cow to be boxed at the end of the arena, then taken down the arena fence (hence "going down the fence") & turned once each direction, & then circled once ("circle up")each direction in the middle of the arena.

A score is given for the reining portion & for the fencework portion. The combined score is the total score. Scores  for each portion range from 60 to 80 with 70 being average, the higher the number the better.  See sidebar "the events" for details on manuevers, scoring,etc.