A western pleasure horse should be relaxed and quiet – literally a pleasure to ride. He should exhibit a balanced, free flowing movement. His head should be carried in natural position, with his poll level with or slightly above the level of the whithers.

The nose should not be behind the vertical, showing intimidation or excessively nosing out. A true western pleasure horse should be shown on a reasonably loose rein. He should be responsive, yet smooth in transitions, when called for.

When training the western pleasure horse, the training should be started in a snaffle. You want to keep the horse as responsive as possible so, when I train a pleasure horse, I don't even use spurs unless I need to, to keep something extra for the show ring. You want him to learn that when you close your calves on him to drop his head, when you sit deeper in the saddle to slow down and when you touch him with your indirect rein to turn.

Don't slow down
When starting a pleasure horse, you don't start by slowing down. Like any other discipline you start by strengthening and suppling. The horse needs to learn to carry himself with minimal contact. You start by teaching the horse to give to pressure. Do this by taking a gentle hold, not a pull, and releasing the pressure as soon as he gives to you. Always be slow to take hold and quick to release.

To train the rein-back, you take a gentle hold on the mouth and squeeze with your legs, say the word "back". If he moves forward, take a slightly stronger hold. Maintain the pressure until he takes a step back, then release him instantly.

If he continues to fight, instead of getting harder on him, take a step back and climb off and teach him the word "back" on the ground. Once he can manage one step, ask him for two by asking for the first and then asking for another straight after, gradually increasing the amount of steps.

Around the arena
You then want to start by walking around the arena on light contact, teaching the horse to follow his nose, moving in circles and serpentines. You must keep your outside leg on to prevent his quarters from falling out the circle.

Then do the same at the jog, just not letting him drop his shoulders, doing the same as you did at the walk. Then the lope. Just let the horse lope at his own speed. Unless you feel like you are losing control, just leave him in a circle.

This is where you start with your neck reining. While you move in the circles you use the indirect rein on the horse's neck. Don't let your hand cross over the mid-line of the neck. Use your direct rein to steer the horse and maintain a neck bend.

Onto the next step
Once the horse can move around quietly and follow his nose in a relaxed manner, you can start the next step. You want to ask the horse to drop his head and round his back. You start again at the walk, move around the arena and gently take hold of his mouth while you push him forward. As soon as he gives, you instantly release the pressure just as in the first step.

Once the horse is able to this at the walk, it should be done at the trot. When you ask him to drop his head at the trot, remember to maintain forward impulsion. Then you should do the same at the lope.

You should teach your horse that going forward is not everything, by starting at a walk in straight lines and asking for stops in the following steps:
• Sitting deep in the saddle and taking your legs off his sides.
• Use the word "whoa" (maintain a low slow relaxed voice).
• Taking a gentle hold of his mouth.

The ideal would be a stop on the weight and voice without the use of the reins, but it won't happen immediately. So, maintain the hold until the horse takes a step back then release the pressure. Once he can stop with just the weight and voice, don't ask for the step back – just leave him to stand and enjoy the stop. Once he is stopping easily, do the same exercise at the trot and then the lope.

Start slowing down
Once the horse is comfortable on dropping the head when you take a light hold of his mouth, you start the slowing down. This should NOT be rushed. If you try to slow the horse down too rapidly, he will lose the correctness of the gait. You start at the jog and ask him to slow down by the following steps:
• Sitting slightly deeper in the saddle.
• Use the word "steady" (maintain a low slow relaxed voice).
• Taking a gentle hold.
• Close your legs on him.

As soon as he slows down, release the pressure. If he speeds up, slow him down again. Allow him to make the mistake and then correct it. If your horse goes to a walk, you are asking with too much hand pressure and not enough leg. You don't want the horse to hollow and just tuck his nose – you want him to track up.

Eventually he will be jogging and loping around on a relatively light contact. Once he is responding to your weight and voice to slow down, you can start working on lighter contact.

To work on your collection, push him into a slight extension for a couple of strides, then ask him to steady. He should slow down, drop his head and relax. Move around the arena, speeding up slowly and then slowing down again.

Combine all the exercises to keep him sharp and guessing. Incorporate stops, circles, serpentines and speeding up and slowing down. The western pleasure horse should maintain a cadence and be able to speed up and slow down, all with minimal contact.

The shanked bit
Now you can introduce him to a shanked bit. Let him graze with it and get used to it. I like the Billy Allen correction bit or a low port schooling bit. I also like to train in a shank with movable sides, so that you can make corrections if needed. If you can get one with rings at the snaffle, you can start on the snaffle portion before moving down to the shank portion.

I also like to work with a loose chain so that it gives the horse time to respond before taking hold. When I train in a shank, I mainly train two handed unless I work on neck reining.

Don't introduce your horse to a shank just before a show and try to take him to a couple of shows in a snaffle, before you compete in a shank. When you compete in a shank, you compete one-handed and two-handed in a snaffle. Always go back to the snaffle between shows to keep your horse light.

If you decide to compete in SA Reining Horse Association or SA Quarter Horse Association classes, horses over the age of five have to compete in a shank. If you compete in WSASA, they have novice horses in snaffles and open horses in shanks.