A passion for reining...

Dana VanAlstine and one of her horses "Stinky"

The first time Dana Van Alstine did a spin on a horse she was hooked.

In fact, she loved it so much that she and her husband, Ken, sold their entire pleasure horse operation to concentrate entirely on reining horses.

“When you get on a horse for the first time and you spin it’s amazing,” she says. “Spinning is when the horse does a rotation on one hind leg at quite a quick speed. The better the horse, the faster they spin.”

The Van Alstines began in the Quarter horse business about 21 years ago, but shifted their focus to reining in the early 90s.

“Reining is a manoeuvred western event,” says Van Alstine. “It is a really exciting sport. Once we started in the reining that was it. We quit everything else because there was no exhilaration; it got really boring for us. Reining is the best sport we’ve ever done.”

Van Alstine Reining Horses, in Welland, provides coaching, training, sales and international sales.

They have bred many champion horses and have also sold horses throughout the world.

“Our horses that we’ve trained and raised have been sold everywhere from Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Israel and all across the United States,” Van Alstine says. “It’s really interesting because we meet a lot of people from all over the world. I even did some coaching at a big German futurity. That was pretty neat.”

Van Alstine believes her philosophy and approach to working with horses is successful because she uses an individualized program when training her horses. She says it is important to think of the horse’s personality when developing a training plan.

“When you train them you have to figure out their personality and you have to figure out what works with them,” she says. “When I train I don’t have one set standard that everybody has to conform to. I try to figure out what works with that individual horse. Sometimes I have to be creative and come up with something new.”

She says training a horse is “exactly like coaching people. They’re all individuals. You can coach maybe the majority of them similarly, but you’re going to get ones that learn differently. That’s when we need to adjust our teaching to work with their personality because everyone is not the same.”

Van Alstine says horses often have a soft spot for certain humans.

“They truly pick people. Just even in general when you’re working around them,” she says. “One person might walk up to a particular horse and the horse is going to put its’ head on your shoulder and want to be with you. And another person walks in and the horse doesn’t have that bond with the person. They could care less. You could be the most easy going person, and the other person isn’t and the horse still likes the other person better. That’s just the way it is.”

Van Alstine says when it comes to training, horses make their preferences known.

“When we get into training the horses personally, sometimes if one horse prefers a certain trainer over the other then we change. That’s how much personality they have. You could take one horse and have ten people with the same capabilities ride it and that horse will shine with maybe one of all those ten people. It’s hard to put into words.”

She says people buying a horse may think they’ve chosen the horse, but she believes it’s the other way around.

“When I sell a horse a lot of times I say, ‘people don’t pick horses; horses pick people.’”

Van Alstine says she loves working with horses because of their natural personalities.

“I love them. I’ve loved them all my life,” she says. “Why do I love them? They’re all individuals and they all have different personalities. Some are really affectionate and some are more serious.”

She says the bond between a horse and human is “just like with a dog or anything else” and that respect from the animal must be earned.

“Horses are an alpha animal. They live in groups and there’s always the alpha and they work their way down. They basically have to respect you first because they are herd animals. And when they respect you they show that. They respond to how you treat them and you can tell when they like you.”

Owning a horse is a very rewarding experience, say Van Alstine.

“I like going in and petting the ones that are affectionate when you spend time with them. You give them love and attention and they give that back to you. I just love working with them.”

Van Alstine Reining Horses is located at 2072 Port Robinson Road in Welland. If you want to learn more about the Van Alstines’ services check out their website at www.vanalstinereininghorses.com or call (905) 384-2008.

Published in  Niagara Farmer's Monthly - December 2010