Passion. Performance. Partnership.

Katona Reining Horses brings strong values and an unshakeable commitment to exceptional horse care and performance. With a focus on nurturing each horse and rider’s unique talents, we create an environment that prioritizes top-tier training and the well-being of our equine partners and clients.

Our decades of experience and expertise pushes riders to new heights in the sport. Our current team boasts impressive performances in various competitions, showcasing the effectiveness of our training program. In the last handful of years our team has produced Level 4 non pro futurity finalists, multiple year-over-year world champion-ranked non-pros, numerous national level affiliate winners, derby champions, Congress champions, and MRHA and other affiliate champions and year-end section winners.

For over 30 years Katona Reining Horses has successfully trained horses and riders to the highest levels. We train horses and riders in every segment of competition including Short Stirrup, Youth, Green, Rookie, Non Pro and Open.

While Katona Reining emphasizes achieving excellence in performance, we carefully work to maintain a balanced perspective that celebrates progress and teamwork. Dedication, passion, and high performance go hand in hand, creating an encouraging atmosphere where riders thrive and excel.

Cindy Katona

Trainer & Owner

Located in Southeastern Michigan’s wooded Belleville, Katona Reining Horses rests on 25 acres, featuring several single horse paddocks, multiple pastures with shelter and a 20 acre-producing hay field. The main barn houses over 25 stalls, with heated tack room and main central stall barn. Other amenities include controlled lighting for show horses and cycling broodmares, barn staffed with stalls cleaned 7 days a week, indoor arena (60 x 200 ), outdoor arena (150 x 400), 10x12 matted stalls, large 12x 20 foaling stalls, and a large hot water wash rack.

Owner and Head Trainer Cindy Katona grew up with a love of anything horses. She started her horse career after graduating from high school, working with Hunter-Jumpers, until she discovered reining in her late 20s. She boasts her own impressive show record that reflects her dedication and passion to the sport. Her wins in Rookie, Non Pro, NRHA Ladies and the Open benchmarked a career that would demand a dedication to excellence. Cindy has taken numerous titles during her reining career and integrates her past and continuing showing success into her teaching and training methods. In addition to being a trainer and teacher, Cindy is a leader. She has served on the MRHA Board of Directors, ran the successful Delta Classic in Belleville, Michigan and held the position of MRHA Secretary for many years.

In Memoriam

Tim katona

Following his high school education, Tim apprenticed with Shorty (OK) Russell in Texas, where he trained and showed World Champion halter, cutting, reining, and rope horses. This is where the dream of Katona Reining Horses began. With a lifetime dedication to developing the Katona training program, Tim worked prospects on a daily basis, developing their style and fine tuning their ability to achieve the level of excellence that Katona trained and finished horses have represented in the show pen. Tim believed that a well-trained reining horse should be an athlete who loved its job. The success of this philosophy is well-represented with Tim’s career achievements, which include multiple MRHA Futurity and Derby championships, multiple State and World Championships, competing in NRHA Futurities and Derbies, 2 major Derby wins and holding the highest open run score at a Michigan Reining Horse event. Tim has had the privilege of being an NRHA approved judge and having held the first NRHA Judges Clinic on his farm in Belleville, Michigan. He participated in founding and implementation of the National Reining Horse Association Youth Program. He was also one of the founding members of the Michigan Reining Horse Association in addition to serving on the Board of Directors for both the NRHA and MRHA. Tim was honored with one of the sport’s highest honors, the NRHA Dale Wilkinson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.