Presented here is a theoretical and experimental study of water cone development and possible reversal in response to reduced production rate. The theoretical study used a new analytical model of water coning based on the moving spherical sink (MSS) approach for accurate modeling of flow in the vicinity of a limited-entry well in an anisotropic [...] reservoir. The advantage of MSS over other analytical models is that it does not lose validity near the well completion of a given length and size. The results of analytical analysis show that for oil production rates below the critical (breakthrough) rate there are two equilibrium positions of the water cone: lower (stable), and upper (unstable). Typically, water cones would assume the stable shapes in response to ascending values of production rate. However, for descending rates the cone becomes insensitive to the rate reduction and its reversal pathway is quite different to the cone development pathway resulting in the histeresis effect. The study explains why reversing the cone is difficult since it requires reduction of production rate much below its critical value. It also describes how to determine the water cone reversal rate. The experimental study provides verification of the theoretical findings using a physical model. The experiments demonstrate four stages of water cone development and reversal histeresis: a series of the increased equilibrium cones in response to the series of increased production rates; water breakthrough at critical production rate; continuing water breakthrough despite lowering the production rate below the critical rate; and the final water cone reversal at a very low value of the "cone reversal" production rate. This work contributes basic understanding of water coning control with production rate adjustments and explanation of the cone equilibrium effects. It also provides an analytical method for finding the critical and cone reversal production rates.