long rein? short rein? diffo opinions

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99gyates

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Dec 7, 2004
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Hey just a bit of a debate going on really at the yard.

With being new everyone at the yard has been so helpful and gave lots of advice the only thing is theres so much that is different.

Everyone seems to think there method is right. For example harley was playing me up in the field a friend said gave her lots of rein and lower your hands so i did and she told me not 2 shorten the reins in trott. I think she is in too all that kinder way too ride as she is very much for leg aids and seat control she doesn't like the bit too have too much contact.
When she told me all this it made perfect sense.

Then today I were riding and i get told that my reins are shocking and that i should shorten them immediatly. So i did he then went on too explain that if there is not enough contact the horse is left to make its own decisions and that the horse needs the contact there to give her confidence and make her feel secure which again made sense.

I guess its just trial and error i suppose some methods that suit 1 horse do not another horse or rider. So is it a case of listening to advice trying it out seeing what works best for you and the horse then blocking the others out?
 
It also depends on your discipline. NOBODY should have such a tight rein that the horse is uncomfortable. Basically, if you can feel your horse's mouth, and he/she goes well on that light contact.. perfect. If he's still a bit green, and hasn't been worked on giving to the bit and moving forward into contact, he may take advantage of a loose rein.

You don't need to have a constant tight feel on them. Just enough to where if you lightly pull back, you can feel your horse's mouth. A horse that will go forward and search for that contact is good. You don't want to have so much loose rein that the horse is rolling along with his nose 3 inches from the ground.

A happy medium is good, assuming your horse is sane and secure, and will go forward on light contact. There's still got to be contact, just not so much that you or your horse look stiff and uncomfortable. With proper training, a horse will search for that contact, and begin moving forward into it. They depend on you. They don't want to constantly wonder where you want them to go next, they'll immediately know if they can feel that slight contact on the other end.
 
I was, and still am, being taught in western riding. However, I'm one of my barns advanced riders, and while I do have very strong leg and seat aids, I keep a short rein. Now, wether theres contact or not is a different question altogether. I'm getting to the point where I need very little rein to get the horse to stop from any pace, including cantering or loping. I learnt how to tell the horse to stop by changing my thigh position and sinking with the butt. Believe it or not, if you slide your thighs forward, squeeze (no calves in contact) and sink with your bum, the horse should probably slow down.

Anyway.. when asking for verticle flexion, I need short reins with good contact. The horse learns to bow it's head to avoid bit pressure, giving it a soft mouth and a good frame to be in. If I'm not asking for flexion, I don't have any contact, but if I'm going any faster than walking, they are short. This is because I ride a hard to control mare, and I know basic dressage and lateral movements. If she decides to let her shoulder fall in/out or act up, i need to be able to fix it emmediatly.

It depends on how advanced you are in your signals and what the horse generally does. If you don't know what to do with the reins, leave them slack. If your well equipped with knowledge of movements and aids, then have them short. I'm known for loping around on this little 13 hh mare bareback and having extremely short reins, yet my hands are so far foreward that I'm not even putting pressure on the gals neck.
 
its differant for differant horses really, some pefer a loose rein and othes tight. how i learned is that you really should have tight rein. as in you should allways 'feel' the horses mouth but never be 'holding' onto the mouth. if that makes since. this way your horse shouldn't be running out the front end. i have found with tahoe if i rode with a loose rein its impossible to get him to work correctly, without that contact he just runs on the forhand. i have found that is the case a lot of times when you leave the rein loose.
 
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