Long reining - what are the benefits?

M

Mb23

New Member
Apr 6, 2008
77
0
0
Hiya,

I have a 4 year old gelding, backed but very, very green in the school so have decided to re-start his training from pretty much scratch. I have professional help in his training and one of the things that my instructor has told me to do with him is long reining and shown me how to do it. I was long reining my horse last night and it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't actually know why I should be long reining - i.e. what the benefits of long reining are as opposed to say, lungeing or riding. It seems that when you long rein you are teaching the horse to move off your voice and contact in his mouth whereas when I ride him it is mainly (almost wholly) my seat and legs. My horse is a bit fussy with his mouth and when I ride him I tend to keep a very, very light contact and mainly ride him with weight aids. It seems that long reining is doing the opposite. :confused: I'm very confused - can anyone explain to me why I should continue long reining?
 
Long-reining is not that different to riding when it comes to your hands............it's possible to long rein with a very, very light contact too. :)

Long reining helps a horse to learn how to carry himself, how to bend, how to yield to pressure on his ribs, to be brave, all without the weight of a rider, and allows him to work in a straight line rather than round in circles.

His fitness can be built up, and he can be introduced to a bit of roadwork and traffic once he is going nicely.

What does your instructor say about it?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I long rein on two livels. I use it as a schooling method to introcuce and work on so many things. I find that the horses reation to most things is similar on the long rein to ridden. I do bombproofing, fitness, schooling, circles, road work.......

Ive also taken mine out on a long rein hack. We meander around enjoying ourselves.

I love it.
 
Thanks - I was worried that I was giving him mixed messages - first getting him to respond to weight aids when being ridden and then confusing him with long reining. He's a good boy and tries very hard so I want to be fair and consistent with him. I'm not sure I could use long reining to keep his fitness levels up though, I'd get tired long before he would - perhaps it's my fitness we need to work on! :D
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back