(atmospheric music)
- Today we're gonna be talking about
using our reins.
I've got some tape on my reins
to make it easier for you guys
to follow along as I go through this lesson.
If you're struggling with finding
the correct length of reins,
or you feel like you're just not very smooth
when it comes to using your reins,
today's video is for you.
First, I want to mention
that there's this common misconception
when we first start riding,
that we only use our reins to turn our horse
and to stop them.
However, I found it to be much more effective
to use my seat, my legs, and then my reins
to turn and stop my horses.
This allows my horse to work in better balance,
and allows me to advance more easily as a rider.
(atmospheric music)
The first thing we're gonna talk about
is finding a correct rein length.
I'm gonna be showing you correct rein length
for two reins.
So if you're riding in an English discipline
like dressage or jumping,
or if you have a young horse
that you're riding in a discipline
where you ride one-handed like Western
and you haven't educated him yet
to ride completely off the seat and leg.
So when I've got my reins here
correct rein length,
I've got a direct line from my elbow
straight down to my horse's bit.
And I have a rein length that is short enough
that if I squeeze the rein,
I can feel the horse's bit.
But if I relax my hand,
I can have a nice, gentle, soft contact,
so it's not pulling back.
I'm always having forward seeking hands.
A rein length that would be too long
would be one like this
where I have to pull my elbow
past the seam of my shirt
in order to make contact with the bit.
And this could potentially cause me
to hit my horse's mouth a little harder,
so we don't want to have that length of rein,
or maybe bumping the horse's mouth.
Rein length that it would be too short
would be if I have to have my elbows here straight
in order to keep contact.
So here my reins are too short,
and I'm gonna be a little out of balance
with my elbows straight like this.
So instead I wanna have those nice bent elbows,
squeeze the rein,
and I can feel the bit.
(atmospheric music)
When we're using our reins,
there's two different ways I'm gonna talk
to you about using your reins today.
The first one is a direct rein,
and that means we're just squeezing the rein
in the direction we're going.
So let's say I want to turn my horse left.
My right rein is staying on the right side
of his neck here,
and I'm just squeezing with my fingers
the left rein to turn left.
The other type of rein aid we can use
is an opening rein.
So that's when I have my outside rein down,
and I'm just opening from my elbow like this
to ask my horse to turn to the inside.
So now I'm gonna show you an example
of me using these two different rein aids
while I'm going around an obstacle.
(atmospheric music)
As I approach my first obstacle,
I'm gonna be turning right
using a direct rein with my right hand,
so I'm just squeezing my right hand
as I turn right.
So you can see how my left hand's staying
on the left side of the mane,
just squeezing that right hand.
We're gonna come around this barrel
gonna head up to the second one.
And in this one,
I'm gonna turn left using an opening rein.
So I'm gonna open my left hand,
close my right leg,
my right rein,
and we're gonna turn left
and then go straight.
Good boy.
Now that we've looked at
both the opening rein and the direct rein,
let's talk about when will we use these reins.
So I've got a circle of cones set up
around me here.
I'm gonna take Crosby around the circle
and show you an example of when I would use
an opening rein and when I would use a direct rein.
The first thing I'm thinking about
as I go around my circle
is "Is my horse in between my channel here?"
So is he in between my legs and my reins
and lined up with my belly button?
So if he's in the channel,
and he's walking around nice and relaxed,
then I'm just gonna use a direct rein
by just squeezing the inside rein
and closing my outside leg
to keep him on the circle here.
So you can see how that's a pretty small movement,
doesn't really require much effort from me.
Now, a time that I would use an opening rein
would be if I had a horse
that was drifting off the circle,
and he was kind of falling out to the outside.
So let's say I'm walking my horse around here
and he falls out to the left.
Then I would close my left leg,
and I would use an opening rein
with my right hand here to guide him back
to the circle again.
So I hope this video was a help to you
if you are working on learning more
about your reins.
There's a lot more we could talk about
on this subject,
but hopefully this gave you
a good place to start
and some valuable information.
I'd love to hear what you're working on
with your horses.
You can let me know in the comments below.
And of course, if you have any video ideas,
I'd love to hear from you.
You can let me know.
Have a wonderful week,
enjoy your horses,
and I'll see you in the next video.
Good job, Crosby. (atmospheric music)