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[RC] Draw Reins - katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxMike Sofen said: He was very very full of himself, and felt that EVERY horse in training at the facility needed to be taught "collection" and he put every horse on the hot walker with draw reins tied to the lower points on a surcingle. Just to clarify what we are talking about here. Draw reins are reins that attach to the girth, run through the bit, and up into the rider's hand. Since I have never heard of anybody riding a horse on a hot walker, I suspect that the type of reins Mike is talking about here are side reins and not draw reins. Side reins do not give leverage to the rider's hand, but rather just attach directly from the saddle/surcingle to the bit. EVERY single horse was over-bent and behind the bit, balky, resisting walking, etc. However, like draw reins, if attached below the point of the shoulder (the general rule of thumb is that you want the rein to be parallel to the ground if the horse's head is in the desired 'position') they have a tendency to over-bend the horse. And, like draw reins, to work effectively, they have to be combined with some kind of pushing aid, which can be released when the desired result is achieved. A hot walker is neither a pushing aid (it pulls the horse from the front) nor can it be released (it keeps pulling in the same way no matter how the horse carries its head). Both side reins and draw reins are tricky to use and require a good understanding of what you are trying to achieve; however, side reins are not quite so bad because a) there is no leverage and b) the user is standing next to the horse rather than sitting up on top of it so it is far easier to tell when the horse is over bent, and c) they are not attached to the rider's hand. So side reins can be used with less expertise than draw reins. That does not change the fact, however, that both of them are very good tools if you want to over bend the horse (which many people, IMO mistakenly, do--and personally I have yet to see "long and low" applied by anybody in any way other than what _I_ would call over bent either). Since this is not a dressage list but rather an endurance list, I have no desire to get into a debate over the definition or suitability of over bent; however, one of the reasons I have often been hired to "fix" horses that are over bent is because people who are now trying to use these horses as trail horses don't like the fact that their horse's head and neck disappear from view as they start down a hill...which can be very disconcerting, to say the least. kat Orange County, Calif. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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