how do you guys feel about the use of draw or side reins for lunging? do you think they would be effective if i only lunged in them for now? i don’t feel like i’m at the skill level to ride in these (draw reins specifically) right now but i want my mare just to kinda get the memo. any concerns or suggestions would be appreciated!!
Perhaps I’m out of the loop on this, but I’m not sure what effect draw reins would have while lunging. Draw reins are used with a rider because the rider can control how much tension is in them. How would you adjust the tension for lunging? Knotting them up would likely be neither safe nor effective.
The whole point of side reins is that they can be adjusted but they still have flexibility and they are attached in a position in which they cannot become droopy and the horse can’t get a leg over one.
3 Likes
I also don’t understand HOW you could use draw reins for lunging.
Do you mean Vienna side reins?
1 Like
Have you ever longed this mare, or any horse, in side reins before?
If not, find a very qualified trainer to show you how to adjust them. You can end up with a spectacularly bad wreck if you don’t know what you are doing.
Another person here that doesn’t understand how you could longe a horse in draw reins.
What “memo” are you hoping your mare gets?
3 Likes
If you are unfamiliar with a training tool under saddle, you are likely just as unfamiliar while lunging. Lunging really is an art when done correctly. I agree, have a very knowledgeable person work with you and your horse before trying any tool/aid. Lessons in long lining would be good, too.
6 Likes
Love draw reins for my big holsteiner but under saddle.
Side reins. Side reins. Side reins. Side reins.
You’d rarely, rarely rarely want to ride in draw reins. Rarely. RARELY. rarely.
2 Likes
Through the bit and attached to the saddle or girth.
Do you mean a bungee/neck stretcher?
What are you trying to achieve?
Always a great question, only with clear understanding of what we are trying to achieve and why, can we move to the how!
1 Like
I use draw reins adjusted for lunging, they become sliding side reins. I don’t actually ride in them though. You have to know how to adjust them, and need to have someone experienced lunging the first time. I am not a fan of side reins, my horses curl or pull.
1 Like
I’m going to be honest here that my opinion is mostly against using these type of gadgets to further a horse’s training, but it depends on what they are used for. Majorly, I’m totally against the use of draw reins, specifically because they are opposing the dressage training system by pressuring a horse into contact. I’m not as opposed to side reins, but don’t agree with them for teaching a horse how to frame up or to fix a contact issue, as there are far better ways. I’ve seen sliding side reins used effectively to aid in building topline on a horse that already understood going forward into the bit.
1 Like
If you have not been taught you need to be taught. Do not use gadgets to train a horse.
Draw reins are a gadget.
Side reins are the only thing not classed as a gadget.
It is not side reins that kill and maim horses. It is side reins used incorrectly that maim and kill horses.
Do not walk in side reins, it can cause a lateral walk.
Never pull a horse’s head in with side reins that is not what they are for.
4 Likes
Draw reins are designed to be held in the rider’s hands. I guess you could rig them up to buckle through a grab strap on the saddle or some such, but seems pointless. IMHO, they are only for riding on the flat, with a very experienced rider who has the knowledge to release them when needed, and only when they are working to solve a particular issue.
Side reins are very useful when lunging with skill to train the horse. I always let the horse walk up at the walk and trot without them, then add them for the 10-15 minute working portion of my lunging or in hand session, then let the horse cool out and stretch again without them.
4 Likes
side reins are standard lunging equipment, they are not a gadgit nor a short cut .
I would never use draw reins as the present too many hazards for mishap and dont actually achieve the purpose I would seek for using a side rein.
Two excellent books on lunging are from the German federation and one by Jennie Loriston Clarke , both via Amazon
I suspect the OP doesn’t actually mean draw reins, which require someone up in the saddle to use but rather the lunging equivalent = vienna reins / triangle reins / sliding side reins / lauffer reins depending on which part of the world you’re from.
They attach from either A. the girth, between the horses leg or B. SIde rings on a girth, through the bit rings and to C. Rings on a lunge roller or D. Girth Points / Dee Rings on a saddle.
These are very common, especially in Europe and Australia (where i am from). I find they allow the horse to learn how to accept contact rather than side reins, which in my experience, encourage horses to sit behind the contact.
They are a self teaching device in that if the horse raises it head above the highest fixed point of the triangle, or below the lowest fixed point of the triangle, then there is pressure. They soon learn that they have a range of motion where there is no discomfort / pressure.
In saying that, all horses are different, and some do perfectly well in side reins and work well into the contact. Horses for courses.
1 Like
I had some grat results using side reins on a horse with the tendency to hold his head up like a giraffe. Start off slowly and always work with an experienced trainer if you aren’t experienced
Sooo…since we don’t know you, anything about you, your approximate age, riding experience, ? Or the horse you will be using, its age, experience, quirks, holes in training or owners consent if its not yours? Or your experience and knowledge with lunging, what proper lunging equipment you have ( cavesson, side reins, good quality line and whip) and if you have a round pen or suitable small enclosure or have to use a corner of a big field or arena?
No way to offer meaningful advice. Also no way to answer the side rein question posed in the OP. That answer is it depends on the variables above we don’t know.
Old saying not specifically about horses is if you have to ask what, how, when and why before using anything, you probably shouldn’t use it…
But the one thing that does have an answer is lunging in draw reins. That’s a firm no. And, unfortunately, that’s something that can be rigged up despite in no way, shape or form being intended or designed to be safely used that way.
I’m wondering if OP means a neck stretcher or champon. I’ve always preferred lounging with a neck stretcher.
Personally I prefer lounging with a margarita
5 Likes
