Draw reins questions.

[beau159]

@GoodTimes

Ah yes, all the Olympic level show jumpers who choose to put draw reins on their grand prix horses for a victory gallop must not have proper training.
There’s no shame in using draw reins as a safety measure.

Never said a word about show jumpers, and never said there isn’t a time and place for draw reins. Don’t put words into my mouth.

@Laurierace

I agree with you that collection comes from front to back but that is about all I agree with from your post. You just don’t know how much you don’t know. I assure you that you have never even come remotely close to galloping a race horse on your barrel horse.

Well if you want to take that approach, exactly how many barrel horses have you ridden to know what I have experienced in comparison?

@Laurierace

Not to mention a race horse’s job is to win races not putting in a dressage test in the morning. The beauty of training horses is you are free to do whatever you want to with yours.

I agree that a race horse’s job is to win races … which supports my point that the draw reins are probably often used as a crutch in some situations. They don’t have time for training; they need to win.

Which probably is one of the reasons why horse racing isn’t my favorite thing, but to each his own.

[LaurieB]

@beau159

I agree that a race horse’s job is to win races … which supports my point that the draw reins are probably often used as a crutch in some situations. They don’t have time for training; they need to win.

Which probably is one of the reasons why horse racing isn’t my favorite thing, but to each his own.

I don’t know why you keep saying that racehorses aren’t trained. That’s as silly as if I insisted that barrel racers aren’t really trained because all they have to do is run around around in a little circle. Why insult something you clearly don’t understand?

No amount of foundation or early training can adequately prepare a horse for what they might encounter in the mornings on the track. Imagine the fittest horses in the world, some of them 2 and 3 years old, being asked to gallop quietly among 30-40 other horses who are going in both directions–some jogging, some galloping, some breezing flat out. Horses are being ponied, they’re going in-and-out of the gap, spectators are hanging over the rail, there might be someone talking on the loudspeaker. At some tracks it’s near mayhem (not unlike the schooling ring at a big horse show.)

Oh, and it’s six a.m. and probably chilly. So those horses want to run. They’re bred for it, they’re trained to do it, and they enjoy it. Draw reins can be useful for keeping a horse’s mind on its own business. And they can keep both horses and riders safe.

[Laurierace]

@beau159

Never said a word about show jumpers, and never said there isn’t a time and place for draw reins. Don’t put words into my mouth.

Well if you want to take that approach, exactly how many barrel horses have you ridden to know what I have experienced in comparison?

I agree that a race horse’s job is to win races … which supports my point that the draw reins are probably often used as a crutch in some situations. They don’t have time for training; they need to win.

Which probably is one of the reasons why horse racing isn’t my favorite thing, but to each his own.

I have ridden zero barrel races which is why I am not weighing in on that discipline. Race horses are trained pretty much every single day, rain, cold, snow, ice, dark etc so obviously there is plenty of time for training but they aren’t training for any discipline other than racing and winning the whole point so anything that humanely and legally gets you across the wire first is not not a crutch it is a good training job.