Can someone provide some insight on the use of draw reins by jumpers? Several well-known jumpers have posted on IG of them riding with draw reins. While I have used draw reins in the past, I try not to make it a habit and haven’t used them in over 5 years. This is not an attack on these famous jumpers using draw reins, but just trying to understand/learn.
Also curious. It is both funny and disturbing to see “instagram famous” riders and the posts their massive amount of followers like and gawk over online compared to when I see them on the circuit jumping their horses 3’+ with draw reins (yes-between the legs) in the schooling ring and then removing them before stepping into the ring.
IMO draw reins have little merit, even in the correct hands. Stretching down or coming into a frame is created through the leg and seat, not by a hand cue- which is what draw reins commonly teach. I love the “it builds up muscle argument”, too. Your horse would build up the same topline (actually better) by stretching down or coming into a frame correctly.
I have used draw reins before to try and take a “shortcut” in training and saw the way it led my horse down the path to incorrect use of their bodies and response to leg, seat and hand aids. I created a monster and had a hell of a time undoing it. Now, my draw reins are only used in the rare instance I have forgotten my bungee/neck stretcher and I am in need of a “safety net” to control a young horses head after they have taken me on a bucking spree.
I would be interested to hear other potential and viable uses for them.
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Yep, some riders use draw reins sometimes. Some of them are great riders, some of them aren’t. Just like any training aid, it can be used correctly or misapplied.
The most useful advice I can give you is to facebook message or ask in comments why that particular rider is using drawreins on that particular horse at that particular time. Maybe they’ll give you an answer.
But I wouldn’t present your questions as you do here, where you are clearly implying these people are hacks using a crutch. Try to moderate your language and tone, think about how you present yourself, and maybe you can have a meaningful and productive conversation where you learn something.
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I did not read the OP’s tone as anything other than curious…just sayin’, but one reads into posts what one wants to.
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I should say, @Foxtrot’s, my response was more the the second “curious” poster. I should have quotes it.
Again, the best thing you can do is ask the rider. A lot of riders are very friendly and happy to answer questions about training methods and tools.
As I said, some riders are bad, some are great. Some riders use tools correctly, some use them incorrectly. Rest assured if a top rider is using something, they have good reason. And as for it being lazy, or a crutch, no, anything extra is a pain in the a$$ and good riders avoid anything extra to manage or handle. So, for instance, if you saw Rodrigo with draws on Baloubet, rest assured he felt he needed them at that moment. And yep, maybe it is once in five years. In two years, my good rider used draw reins one time. As it turns out, he didn’t find them effective for what he was trying to achieve with that horse on that day, but it’s a tool in the tool box, just like a particular bit. Sometimes is gives you what you needed, sometimes it doesn’t.
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I use draws on one of my jumpers and only one. I think the majority of horses out there really don’t need them. The only reason I ride (and yes, jump too) in draw reins or German martingale on the one is because he is extraordinarily difficult to keep round. He’s not uneducated, he’s done 4th level dressage with scores in the low 70’s, but it’s a choice between fighting him constantly for the round “jumpy” canter that I need and using draw reins so I choose draw reins. And let me tell you with that one specific horse it has made a world of difference with his jumping.
All that being said, I think they are often overused and not necessary for most horses. I actually ended up taking them off this past month because he got too round to the jumps and I needed his head out a bit more.
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Are many of these IG photos from awards presentations or victory gallops, by chance? It’s not uncommon to see draw reins used in these situations. It has nothing to do with framing the horse up but providing another level of control in a high energy environment.
That said, I think some riders (and their students) do wind up using them more out of habit rather than really assessing whether it’s an appropriate tool for a given horse on a given day.
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Personally, I don’t like draw reins. I believe they force the horse into a false collection. I also don’t like how there is no release of pressure. That’s just me. I am not telling you how to ride and do not intend to step on anyone’s toes.
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Yes, they can force the horse into a false frame, when used incorrectly, but how is there no release of pressure? Draw reins aren’t fixed, as side reins are, you release pressure by loosening the draw rein, moving your hand forward, letting go of the draw rein, This, to me, is absolutely what makes them preferable to things like a chambon or de gogue where there is no release and many horses learn only to curl their necks away from pressure.
Every tool has a place and proper use, but no release of pressure isn’t a thing with draw reins. Perhaps you are confusing them with a different device.
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Ladyj79 - Your post did seem out of character as your posts re generally very moderate and come from a place of experience, so I didn’t really understand it!
Full disclosure - I have used draw reins sparingly, sort of to ‘show the way’ to a high headed horse and help him along into the right frame as easily as possible. Plenty of chance for release especially if they are used longer than the reins and only come into play when he is out of shape. Mostly posters here would deny they ever use such a dreadful gizmo!
Like crank nosebands, except we know that a lot of people do use them.
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It’s so funny the reaction re cranks because the solution is as easy as any other noseband: don’t overtighten :lol::lol: and I’ve seen crap riders overtighten regular cavessons with much less padding which is desperately unfair to a horse. With all the different styles of nosebands, overtightening is never a correct solution.
In 30+ years riding, I’ve used draw reins on three horses. One of those only once because nope, it wasn’t what I wanted. The other two were similar to your example. I needed to set a limit but I needed flexibility of release.
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This is why I used them on my guy. He was very feartful of contact with the bit
when I got him (abused regularly in the mouth). I rode him in a happy mouth mullen mouth bit with draw reins just in the beginning because I could ease the pressure and show him that acceptance of the bit was a safe place. It wasn’t to get him round or in a frame. It was just to teach him that he didn’t need to go around like a llama and that I wouldn’t hurt him.
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Draw reins are a very useful tool, just like many other things, but they can be and are misused. It’s like Ladyj says- cranks are only harmful if they are actually cranked. I like crank nosebands because of the extra padding, not because I can torture my horse’s nose by cranking the hell out of them.
I’ve jumped one of my horses- who is built like a beast- through a grid that ended in a 1.4m oxer in draw reins; this was at a point in our training where they were a very useful tool. We are past that and now he goes simply in a HS Duo loose ring, or a French link loose ring. One can absolutely release the pressure (that is the point- the reward for the give has to be there), and if one is actually engaging the hind end and working back to front draws can be quite handy to have on a big, athletic horse. I’d rather use draw reins to get through a problem phase than bit up, which is more generally what people do, and which often seems much worse in terms of producing stiff, inverted horses.
Oh, well, McLain’s little spiel on it is exactly spot on and he (being a top rider) says it much better.
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I have a training manual written by David Broome. In it there are many pictures of him jumping with draw reins. I don’t remember if he explains why he uses them, but I figure in the right hands they can be helpful. Who am I to disagree with David Broome?
Can you give the run down for those who can’t watch?
I think draw reins are for people who don’t know how to connect their horse. If your horse is trained 4th level dressage then it should know how to connect and use itself without tools. Did the horse show at that level? Holes in the training.
I’m speaking this as someone who has a very very hot jumper, who is very hard to get to connect, or at least she was, until I started working with an amazing dressage coach who could approach it from a different viewpoint. Less hand, more leg 
I know it’s an unpopular opinion and I stay out of peoples business with what they ride in, but when I see draw reins that is what I automatically think. I have only ever once seen draw reins at an event. In the H/J world I see them at every single show. That tells me something.
I have to agree with the Instagram and FB posts…see it all the time, with riders who have no clue what they are doing with them either.
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FWIW,
I have used draw reins exactly twice, both times on OTTBs who were tough reclaims and with whom all my traditional methods to teach them to seek the bit and stretch down weren’t working. In both cases, I used them for a very short time - once I established the correct response and reward; I took them off. Perhaps there are riders out there with such impeccable tact and timing they could have gotten it done with these horses using the traditional methods; but those riders weren’t volunteering to ride these horses. Draw reins were invaluable in teaching these horses, who were very confirmed in their traveling hollow, what exactly it was that I was asking them to do differently and they went on to be pretty nice useful horses.
I always used them in combo with a mild snaffle; and rode with the draw rein similar to a curb rein - using it only when the horse didn’t respond, and releasing it as soon as they did.
I don’t understand jumping in them. Seems dangerous, but perhaps there are situations where they’re appropriate and I’m just not aware.
I spent a lot of time decrying their usage and claiming that more flat work was the correct solution until I ran into these horses, so never say never.
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I have jumped one horse in draw reins before. I did it for two reasons: One - to give me a bit more control after the jump - this horse was known to stick his head up and bolt away from the landing side of the jump and the draw reins were an emergency tool to regain control. The second reason - is that this horse was also notorious for running sideways and the draw reins helped to keep him straight.
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Draw reins are prohibited at events, even in warmup. So that’s why you don’t see them. I’ve sure seen plenty of eventers use them, just not at shows. So do plenty of dressage riders, again not at shows, because you can’t.
I’ll use them a couple times a year, maybe. For a few rides coming back after time off, usually, as a gentle reminder of where we should be, on a horse that likes to be high-headed. IMO, they can be useful exactly because they can be relaxed and unused unless need. Obviously, not everyone uses them properly.
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I think people who use anything to get from point A to point B without understanding the various options for doing so, and who simply want the outcome (without understanding the reasons for it), are going to misuse whatever tools are to hand.
I was at a barn for a while whose trainer (I didn’t use this person, I trailered my horses out to my own trainer), used to stick her clients’ horses in things like: very tight standing martingales and three ring lifter bits with a single rein on the lowest ring. The first time I saw that it was so confusing- Put your head down! Put your head up! It was just horrible to watch and neither the trainer nor the rider saw the contradiction in using those two things at the same time.
Draw reins can certainly become a crutch, but so can a lot of things. A smart rider who is seeking out the best advice and understands the steps on the training pyramid cannot be reached without doing the work each step demands is going to be able to use different tools and aids better, I think, than someone who wants their horse to put its head down and “be on the bit” without any understanding of how or why that is achieved. And, anyone who uses draw reins without a ton of leg is probably using them wrong…but then, they are probably never riding leg to hand, anyway.
I’m going to give McLain Ward the benefit of the doubt here, and say that he probably knows how to work a horse back to front. :lol:
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