Lines …… not reins •
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Sorry Zuzu, not everywhere… Reins are for lighter bred equines using carriage harness, race driving, carriage driving. Lines are for draft style driving, on all size ponies and horses.
Probably a location specific choice of term or what you learned to call it growing up.
@goodhors
You’re wrong - I’m third generation light breeds • ASB & Hackney Horses & Ponies ~ it’s all “Lines” in that world ~ training equipment and show equipment - Freedman’s Harness & Hunts Harness •
Fennell’s - Race Harness Walsh & Xtreme Edge …even Beta Synthetic Driving Lines
From California throughout the Midwest through Kentucky & Tennessee for recreational & show !
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I usually say lines, but I’ve had driving trainers who were seriously into showing use the two words interchangeably when training people like me who don’t intend to show. Granted, that’s lazy, but I didn’t worry about it too much given the audience here might include non drivers. I do know that lines is the correct term, because I read a lot.
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I agree with ZuZu. My experience is with ASB/Hackney shows and STB racing and they were always referred to as “lines.” Always.
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You go first!
I get along with her, she tells it like it is.
I have a friend who’s still highly miffed that Myrna’s first words to her were:
“Why are your reins on the last ring?”*
*of the Liverpool bit she had in her mini’s mouth.
She’d driven him to the IVC trailer to ask why he was fussy in the mouth.
FWIW:
I’d walked to the trailer, friend asked me if I’d hold mini while she went in to shop.
I told her I’d sit in her cart to do that.
She warned me he wouldn’t stand.
Guess what?
He stood just fine… After testing my hands & finding they weren’t holding like she had.
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I have no dog in this fight so to speak since I’m a total newbie
But… while I was at the harness makers yesterday and we were going over all of my options. I was looking at the customization order form and it listed Lines at the bullet point and reins in the description which totally made me lol. Then when I looked at their full catalog it pretty much seems to use the words interchangeably
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They are called Ribbons other places too. 
I grew up in, and was a pro groom for, pleasure, coaching, CDE worlds and I worked in the STB industry as well. Lines can be used interchangeably with reins.
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I know this is an older post, but I was just told that I have been mentioned on this forum by a number of people. 
In the carriage driving world, we use “reins”, as most of the terms we use come from England. If you consult The Encyclopaedia of Carriage Driving by Sallie Walrond, it refers to Reins.
In other driving disciplines, they do use “lines”, and yes, historically, some sources refer to them as “ribbons”. There are a number of harness parts that do have multiple names depending on the location and style of driving.
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Oops. I hope that your friend isn’t still mad at me! I do tend to be to-the-point. I didn’t realize how much “stock” people put into what I said! That being said, in the carriage driving world, we don’t tend to promote using the bottom slot of a three-slot Liverpool bit. Judges don’t like to see that. It is known universally as the “suicide slot”, because it tells the judge that your horse needs to be retrained since it can’t be driven without that much leverage. (Please note, I don’t remember which horse this may be that was driven to our trailer, so I am speaking very generally.)
I have used the 2nd slot. With a mini, the 2nd slot can be excessive because, by ratio, the leverage is akin to the 3rd slot on a Horse bit.
