I have no idea I’ve only seen people use leather at recognized shows. But I emailed USEF and they said there’s no rule about rein material so it should be fine but just show it to the show officials to make sure the reins are ok to use.
1 Like
Poly Western reins often have leather loops (I believe they’re called water loops?) at the ends like in the above picture, which should break in the event of an emergency. Perhaps these could work? I believe they still the loops at farm/ranch stores.
1 Like
They MIGHT be legal for the jumping phases, but not for dressage’
EV115.2.c
“The reins must be attached to the bit.”
which is generally interpreted to be “directly attached”, and to make “rein aid attachments” illegal.
1 Like
Thanks for the clarification!
Wait - They didn’t give you an official ruling about it being legal but said you have to ask the show officials at each show if it’s okay? So you could get different answers at different shows depending on the officials? That seems odd to me.
1 Like
Yeah I thought it was weird too. But since there’s no rule about reins material they have nothing to give me as an official ruling. So I guess I’ll just bring two sets of reins to shows and if they let me use them great, if not oh well. I imagine they’ll probably let me use them for the jumping phases but we’ll see.
Is the word “English” a modifier for both the word “saddle” and the word “bridle”? Because if it is couldn’t “western” type reins be a problem?
If I were you, I would print out the reply you got from USEF and take it with you, to avoid a vicious circle of “pass the buck”.
3 Likes
