PSA for rein snaps

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

This past weekend, Sasha and I went on a lovely vacation where we got to ride on the beach (yay!)… pictures to come.

During our ride, we were having a nice canter on the beach - we had trotted away from the other horses about a 1/4 mile and were cantering back. Ahead of us, I saw that there was a small inlet of some sort, where a dip in the sand had filled with water. I started to pull up, thinking that the water may be too deep to canter through. At that point, I realized that he had managed to get the bit between his teeth without me noticing, and I had zero brakes. He disagreed with me, obviously thinking the water was only ankle-deep, and kept right on going. He hit the water at a medium canter, went straight down into chest-deep water, and basically flipped over, dumping me into the water.

Neither of us was hurt, thank god, but he did come up from the water with his left front leg through the reins and the running martingale. I noticed it right away, and because I have trigger snaps on my reins, I was able to unclip the rein before he even knew he was tangled. If I hadn’t had the trigger snaps, he would have taken off back to the other horses, possibly hurting himself and probably breaking his bridle and martingale. Instead, I was able to get back on and complete our ride.

I’m never taking those snaps off my reins, and I’m recommending them to all my trail-riding friends. Oh, and he won’t get away with that sneaky bit-grabbing trick again - I’m onto him

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e075db-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

or go to your local hardware store, where you can get them for about 99 cents each.

[Bank_of_Dad]

Good for you. A few years ago, someone in our riding club lost a horse who got his leg thru the rein in the river, and drowned, cause he couldn’t get his head up, and I think, had a regular tie down on.

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=Bank of Dad;4121494]
Good for you. A few years ago, someone in our riding club lost a horse who got his leg thru the rein in the river, and drowned, cause he couldn’t get his head up, and I think, had a regular tie down on.[/QUOTE]

The regular tie down drowned the horse, not the rein. Never use a standing martingale in water.
As for snaps I read that they irritate a horse by the constant clicking of metal on metal.
I just prefer split reins. In the event of a whip out the split reins allow you to fly over the head and at the same time keep a hold of the horse. Also no chance of getting an arm through the rein and hanging up.

[Auventera_Two]

I used to use the trigger snaps but my horse got so irritated with the constant clanking of metal on metal. I use split reins now. As Shadow14 said, I’ve gotten my arm hung through the rein and drug for a ways when I went off over my horse’s shoulder. It happened so fast and I was on the ground hanging by an arm with her running before I knew what had happened. Even the trigger snaps didn’t help me there. After that I switched to split reins.

So glad you weren’t hurt though, good grief! It’s been a tough month for trail riders, I keep reading about all these incidents that have happened to us on this board lately. Yikes.

[sublimequine]

I use an awesome pair of rope reins with trigger snaps on em. Love those suckers!

Luckily I ride in a hackamore, so there’s no bit for their to be irritating metal on metal clanking or anything.

[JollyBadger]

Yikes! Glad you and your boy are okay!

I’m also a fan of the split reins when I’m out on trail. As for snaps vs. no snaps, my horse has never seemed particularly bothered when I DO have snaps on my reins and doesn’t react any differently when I don’t use snaps.

However, every horse is going to be different. . .so if someone finds that their horse is irritated, take the snaps off.

Happy trails!

[JackSprats_Mom]

Just make sure they are good quality snaps- had two break on me in the last week, one while on a LD ride halfway through!

[twofatponies]

With the split reins, don’t you ever accidentally lose hold of one and then it’s flapping in the wind and you can’t reach it to get it back? Or do you just get handy enough not to drop them?? I’m so used to my connected reins where I can loop them over my wrist while zipping my jacket, etc., or sometimes I’ve lost a rein while trying to fend of tree branches, etc.

[JollyBadger]

[QUOTE=twofatponies;4123268]
With the split reins, don’t you ever accidentally lose hold of one and then it’s flapping in the wind and you can’t reach it to get it back? Or do you just get handy enough not to drop them?? I’m so used to my connected reins where I can loop them over my wrist while zipping my jacket, etc., or sometimes I’ve lost a rein while trying to fend of tree branches, etc.[/QUOTE]

I’d be less worried about a dropped split rein “flapping” and more worried about the horse stepping on it. Generally, the reins are quite long on each side so there is plenty of overlapping. I have dropped one side before - usually when stopping to water the horses at a creek, and I simply whistle at my horse so he will turn his head back to me so I can get ahold of that rein again. If I do have to stop to zip a jacket or get something out of a saddle bag, I can drape the reins on top of the saddle or across my horse’s crest and they won’t go anywhere unless my horse does a full shake-down.:winkgrin:

The reins I use at the moment aren’t anything special - just kind of cheap beta biothane Weaver reins I bought at TSC, but they do the trick. My boyfriend uses a really nice set of leather split reins - they’re a little wider and heavier and they have a nice feel to them.

[Shadow14]

I prefer good quality 3/4 inch wide leather reins about 7 feet long. I want the horse to feel the weight of the rein when I pick it up and also when I shift my hand off of center so he knows to turn. Just lifting the reins clues him that something is going to happen and he starts thinking.
When I get off for a pee break I hold one rein in my teeth or drop it to ground tie but it is convenient to just have one rein in your hand.
I drop a rein about once a year but I am so use to them that this doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Again the weight of the rein to me is important since I ride with totally slack reins, no contact and I want the horse to be clued in by just taking up some of the slack. The weighted reins warn him.

[katarine]

I use a variety of stuff- but my favorites are 8’ split reins, heavy harness leather, 3/4" wide. I HATE little spaghetti weight reins. The water ties on the bit ends will break if I should drop one and the horse step on it and snatch it hard- won’t readily break, but would in a wreck.

I do like roping reins for when I’m shooting pictures off a horse- so when I use those I do put either a trigger snap on one end or both (stock horses) or a smallish leather tie for the gaited horses to secure one end to the bridle(the head nod will whack whack whack that snap on any headgear, hack or bit alike). Like the snap it’ll give in a wreck but not in the usual ‘disagreement’.

glad you were ok and in one piece.

[Auventera_Two]

As for a dropped rein - why would the rein fall on the ground if you drop it? I use long reins, and they hang over the neck to the opposite side, so if I need to put my reins down or I drop them, they just lay across the neck and I pick them back up again.

[katarine]

if you don’t cross your split reins over their neck, or are riding two handed without the end of the reins crossed over their neck- if you drop it, it’s dropped. that’s not rocket science, A2, you need more coffee this morning

[Shadow14]

I’m one of those like A2 that ride with my reins crossed. To tie up my coat, fish in my saddle bags or anything else I just lay the reins on the neck and they stick. I don’t ride with both reins on the same side.

[katarine]

[QUOTE=Shadow14;4124172]
I’m one of those like A2 that ride with my reins crossed. To tie up my coat, fish in my saddle bags or anything else I just lay the reins on the neck and they stick. I don’t ride with both reins on the same side.[/QUOTE]

so how do you manage to drop one split rein a year using this system?

if I’m loping my good QH down a lane, I may well have both split reins in my left hand and both rein ends trailing down his left shoulder. That’s the ‘proper’ way to hold split reins anyway. If I’m schooling, they are crossed and a dropped rein is no biggie- it lands on their neck. But if you’re playing cowboy on a good horse, you are holding your reins ‘right’.

[Auventera_Two]

@katarine;4124162

if you don’t cross your split reins over their neck, or are riding two handed without the end of the reins crossed over their neck- if you drop it, it’s dropped. that’s not rocket science, A2, you need more coffee this morning

Apparently you do since you missed the sarcasm in my post.

The sarcasm was meant to point out that if one would cross the reins over the neck, they wouldn’t drop the rein and have to whistle to the horse to stop or risk it getting ripped off the bit or tripping the horse, etc. Ok, more smartarse than sarcasm I guess. But to me it just makes sense that if you cross the reins on the neck, you don’t have all these disasters that people are posting about.

[katarine]

[QUOTE=Auventera Two;4124275]
Apparently you do since you missed the sarcasm in my post.

The sarcasm was meant to point out that if one would cross the reins over the neck, they wouldn’t drop the rein and have to whistle to the horse to stop or risk it getting ripped off the bit or tripping the horse, etc. Ok, more smartarse than sarcasm I guess. But to me it just makes sense that if you cross the reins on the neck, you don’t have all these disasters that people are posting about.[/QUOTE]

if you don’t know sarcasm from smartarse, who is it that needs coffee this morning? Or was it a dictionary?

Or a thesaurus. There are more words out there more than disaster. Like mistake. Or, oopsy.

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

I used split reins on my last horse, and I really liked them, but Sasha gets really irritated by things hanging down around his body. Obviously, we’re working on this, and now he lets me hang stuff from the saddle like a water bottle and sponge, but we haven’t gotten as far as being ok with reins dangling yet.

As far as the jingling noise, I think he actually likes it - his bit jingles anyway, and he chews it alot. The noise was really annoying to me at first, but I just tune it out now.

Those of you who do use split reins, any issues with using a running martingale with them, or is it just like using it with normal english reins?

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

also, most of my friends who hack out are only occasional trail riders who use their regular tack, so this is a good safety solution for them…

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=BigHorseLittleHorse;4124469]

Those of you who do use split reins, any issues with using a running martingale with them, or is it just like using it with normal english reins?[/QUOTE]

there is NO problem using a running martingale with split reins. Just be sure to use rein keepers to keep the snaps or buckels from catching on the martingale.