western reins anyone?

[Robyn]

Former English rider with a new Western horse and i’m embracing his “western-ness” with all new tack (OK, used Tucker saddle). I’m pretty much covered but would like advice on reins…what is the difference between barrel racing reins, reining reins, and regular old split reins? And do you tie a knot in the split reins? I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that one! I don’t think I want cotton rope reins, but I could be convinced. I’ll just be trail riding this very pleasant horse but still like nice stuff. So what’s your favorite and why?

Thanks!

[Foxglove]

You have a TUCKER!! (immediate saddle envy here). Anyway, to reins, depends on what you want to do --actually, I have all that you’ve mentioned and use them for different activities.

Go-to reins for training --heavy cotton rope reins --probably use them more than any others because in the summer I’m usually training W for something or other. Mine have “John Lyons” on the slobber strap, so must be something he sells --bought them used at a tack swap because I liked the feel. They are not separate.

Reining (as in showing --I only train in a snaffle, show in a curb)–long split reins, single flat leather, not tied together. Otherwise, I’m using the rope reins.

Speed/action (I don’t do it, but my grand daughter does) we use a single rein that fastens with a clip to one side of the bit and with a buckle to the other side. We do that because she’s a teenager and it’s what all the other kids use.

Favorite reins of all time (but wore them out) were round leather braided reins. Felt good in my hands. I guess I could buy another pair, but since I really don’t ride off my place much, I’ll stick with what I have.

[Dani]

I use long splits for everything. 1/4 inch flat (round if I happen across them) leather with weighted ends. I love 'em for trail, for training, or for team penning/playdays. They aren’t ideal for speed events, but I make it work. I never tie mine, I prefer being able to adjust them all the time. Foxglove gave you a pretty good list of different uses, but personally, I pick one I like and make it work where I need to.

[NoSuchPerson]

If all you’re going to be doing is trail riding and you’re used to English reins, you’ll probably be most comfortable using the one-piece trail or barrel reins. They come in leather or rope, use whichever feels best in your hands.

The problem I have with those is that they all seem to have one or both ends connect to the bit with scissor snaps and they just give me the willies because I’m convinced that the snaps are going to pop open and come loose from the bit. Yes, I know that’s irrational, but there you are.

I have some rope reins with slobber straps like Foxglove described, also bought used, but instead of John Lyons, they have the Clinton Anderson logo on them. But I turn the logo to the inside so no one can see. :lol: I really like the feel of the rope in my hands.

However, the most conventional choice is split. Look for ones made from nice heavy harness leather. I have one set with tie ends, which, again, leave me with a little bit of (again, irrational, I know) fear of them coming untied.

So, when I recently needed another set of reins for my other equine, I spotted these:

https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/rockin-sp-split-reins-buckle-end-11833

Hallelujah! Western split reins with buckle ends! I have them, but haven’t yet used them so I can’t comment on how they feel in use, but I’m pleased with the quality and feel of the reins.

As far as the knot in the end goes, heck, if you’re out on the trail, who cares? Tie 'em up if you want. But no, the cool kids don’t and you wouldn’t do it for lessons, serious training, or showing.

[Leather]

When trail riding I’m always paranoid about dropping a rein, so I ride in loop style reins (barrel/roping).

Barrel reins are usually 7 ft and roping 8 ft, which I find too short to be comfortable on the trail. (My horses have long necks and carry their heads low, so I need a longer rein so my hand isn’t stretched way out in front of me.)

I have these reins with a rolled hand-hold portion, they adjust from 8 to 10 ft: http://www.buckarooleather.com/shop/large-horse,-mule-draft-horse/lined-trail-roping-rein-lr2887r-detail

[saddleup]

I LOVE my coconut oil split reins from Huber’s Custom Tack in Louisville, KY. They don’t seem to have a website, but I just googled them and ordered them over the phone. They are a great weight, and feel so good in my hand. And no, I don’t tie them. I always ride with a split rein, but that’s what I’m used to. I don’t like a round rein…as Leather said, they’re too short and I can’t give my horses enough rein to let them really relax and move out, not to mention when we stop to get a drink in a river or for a break to munch some grass.

[Tee]

I use split reins for everything. Love the weighted end reins, and the reins that have a little substance to them. My favorite I found a few years ago are Weaver reins, 5/8", weighted ends, that felt like butter right off the shelf. The only problem with them is that they’re 8 foot, and my 15 hh, short necked Morgan ends up kicking them a lot. LOL I use them on my taller Morgan and they are fine.

For trail riding, I just cross the reins like I’d do if I was going to ride in a snaffle. They are heavy enough that they won’t slide off.

[Robyn]

Well gee, thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I’m thinking of ordering the reins that NoSuch mentioned because 1. they come from SP, and 2. they have brass buckles which will match my (used!) TUCKER saddle Oh, and they’re weighted which was mentioned as a positive! And I promise not to knot them…

[Simbalism]

I do a lot of trail riding, and my favorite reins are flat rope reins. I got mine from Sunset Halter. They really don’t have the material for the flat ones, but when I contacted them they were able to use the round rope material and remove the center. They are so comfortable and hold up really well. My first pair are about 10 years old. They just got put on a bridle for my younger horse and the new set, went on my main riding horse’s bridle.

[Luseride]

For trail riding I like to use a roping rein, single rein, similar to an English rein except one end has a snap that connects to the bit. I like leather better but a lot of people use a rope rein.

[jdobbs64]

for trail riding, no matter the saddle, I use english reins, either braided or webbed. Just so easy to fool with…and I don’t care that I’m in a western saddle with english reins. It’s a trail ride

[Tee]

Just to share, my friend bought a pair of the Rockin SP reins, and I didn’t much care for the feel of them. I am super fussy tho.

[meaty_ogre]

I have a pair of billy royal romel reins that I love! I’m a primarily English rider but I have a western horse so I like to look the part sometimes. Unfortunately I suffer from a lack of coordination, and I have dropped a split rein more than once. :eek: For some reason, I also often end up with a split rein with more slack than the other side. Plus, with split reins I feel like Will Ferrell in the Ricky Bobby movie…I don’t know what to do with my other hand :lol: The romel rein gives me something to hold with each hand, keeps both sides even, and I don’t have to worry about dropping one if I stop to adjust something.

I think my reins are 20oz. I definitely like a heavier rein for neck reining/riding with slack.

[goodhors]

I use split reins. I want long ones because they stay in place crossed over the horse neck, yet still allow me to give rein so horse can lower head, and not be holding rein ends. My reins fit the size horse being used, wiith rein ends hitting horse knee just crossed over horse withers. On my little horse those are 7ft, while the big horse with long neck takes 8ft reins.

I usually ride 2-handed, which keeps me equally balanced thru shoulders and body on long rides. 2-handed prevents many bad riding position habits from developing, like leading with one shoulder or shoulder and hip as you ride along with twisted body. That is hard on you and horse with uneven weight distribution in the saddle.

If you should drop a rein, STOP the horse. Swing down, get the dropped rein, put it back up and remount. This is the SAFE way to fix things. Seen too many “accidents” happen when rider is lazy, leans forward to grab dropped rein. Horse steps on rein, rears in surprise, maybe gets poked by boot in the flanks to jump forward, riders slide, slip or are thrown off by surprised horse.

The ONE TIME I did not use split reins was with my small son, figuring he would drop them. We crossed the river, came to a sandy spot where his horse laid down to roll! He stepped off pulling the rein, so she JUMPED UP ripping the rein out of his hand. She proceeded to run all over, down the trail a long way. I thought we were going to lose her in the National Forest! She didn’t seem to care about leaving the other horse, son couldn’t catch her. No split rein to fall and step on to halt her antics. I really kicked myself for using the one rein on her. We did eventually snag her, got things back on track in the fun dept. It was a weekend of learning experiences for me and son. Sure glad to NOT tell husband we lost his new horse! Never been trail riding with one-piece reins since.

I don’t care for weighted reins. Weight adds swing as horse walks and trots on a loose rein. I think movement is irritating on the mouth, he learns to ignore the swing so horse “does not hear you” when reins get lifted, shifted, in signaling him.

I like reins that fit my fingers, not an inch wide or so narrow thay can cut into your hands when pulled. I usually use leather reins, but have some narrow braided cord reins that are nice in wet weather for good grip. They have poppers on the end to keep them hanging down well while riding , plus can be washed in the machine! Small son used them on trail rides after that first one, fit his small hands well. He never did drop a rein, though we had practiced the safe way of stopping, getting off to retrieved a dropped rein .

I have the tie-on reins, but use Para cord instead of a leather string. Stronger, very visible if it starts to work out of my knot system. String is longer to allow more knotting. The reins with a metal loop and leather strip lock on rein outside are easy to put on or off, neat appearance, don’t come untied.

[NoSuchPerson]

[QUOTE=goodhors;8813432]
The reins with a metal loop and leather strip lock on rein outside are easy to put on or off, neat appearance, don’t come untied.[/QUOTE]

I’ve seen those on reins and on bridles and always wondered if they stayed fastened.

[Dani]

[QUOTE=goodhors;8813432]

I have the tie-on reins, but use Para cord instead of a leather string. Stronger, very visible if it starts to work out of my knot system. String is longer to allow more knotting. The reins with a metal loop and leather strip lock on rein outside are easy to put on or off, neat appearance, don’t come untied.[/QUOTE]

I have the water tie ends (leather loop around the end of the leather rein) and the leather strings are meant to be able to break under pressure. It prevents you from having to replace the more expensive parts of the rein itself or causing extreme damage to your horses’ mouths due to an enormous amount of pressure in their mouth. Using para-cord will prevent that from working. If they’re the single loop end (the end of the rein bends around the bit and there are only 2 layers to tie through) then the leather string is more to prevent injury than anything else.

[goodhors]

Sorry, had the leather strings fail in use, broke under almost no pull. Certainly not the force of horse stepping on rein. Some were brand new reins with thin or bad leather strings. I HATE being on a horse and broken reins! Have seen folks break leather strings trying to keep control of unruly horse, which really made things go badly for person and horse!

I am in the camp that wants NOTHING to break at any time. It has always gone best when you can depend on equipment taking stress and NOT breaking. Exactly when is a good time for rein to break or girth strap to let go? I don’t ride in an Arena much of the time. A horse wreck with equipment failure means probably no one will find me for awhile. I might be fine, but maybe not. Situation is avoided with Para cord rein ties. I have to disagree that rein loops were “made to break easily using leather string.”

Cowboys did those rein loops, slobber straps, leathers strings, to make them easily REPLACED when worn out, instead of needing to buy a whole new pair of reins. Cowboy culture is full of fix up, make do with what you have on hand, because money for new stuff was hard to find. Next would be the fact that nearest tack store was miles or days away, so not easy to get there for replacement parts. People would ‘cobble-up’ items needed in daily riding needs. They were recyclers of old tack and harness, not much wasted.

A horse acting badly is not going to have his mouth considered if rider might get thrown when rein broke. Rider will be pulling head up as hard as they can, to heck with horse mouth! Horse ground tied who moves to step on rein, gets jerked, PROBABLY won’t step on rein again. He will stand still as trained to do. Life was hard then, you SURE didn’t want tack breaking for any reason, it could injure or kill you. Still can when it breaks unexpectedly.

I won’t knowingly use breakable tack. This would include the snap end on any kind of reins. Springs break, cast parts of snaps are not up to hard pulling, they do break off. Those scissors snaps do come open. Most Barrel folks use heavy rubberbands so it is work to open scissor snaps. No snaps on rein ends is huge in Competitive Driving. Reins almost always are buckle on for strength AND you look, feel those billet ends to notice wear when you put reins on bit during harnessing. You will hopefully replace them before billets get dangerously worn enough to break when stressed.

[beau159]

Use the reins that are comfortable for you.

Over 90% of my riding I do with split reins. Personally, I like the heavy harness leather reins, usually 7 or 8 feet in length. Usually the harness leather comes with leather ties to attach them to the bridle. I use scissor snaps on all my reins b/c then I can easily change bits/bridles when I need to. (I ride various events and use different bits.)

Most of my riding is on the trail as that is primarily how I keep my horses conditioned. I choose to use split reins on the trail because if I were to fall off, I most likely can still keep a hand on one rein (whereas you could not do that if you used a single barrel or roping rein). The split reins also double as a “whip” if the need should arise.

I do also barrel race, and so I use a barrel racing rein for that. My favorite is the braided nylon reins with knots.

I also dabble in some hunter classes, and of course, use the according English bridle with English reins.

I also do some reining, for which you use split reins.

[Dani]

[QUOTE=goodhors;8814014]
Sorry, had the leather strings fail in use, broke under almost no pull. Certainly not the force of horse stepping on rein. Some were brand new reins with thin or bad leather strings. I HATE being on a horse and broken reins! Have seen folks break leather strings trying to keep control of unruly horse, which really made things go badly for person and horse!

I am in the camp that wants NOTHING to break at any time. It has always gone best when you can depend on equipment taking stress and NOT breaking. Exactly when is a good time for rein to break or girth strap to let go? I don’t ride in an Arena much of the time. A horse wreck with equipment failure means probably no one will find me for awhile. I might be fine, but maybe not. Situation is avoided with Para cord rein ties. I have to disagree that rein loops were “made to break easily using leather string.”

Cowboys did those rein loops, slobber straps, leathers strings, to make them easily REPLACED when worn out, instead of needing to buy a whole new pair of reins. Cowboy culture is full of fix up, make do with what you have on hand, because money for new stuff was hard to find. Next would be the fact that nearest tack store was miles or days away, so not easy to get there for replacement parts. People would ‘cobble-up’ items needed in daily riding needs. They were recyclers of old tack and harness, not much wasted.

A horse acting badly is not going to have his mouth considered if rider might get thrown when rein broke. Rider will be pulling head up as hard as they can, to heck with horse mouth! Horse ground tied who moves to step on rein, gets jerked, PROBABLY won’t step on rein again. He will stand still as trained to do. Life was hard then, you SURE didn’t want tack breaking for any reason, it could injure or kill you. Still can when it breaks unexpectedly.

I won’t knowingly use breakable tack. This would include the snap end on any kind of reins. Springs break, cast parts of snaps are not up to hard pulling, they do break off. Those scissors snaps do come open. Most Barrel folks use heavy rubberbands so it is work to open scissor snaps. No snaps on rein ends is huge in Competitive Driving. Reins almost always are buckle on for strength AND you look, feel those billet ends to notice wear when you put reins on bit during harnessing. You will hopefully replace them before billets get dangerously worn enough to break when stressed.[/QUOTE]

I understand the points you’ve made, and with an experience like that, the reason you use the Para-Cord. I have never had an issue with the ties breaking while I’m working with green or unruly horses, but I keep mine will oiled so they won’t rot and check them for stress points before each ride. Most of the people I’ve worked with do the same, and have also not have theirs break without a serious amount of pressure put on them. Either way, I’m not trying to argue with you, just pointing out that the leather ties do serve a purpose.

[Draftmare]

I really like my Weaver mecate rope reins. I use them to show and always get compliments on them. For schooling I use the weaver nylon split reins and tie a not in them, then use them like English reins. I can’t seem to manage doing split reins ‘western style.’ I alway seem to drop one, not have them even, or if they are leather my hands start to cramp.