Hey everyone! Those of you who run xc/jump/whatever with double reins, what type do you like? It has been about 10 years since I’ve ridden a horse XC with double reins, and I’m far more picky now than I was back then.
For the horse in question, I have fat very pimply rubber reins that I love for him. I find the plain leather reins ,or the ones that are material with the “stoppers” down the rein very uncomfortable, so I need some ideas what everyone else likes to go on the curb rein.
I use rubber reins for the snaffle and regular flat curb reins for the curb. I can’t hang on to much more than that. Maybe thin laced or braided reins?
I have a pair of braided reins that I use for a curb rein when I use two. I LOVE it, because they are thin but grippy and they have a distinctively different feel from the snaffle rein (narrow rubber reins). Laced reins are ok, but I don’t think they give the grip that the braided give, and I don’t like the honest to go flat curb rein.
I use rubber reins for the snaffle, and web/rubber reins with stops for the curb. They feel distinctly different, and I like having the stops so that my curb rein stays consistent. I needed the curb when my horse had a tendency to rip the snaffle reins through my hands, but then he’d hit the curb rein (which couldn’t slip, thanks to the hand stops) making for an effective discouragement of rooting at the gallop. I don’t find it difficult to purposefully slip my reins down a drop, however-- when I open my fingers, the stops slide through.
if anyone has any links to nice curb reins (flat or very thin) and MATCHING snaffle reins, can you provide? thanks.
I needed a little extra grip on the curb rein & found a pair of narrow rubber-lined reins that did the trick (I think maybe they are Collegiate?)
I like web with stops for the snaffle and plain leather for the curb.
I use rubber reins on the snaffle reins and thin braided leather ones on the curb. Like these:
I’m another one who likes the reins to feel very different from one another…especially on cross country where after I may have slipped them, I like to be able to gather and organize without looking.
I have rubber lined reins on my snaffle and plain leather on my curb.
My suggestion is to try different combinations and find what works for you as
everybody likes things a little different.
I like a laced or rubber top rein and a thin shoelace curb rein, anything more is too much to fit through my fingers, I guess it’s personal preference!
For hunting with a pelham I use a rubber rein on the snaffle and a plain rein on the curb. I want to be able to let it easily slip through my fingers while holding tight to the snaffle and only hold tight on the curb if I really need to. 95% of the time I don’t have much of any pressure on it at all. It’s more of a LISTEN NOW reminder when I need it.
Bartville Harness makes the Nunn Finer hunt tack and has beautiful matching laced, rubber and plain reins of high quality for cheap.
[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7370255]
I use rubber reins on the snaffle reins and thin braided leather ones on the curb. Like these:
I’m another one who likes the reins to feel very different from one another…especially on cross country where after I may have slipped them, I like to be able to gather and organize without looking.[/QUOTE]
Yep. If I slip or lose them, I’ll grab them in whatever jumble I can until the next long gallop. That’s when it’s nice to have vastly different reins!
Well, I am bad person and when I run XC in the Pelham, I use a converter and one rein because I have enough to do.
But I can use two reins and do in schooling for specific circumstances, in which case I am like the others – I like them to feel very different. Since I am poor, I just put my regular jumping bridle reins on the snaffle (my favourite reins, cotton web Stubben with stops, old, but amazing) and stole some lighter thinner cotton/rubber woven SmartPak reins off an older bridle. I don’t like solid rubber reins personally, they are too heavy and unwieldy for my hands. One set is brown and one set is black, ROFL. But hey, that helps me too and I like to horrify the fashion queens.
Thanks for the ideas everyone! I definitely have some ideas to try and see what does and doesn’t work for me.
He’s the kind of horse that I just need the snaffle rein on 95% of the time, it’s when he turns into an overly enthusiastic beast that I need something more to get focused on me!
I use a pair of laced reins for the snaffle rein and a thin, plain curb rein for the curb rein for formal days when foxhunting. My guy goes fine bitless/in a snaffle/whatever, but I like the traditional look of the Pelham on really formal days. Normal hunting days I use a laced rein on snaffle. I use the laced rein for hunting and only hunting because my horse gets too sweaty not to.
On my regular (not hunting) snaffle bridle, I use a plain, flat rein as my only rein on the snaffle.
I use rubber on the snaffle rein and web or laced on the curb. I have very long fingers so the thin leather curb reins get lost in my hands.
Lace for the normal rein and flat curb rein with those leather stoppers for the curb. Helps me distinguish which is which in a pinch.
I just googled… the flat leather rein with the stopper is called an ‘event rein’
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