ANSWER:
That's quite true, flapping reins ARE harsh reins.
She is probably right . The trick is not so much to *take* the
contact but rather to induce the horse with your calf aids to *seek* the
contact. Then it becomes a matter of being within reach with your hand, so
that the horse is able to establish the contact. If your hands are too far
away, because the reins are too long, the horse will stop looking for the
contact pretty soon.
Teaching a correct rein contact is one of the big difficulties we encounter.
One of the reasons is that every student initially thinks that rein contact
is an issue between the rider's hand and the horse's mouth. As long as the
student comes from this perspective, he will be unable to establish a good
contact. In reality, the issue is much wider than that. The contact
encompasses the entire horse and the entire rider. The horse's flanks have
to make contact with the rider's calves. The horse's back has to seek
contact with the rider's seat. The horse's entire spinal column has to
stretch into the bit that the rider's hand presents. And, not to sound too
corny, the horse's mind has to seek the contact with the rider's mind.
In each hand you should feel the horse's hind leg of the same side. When you
get on your horse, begin by adjusting your seat. When your legs are in the
correct position, your pelvis is correctly aligned, and your shoulders are
resting on top of your seat bones, activate the hind leg with your calf and
adjust the rein length so that you can feel the hind leg, without the rein
alternating between slack and tight. In other words, you send the entire
horse towards the bit and your hands, rather than the other way around. From
there, you approach the optimal rein contact by iterative adjustments. You
receive what the horse puts into your hand, and you release it, sending it
back to the hind leg via the circle of aids. The lightness and elasticity of
the rider's hand is the result of the balance and elasticity of the entire
body. Crucial factors are supple hips and a strong midsection. Stiff hips
almost always result in an unelastic rein contact.
It may help to think of your hands as extensions of your seat bones, because
this draws attention to the suppleness of your hips. If your seat bones can
stay in touch with the horse's hind legs at all times, following the
movement of the horse's back, your hands will have no trouble following the
horse's mouth. If you have problems establishing a good rein contact, look
at the contact of your seat bones with the horse's back. If that is
intermittent or jarring, it will be mirrorred by the rein contact. In that
case, work on the suppleness of your hips and your lumbar back. When this
improves, you will feel that you can receive and absorb the entire horse
with your midsection. At this point, your hands will feel as if they had
become a part of the midsection as well. Anything you do with your
midsection will be supported and amplified by your hand. Conversely, any
rein aid you give will be backed up by your body weight. That way, you can
say that rein aids are converted into weight aids, leading to an increased
weighting of the leg they are targeting.
The issue of lightness is often misunderstood. Lightness is really a synonym
for self carriage, and self carriage is a synonym for balance. A horse who
has not achieved self carriage cannot be light. Therefore, it may very well
be that your rein contact will initially be heavier than you would like it
to be. This will change as soon as the hind legs start flexing underneath
the combined weight of horse and rider. In other words, a heavy contact is
not necessarily an indication of incorrect equitation. It may merely be an
indication that the horse is not yet using his body correctly and
efficiently.
I know we sometimes sound as if we did not use any rein aids at all. This is
a "politically correct" hyper correction, because so many riders use only
the reins and no seat and legs. Hence we tend to focus entirely on seat and
legs, which can then create a certain "rein phobia". The reality is that in
order to train a horse, you need rein aids. They have their specific, well
defined role within the "orchestra of the aids". The difficulty lies in
learning to understand the exact nature and extent of this role and
eventually to master its practical application. This is a general dilemma in
riding. Finding the right Balance. Extremes are rarely right. The truth
usually lies in the middle. If you don't use any rein aids at all, you will
just as surely go nowhere fast as if you were overusing the reins.
- Thomas Ritter
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Last Update: January 13, 2007