ANSWER:
You have a beautiful horse. I hope you keep him a stallion. The picture was taken at liberty.
However, when the longe line dictates to the horse where to go, this usually affects his balance and way of moving, i.e. he may raise his neck and drop his back a little. He seems naturally very nicely balanced, so that if you longe him without side reins, you probably won't do any serious damage. On the other hand, I think you can improve his balance and help him use his back even more when you use the side reins. He probably needs them on a relatively long setting, so they don't make him coil up behind the bit.
You can also experiment with the double longe line (which is always used without side reins). If you want to long rein him, I would do that without side reins as well, because they tend to snub off the impulsion, since the horse moves more slowly and with more collection at the long rein than at the longe line.
I find it best to try out different methods of working a horse and sticking with the one that he responds to best. Training horses is an educated experiment. The horses change all the time, and what works perfectly today may have outlived its usefulness tomorrow. The best advice I can give you is to try out the different methods and compare their results. Then continue with the one that yields the best results.
- Thomas Ritter
REPLY:
Thanks so much for your reply. The input is really helpful. Around here it's very difficult to find a classical instructor, so I need to check things out periodically so I don't screw my guy up.
Again, Thanks so very much,
- Linda
Question & Answer Forum
Last Update: January 13, 2007