Title: Mastering Rein Handling: Techniques to Enhance Rider Balance and Horse Communication
If a rider feels unbalanced, how do they steady themselves? In most cases, it’ll be an unconscious reaction involving their hands. Being aware not just of how we hold the reins, but exactly what we do with our hands is crucial. And it might be that a subtle change in our rein-handling technique could improve our understanding of contact.
“Humans do everything with their hands; they are always in front of us,” says grand prix dressage rider and British Equestrian P3 coach, Charlie Hutton. “Instinctively, we go to our hands to secure ourselves, but when we ride, we have to be more conscious.”
A balanced rider is at liberty, as Charlie says, “to ride from the hindquarters.” In other words, a balanced rider can deliver aids to their horse using different parts of their body independently to encourage him to travel forward into the rein from the hindquarters. This isn’t possible if the rider becomes over-reliant on the rein as an aid not just to their horse, but to help maintain their own balance too.
Using the rein for balance interferes with maintaining the ideal feeling of connection in the rein, or contact – and is unlikely to be comfortable for the horse. But horse to horse, it’s hard to pinpoint precisely what the optimum feeling in the rein should be.
“To put it simply, it should feel like you have enough connection to communicate with your horse, but be light enough that you don’t meet with resistance,” says Charlie. “A true contact is one where the horse is comfortable with and following the rein – harmony and self-carriage should always be the rider’s goal.”
While contact and balance issues are best tackled with your trainer, Charlie recommends trying different rein-handling techniques when you’re schooling alone. “Changing the way you hold the reins gives you a new perspective,” explains Charlie. “It might help raise awareness of an area of tension, for example, or highlight a way you could be using aids more effectively.”
You can use rein-handling exercises to test the quality of your contact, the security of your position, and the effectiveness of your other aids. “Think of them as tools and techniques at your disposal that will help you analyze the quality of your work,” he adds.
How to hold the reins in three simple exercises
Exercise 1: thumb and forefinger
Focus on: quality of contact
Hold the reins so the end attached to the bit comes out of the top of your hand between your thumb and forefinger. The loose loop in the rein should run down through your fist with all your fingers curled around it – don’t put it back through the gap between your ring finger and little finger.
How it helps: “My grandmother taught me this technique,” explains Charlie. “She told me it originated from the Cadre Noir, the French classical training centre.” According to Charlie, it’s something Carl Hester uses to help horses with lightness and self-carriage. William Fox-Pitt has also been seen using this rein position on some horses during the cross-country phase. “It also changes the muscles you’re using in your forearm, so it helps you to be more elastic and less restrictive through your elbow,” Charlie explains.
What to look out for: “When you’re not used to holding the rein like that, your arm will fatigue a little bit sooner than usual,” warns Charlie, “so watch out for getting tired and losing form.”
Exercise 2: half bridging the reins
Focus on: stability of your position, effectiveness of other aids
Bridging the reins means looping your left rein into your right hand and your right rein into your left hand, so each hand holds the rein twice. The reins will make a circle shape around your hand. This can be a useful technique when riding horses that tend to pull down at speed. Alternatively, instead of bridging both reins, bridge one side at a time. For example, bridge the left rein so your right hand is holding the right and left reins, and your left hand holds the left rein only. If you look down, your hands will be connected by the left rein.
How it helps: “Half bridging the reins gives you a bit more stability,” says Charlie. “You’ve added another point of contact to help you keep your hands stable and as a pair. Because your hands are paired together again, you must do more with your body,” he continues. It’s especially good for riders who are over-reliant on their rein aids while neglecting the rest of their body. “It makes you more aware of how to turn through your shoulders, for example, or the use of your outside aids,” he says.
What to look out for: This exercise might reveal areas to work on in your position, for example if you collapse through your body and don’t turn your shoulders. If using your body suddenly feels difficult, this might indicate a reliance on your rein aids. Bridging the reins can also emphasize the dominance of one hand over the other. Experiment with which hand forms the bridge and analyze the feeling. Finally, you might need to adjust your rein length and the carriage of your hands. “Many people ride with their reins too long, which this will highlight,” advises Charlie.
Exercise 3: one-handed lateral work
Focus on: effectiveness of other aids, quality of contact
Take the reins in your outside hand; the inside hand drops to your side. Begin with basic shapes such as 20m circles and changes of rein. Introduce simple lateral work, such as leg-yield from the ¾ line to the track or shoulder-fore/shoulder-in up the long side. Ensure you repeat on the opposite rein, switching hands so you’re always holding the reins in the outside hand.
How it helps: This is a good follow-up to the half bridge exercise, which has already established how to hold both reins in one hand. “Dropping your inside hand helps you open up your shoulders,” says Charlie, “and allows you to turn in the direction of the movement more, which is helpful. Restricting to one hand also makes you focus on how to guide your horse. Now that you can’t use the reins as freely to steer, how effective are your leg and body aids?”
What to look out for: “This exercise shines a spotlight on how good your contact is,” says Charlie. “It raises an awareness of what you need to do to maintain the connection now you’re restricted.” The quality of your lateral work might also be compromised, showing you where to make improvements. “For example, shoulder-in should be done from the inside leg to lift and engage the horse,” says Charlie. “Then, the outside rein secures him. When a rider does shoulder-in one-handed, you often see horses fall to a meter to the inside, which shows they have been using the inside rein to balance.”
