Balance support reins

HorseMad91

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Has anyone used balance support reins for children before? I've been recommended them a few times just wondering if their worth the money?
 
I looked at them, then thought they were a lot of money. You can't compete in them so I didn't bother. For PC purposes I use a flash strap attached to the D rings then thread grass reins through that to the bit rings.
 
Has anyone used balance support reins for children before? I've been recommended them a few times just wondering if their worth the money?

As in the ones that attach to the d-rings? They're ok but if they're not the right length, you can end up with the rider tipping forwards. I have them for my RDA group and find they're more of a hindrance than a help for most of my riders.

You can get nylon ones in fun colours on ebay for around a fiver.
 
We add the original balance support reins for a naughty section A and they were an absolute game changer - he went from being an arse to being pretty good. We switched him out of them after about 6 months and he was still fine.

Would highly recommend them.

Would suggest not the half rubber ones as they’re not the easiest for little kids to hold as they’re chunky
 
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread.
I have a little loaner for my daughter's old 12.2 and she doesn't yet have an independent seat, her instructor has suggested balance reins to stop her using the pony's moth for balance, has anyone found them useful for this purpose?
 
I’m not sure they would be of benefit here, they work like normal reins so if a child is unbalanced she would still be using the ponies mouth to steady herself. I use a pair on our greedy Sec B, my little girl hasn’t the core strength yet to stop him snatching for grass but I also use a Pelham strap from d ring to d ring on her saddle and she grabs this in moments of need rather than socking him in the teeth. How about trying that? I absolutely love our balance support reins and they have given my girl the confidence to do more off of the lead rein but I don’t think they will help with a child learning an independent seat unless they are taught to grab a strap rather than snatch at the reins and then the elastic part of the reins will come into play and keep a relative contact whilst the child has washing line reins (does that make sense, I don’t think I’ve explained it very well?).
 
I bought a pair and wasn’t all that impressed, they weren’t very good quality, very stiff. We tried one ride in them, daughter preferred normal grass reins, so we went back to that.
You could play around with different ways to fix your grass reins, see what works. We find ‘over head/through bit rings/onto d rings’ the most effective for our pony but there are lots of diff ways. Some prefer onto noseband, others cross them in front of saddle....
 
2x rda groups got theirs from Mulryans back in 2019 one said the quality was variable and probably from various sources. I cant get contact with Mulryan in any form. Your local saddler can probably make you a set, there is a forum member saddler who comments on saddle/ bridles queries who may be able to make you some if he sees this thread.
 
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