Does anyone long rein their horses/ponies regularly?

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Stenners

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I am new to long reining (only ever did it once as a teenager) and now I do it regularly with my boy and absolutely love it! Does anyone do this? If so where do you generally long rein? Any pics would be great to see! Do you use rollers or saddle?
 
Yes, I used to work many of my horses on the long rein, or more properly the short hand rein. But I didn't do it like most people in this part of the world do, I trained in the Royal School in Jerez, Spain, and in both France and Germany to do high school work in hand. IMO long reining is something that should be taught by very experienced people, and not attempted unless you know what you're doing.
 
Cortez said:
Yes, I used to work many of my horses on the long rein, or more properly the short hand rein. But I didn't do it like most people in this part of the world do, I trained in the Royal School in Jerez, Spain, and in both France and Germany to do high school work in hand. IMO long reining is something that should be taught by very experienced people, and not attempted unless you know what you're doing.
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I was taught by an instructor that has been doing it for many years and came out with me the first few times.
 
I do it in ‘driving’ style (ie. Walking behind) during the backing process to get the young ones walking out in front independently and learning voice commands.

I’m not skilled enough on the long lines to do much more than that !!
 
Oh, and I start off on a training headcollar, not from the bit until they are really good at it…and I use a saddle, stirrups down with a strap underneath girth to keep them in place, and then long lines through the stirrups.
I start in the school, and then I’ll go round the village (with a helper to start) when it’s quiet.
 
Long reining and work in hand can be a very useful training area and an end all in itself, and a lot more than just plough-reining for steering which is how it is routinely practised, unfortunately.
 
Yes, I just do the ‘plough reining’ for steering (good description, that’s exactly what it is!) don’t know enough to do the high school stuff, sadly, and wouldn’t want to mess it up. I’d need a really good trainer and a school master to learn it, we don’t have many of them around these parts.

It’s a shame really as I think it would really benefit a lot of horses to be trained this way, must make it a lot easier for them to carry a rider and understand what is being asked of them.
 
I used to love long reining. I did take two of our horses all over the place, round the farm and fields.
Current horses are too much like hard work. One continuously tries to run off and the other is the polar opposite and barely moves..
 
I long rein regularly and have done for about 20 years. Someone taught me very well back then when I had a tricky youngster, and it’s a skill I’ve really honed over the years. I’ve seen people make a real mess of it though and horses have either ended up loose or very confused, so it’s definitely something you should only do if you are competent with handling two lines.
 
I do :) I take my retired Welsh out ‘hacking’ on the long reins all over the spot. He has arthritis in his fetlock and I wouldn’t feel comfy adding extra weight, but he really likes being kept busy and always loved hacking, so it’s a great compromise.

We do transitions, work on suppleness, lots of hill work, I even take him to XC to play on the steps and in the water - it’s great to help manage his weight and we have a have a great time! IMG_3473.jpeg
 
Spirit7 said:
Can you give us any tips that might improve our ploughing please?
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Proper training for the long (or short) rein is an art in itself and a bit beyond the scope of "tips" I'm afraid. Best advice is to find a place that offers courses, I don't know of any in the UK. I usually go to Portugal.
 
Stenners said:
I am new to long reining (only ever did it once as a teenager) and now I do it regularly with my boy and absolutely love it! Does anyone do this? If so where do you generally long rein? Any pics would be great to see! Do you use rollers or saddle?
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We do for our horse who has kissing spine it’s so good for them
 
Cortez said:
Proper training for the long (or short) rein is an art in itself and a bit beyond the scope of "tips" I'm afraid. Best advice is to find a place that offers courses, I don't know of any in the UK. I usually go to Portugal.
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I think going to Portugal is probably a bit ambitious for me! I hope my home backed just turned 4 year old is not suffering too much from my lack of skills😳
 
I like doing long-reining in the fields when they are dry enough. I do a combination of circling, leg yeilding and straight lines, We work up and down the hillls, across the hills, and circles on the slopes. We don't really have much in the way of flat bits, unless I can use next-doors silage fields. Transitions between and within paces. I sometimes use a belly catcher and/or a bum catcher if I think the horse needs it.

I just wish the blooming fields would dry up enough!
 
Cragrat said:
I like doing long-reining in the fields when they are dry enough. I do a combination of circling, leg yeilding and straight lines, We work up and down the hillls, across the hills, and circles on the slopes. We don't really have much in the way of flat bits, unless I can use next-doors silage fields. Transitions between and within paces. I sometimes use a belly catcher and/or a bum catcher if I think the horse needs it.

I just wish the blooming fields would dry up enough!
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I have been debating to take my boy through fields! currently been out the lanes and tracks.
 
P.forpony said:
I long reined Cousin It to the pub on Sunday.
But it's basic 'ground driving' because he's a 7hh mini shetland colt and when I'm behind him he can't bite the backs of my knees....
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I feel you.....I once was tasked with working a miniature horse in long reins "to Grand Prix level". He was a miserable little git and could kick you from any angle. I worked him for about a year, (needless to say NOT to Grand Prix, but he did do bits of it fairly well), and have had an abiding hatred for the little b*stards ever since.
 
Well you can't fault them for ambition! 🤣

I can't abide the stereotype of rotten little sods that is usually so true!
So mine has manners or death!
He's been going out and about since I got him as a yearling a year ago and honestly is quite sweet for the most part. But he is still a colt with the occasional lapse of self control.
 
P.forpony said:
Well you can't fault them for ambition! 🤣
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I have seen a few minis doing GP moves on long reins, and Alta Escuela (airs above the ground) too. Indiana Jones (or Little Sh*t, as we called him), could, on a good day, do one and two time changes, piaffe, passage and half pass, but his main talent was Being Evil. He was a stallion too, and TBH had a fairly miserable existence. Being owned by a very rich lady as basically a toy is not a life I'd wish on any animal.
 
Cortez said:
I have seen a few minis doing GP moves on long reins, and Alta Escuela (airs above the ground) too. Indiana Jones (or Little Sh*t, as we called him), could, on a good day, do one and two time changes, piaffe, passage and half pass, but his main talent was Being Evil. He was a stallion too, and TBH had a fairly miserable existence. Being owned by a very rich lady as basically a toy is not a life I'd wish on any animal.
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Well I suppose the positive is at least you engaged his brain!

Mine is basically a toy too, but I do try pretty hard to make sure he's a happy one.
And sadly I'm not a very rich lady either! 🤣

We also have a deal that if he behaves himself and shows well he can keep his nuggets. If either one of those conditions aren't met then...✂️✂️✂️
 
I ground drive all mine as part of the backing process, and they get driven occasionally too. However the real bonus is being able to shout an instruction at a pony whose ineffective child rider hasn't been able to properly communicate a transaction, and make life easier for both of them.
 
I ground drive for bringing back into work and/or starting to build strength without my weight (or if I feel that he may not feel quite right on that day but should still be moving/doing work, then will long rein instead). More than anything, I focus on forward movement and have been doing 5-6KM "walks" either around the yard or onto the Downs and, can get him sweating at times. There's only been two times the jerk has taken off - once we were coming out of the forest on property and he got a little too excited being almost back 'home' and literally bounded down quite a steep hill and the second time was a super windy day on the Downs where he spooked at a random pile of sticks and there was no convincing him they weren't horse-eating (this was after telling him what a fab boy he was for not throwing a fit when I turned him away from following a few other horses and didn't put a single foot wrong anytime else....up until that point). I have to say that second time he took off was one h*ll of a long walk/run back with me cursing his name and the dog walkers pointing me in the direction that he had run off to. Yesterday I think I spotted some sweat forming despite having gone back into winter weather!
 
OrangeAndLemon said:
Mine loves long reining. The cross country training field is just a toy shop of stuff to do with ups, downs, steps, ditches and the water.
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This sounds good fun! We have a valley field where everyone goes for a blast and I'll be terrified when I first take him through there and was tempted to long rein him through there but a couple at the yard advised me otherwise! They said I'd be better off riding him.
 
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