Does anyone out there ride western?

[Horsely]

Hi,
This week I had my second western riding lesson and have two questions which never occured to me at the time:
The first is which hand do you hold the reins in when riding one handed?
The second is what is the correct command for rein back?
Just curious to know what other people have been taught!
Thanks.

 

[Tia]

It doesn't matter which hand you hold your reins in. I only have to slightly raise my wrist to have my horses rein back. Depends on how well trained the horse is as to what aids you need to use.

 

[Horsely]

Hi Tia,
Thanks for that. Can people use voice commands or leg aids also to rein back? I didn't use my legs but gave a voice command and pulled back on the reins slightly. Seemed to work!
Is it dependent on how the trainer has taught the command or is there a standard way of teaching it?

 

[Tia]

No there is generally a standard way of training it, however once the horse is fully competent at doing it, you rarely have to do more than a little raise of the wrist.

 

[rosie55]

hi, have ridden western for about 8 years now and have been taught to ride left handed so right hand is free. if your horse is trained for left hand riding then its best to do that. i haven't done rein back. do you mean as in a rollback for reining or back up? if its back up then you should just need to raise your hand slightly and weight back in the saddle and slight pressure with heels/spurs too.
hope this helps and you are enjoying your lessons.