Draw rein advice

Queenbee

Queenbee

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have started riding in draw reins but was looking for advice on how long to ride in them for. Whether to hack in them or just use them in the school etc...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, i dont want to get this wrong.
 
Dont agree with people riding in draw reins for th horses just to work in an outline as this can easily be done using the legs...

I only agree with them if it would benefit the rider in there postion and using there legs more....

Which purpose are you using them for??? xx
 
Hate draw reins sorry no help i know but they don't teach the horse to work properly just to hold its head where it looks as though it is working!!
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sorry for rant
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Draw reins are ok when used for a purpose. Therefore I would never use them hacking unless the horse was attempting to kill me.

Used in short sessions when schooling, they do have their place. Do not put them on and then school for an hour if your horse is not used to working in an outline. Be as sympathetic with them as you would with sit ups with your own muscles.
 
Hate to say it honey but if you have to ask that question maybe you shouldn't be using them. I have a novice rider friend who has just got her first horse and I nearly bust a gut when she said her instructor recommended she use draw reins just because her horse wasn't immediately responding to the request for an outline. Please don't use them, they're not necessary, they're just a short cut and you try to develop the right muscles in your body with a straight jacket on.
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please please please stop using them. honestly. they are a horrible gadget, only for use in very experienced hands to correct a particular evasion, in the short term. you will easily do a lot of damage with them if you are not very experienced and very careful. they are a pure pulley system, give the rider enormous power/strength over the horse, and are inescapable for the horse. i can usually tell within a minute of getting on a strange horse whether it has been ridden in draw reins, it gives a 'dead' feel to the mouth and contact unless they have been used expertly and judiciously.
i liken them to your granny saying "i can't touch my toes any more" and you saying "put this gadget on, right, now i'll pull... look, you can touch your toes again!"
my dressage trainer calls them "the razor in the monkey's fist".
they are proven to cause damage to the vertebrae at the top of the neck, a few inches behind the ears.
please bin them, i beg of you, and find an instructor who will patiently show you and your horse how to work in a correct outline.
 
Dont use them. Unless you have very good hands and are experienced, but then in that case you wouldnt use them to begin with.
 
I agree with others above, it's better to work hard to get your horse to work properly than to force them to work in a false outline. My instructor HATES all gadgets and only VERY occastionaly will suggest side reins if it is being evaded, Pickle is really hard to get to work correctly as he doesn't go off the leg easily but without any training devices have managed to start getting somewhere. I would ditch the side reins and find a good dressage instructor.
 
Yep, there a short cut stroke quick fix to a false unatural unbalanced outline! and will only lead to further problems.

Not knocking them but only should be in the hands of an experianced rider using them as a last resort.

Why do you think your horse needs them, hve you explored other avenues?
Instructor/advanced riding lessons for yourself?
Lunging using a de-gogue/Pesoa for strengthening the back?
Time and Patience and lots of schooling?
 
oops sorry guys,
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i have to say i was feeling a little mischievious the other night and thought i'd post that to see what responses i got knowing what a hornets nest draw reins can be.
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Rest assured that i do know how to use them, and i am experienced. I neither misuse or overuse them In fact i haven't used them on my mare for about 18 months.

Sorry for the wind up.
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P.S. Kerilli,

i seriously doubt that if you got on a horse that had been worked properly, sympathetically, lightly and occasionally in draw reins that you would be able to tell if they have been ridden in draw reins in the past. the two greys in the pics have never been ridden, but the bay i'm jumping and my current mare have as you stated been ridden in them as above to deal with a particular evasion, evasion dealt with the draw reins went into storage. But you would never know that they had been ridden in them, they were not 'dead in the mouth' at all as a result of this useage.
 
What was the point of that queenbee. Somewhat rude to post that question and then have the nerve to criticise someone who expresses their view and question their ability to tell when a horse has had short cut gadgets used on it. Seriously, get a life, you've made yourself look an arse
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[ QUOTE ]

i seriously doubt that if you got on a horse that had been worked properly, sympathetically, lightly and occasionally in draw reins that you would be able to tell if they have been ridden in draw reins in the past.

[/ QUOTE ]

Possibly true - but MOST horses who have been ridden in draw reins scream that message at you the minute you pick up the reins! Riders who are capable of using draw reins sympathetically and correctly, rarely need to resort to them!
 
i actually agree with a hell of a lot of the points of view on here moody mare. I did not criticise, i just think that it's a bit of a contradiction to say that in the correct hands they are useful for correcting certain evasions and then say that they will allways cause the horse to be dead and unresponsive in the wrong hands. I am not saying that every horse that has had draw reins used on them would go undetected, meerly that when used as i described as a SUBTLE and SUPPORTIVE aid in the correct experienced hands they can be useful and not cause damage to a horses mouth. surely most schooling aids that we use: spurs, crop, whips etc... can be seen as a short cut aid in that they get the horse to do something with less work for the rider. Any aid or piece of tack in the wrong hands can cause serious harm. And yes i do respect everybodys point of view on here. I respect your point of view too, and i agree with you that it was a childish thing to do and i have said sorry, to clarify i am sorry if someone has taken offense it was not meant. I just had my devils horns on, once again i apologise for the error in judgement.
 
You know I've got to say that I find some of the goings on on this forum quite bizarre.

Do some of you guys have nothing better to do than provoke a fight? (I refer not just to this post but to many, many others). Its no wonder I'm regularly reading posts on here about fights on yards, people moving yard, yard freaks etc. If this is the way you behave, its no wonder that you can't get along in harmony.

Moderators: by all means kick me off if you think I'm speaking out of turn but, to be quite honest, if this is the way people are supposed to conduct themselves, then I'd be pleased to be out of it.

I joined this forum to contribute, and to receive, advice among like-minded, horse-loving individuals. But, quite frankly, some of you are plain scary!!!

Stop being childish - you know who you are - and start to have some respect for yourself and for others!!
 
But i would think that if a post is started and there are a string of replies with generaly 2 trains of thought then it would be more of a debate (with fairly strong views). Not a fight. We are after all adults entitled to varying views and opinions, that we are all entitled to air.

I never fight with people at yards, don't bitch with others or about them. Just once i think 'i'll do this' I actually am always interested on reading both view points and contributing views.

Honestly if i thought it would cause such a problem and upset so many i would have never posted in the first place. As i said it was a childish and devilish moment for which i apologise.
 
Debate? You asked for advice!! Which a bunch of concerned and knowledgeable individuals tried to give to you. And you promptly kicked them all in the teeth.....
 
oh i give up.

I have upset some people and have sincerely apologised three times. I have also expressed that i do agree with many of their views but have reserved the right to 'not agree'and 'question some of them.

It does not look to me like i am the one wanting to fight MissTipps. I can assure you that i do not and will not.
 
Well fortunately I have expressed no such views and would assert that, indeed, you would never have submitted such a post if you had no wish to cause controversy. I don't actually know what your 'point' was, but I think MoodyMare96 hits it on the head!!!

Do have a pleasant evening
 
contraversy can be a good thing, contraversial views should never be overlooked. But it was not my intention to P!ss people off.

My evening is most pleasant thank you, as i hope is yours.

I do apologise (for the fourth and final time to you and anyone else that has been upset by my post)

There are obviously those of us in this world who are whiter than white and have never had a momentary lapse in judgement.
 
oh dear, i would have thought i could spot a troll by now. *sighs*
queenbee, if you actually bothered to read my original answer, i said
"i can usually tell within a minute of getting on a strange horse whether it has been ridden in draw reins, it gives a 'dead' feel to the mouth and contact unless they have been used expertly and judiciously."
you chose to ignore the last part of that sentence, for some reason known only to yourself. i know that not everyone who uses them abuses them, but many do. i was just trying to stop you from doing the same, presumably unwittingly, given the clueless-but-well-meaning tone of your original wind-up post.
as i have stated on here before, and this is the absolute truth, i knew a riding club rider years ago who was shown how to use them in a lesson with some trusting fool, and then proceeded to take her true reins off the bridle and hack out using just the draw reins. words should fail us all at this point. poor horse.
trust me, people really can be that stupid.
now, i suggest you go elsewhere if you want to wind people up and p*** people off. thanks.
 
For what it's worth, it's a strange way to try and open a debate... it looks a lot like a genuine question which has now been made to look like a "debate" as a way of trying to save face?

That's just my humble opinion of course.
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[ QUOTE ]

queenbee, if you actually bothered to read my original answer, i said
"i can usually tell within a minute of getting on a strange horse whether it has been ridden in draw reins, it gives a 'dead' feel to the mouth and contact unless they have been used expertly and judiciously."
you chose to ignore the last part of that sentence

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i do apologise, i did not read your post correctly, had i done so my reply to you would not have been posted. I do totally agree with you that they are open to miuse and you were correct in your guidance and advice to my original post. once again i apologise to everyone.

It truly was a way of opening a debate, and not my intention to p!ss people off. However, i totaly agree that it was insensitive and stupid method especially when so many well meaning people in the forum offered genuine and sensible advice to the post. For what it is worth (and this is probably not much) it will never happen again on here.
 
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