Fantastic Elatc Rein

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nikki_07766

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I was just reading about carl hesters elastic reins, and wondered if anyone had tryed them?, do they do what it says on the tin? are they really worth £65, i take it you can't use them for competing??!! any info mucho appriciated
 
you can buy the originals which have been about for years for about £20. The Carl Hester ones are a knock off an a totally unoriginal idea. they have uses but personally not something I would use...

If you want to try I suggest getting the cheaper versions which are identical. There have been several threads on here about them relatively recently which give several links to the alternatives. Go back a few pages and you will prob find them
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Do not see the point. Totally a marketing ploy.
If it was called the PARTOOW elastic rein would you buy it??
I think not.
Like has been said there are simialr thing already out there , still dont really do any good
 
I have just started using the Carl Hester rein with my girl and I do find a positive difference! I watched the youngsters being ridden in it during his demostrations at YHL - I guess that led to me buying it. Is it worth £65? Well lets face it, we can pay £55 quid for top quality reins and these are the best quality reins I have come across, so I figure the 'trendy' bit cost me a tenner (but then I'm good at justifying these things)!

As for whether they can be used in competition. Everyone's instinct is no, but I have trawled BD rules and it appears nothing has been written about reins that would prevent it. I haven't tried competing in them yet, but I'm guessing that if I'm stopped, the Carl Hester logo on them will throw the officials into a confused dilemma more than the other versions would.
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Sorry Stella but maybe you should look at why your horse goes better in this gadget. To me in negates the need for the rider to look at how they interact with the mouth and also the use of the rest of the body.
as for use in competition i asure you they will not be allowed logo or no logo.They do not make up a standard rein .or a standard snaffle bridle.
The use of such things is a negative step and to think one of our top riders promotes them does nothing to fill me with hope when it comes to the raising of standards in BD.
not what a roll model should do.
 
as a temporary way of teaching a rider, more than a horse, what a proper consistent hand-mouth contact should feel like, i can seem them having some validity. as for training in them for more than that, definitely not. and i totally agree with partoow - and would go further... they are not the sort of thing that one of our top top riders should need to use, or promote. it's about money, it isn't about improving riders or horses imho.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry Stella but maybe you should look at why your horse goes better in this gadget. To me in negates the need for the rider to look at how they interact with the mouth and also the use of the rest of the body.
as for use in competition i asure you they will not be allowed logo or no logo.They do not make up a standard rein .or a standard snaffle bridle.
The use of such things is a negative step and to think one of our top riders promotes them does nothing to fill me with hope when it comes to the raising of standards in BD.
not what a roll model should do.

[/ QUOTE ] I don't disagree really
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I have been riding for only 6 years and so as you can imagine, I still have to work like a dog on my body and my hands. I know they are not completely still in trot and that drives me nuts and makes me work harder! My mare is not the easiest about working softly, even for my instructor who is a fab rider. I can have the 'easier type' work softly, so I know that I'm not the worst rider around, but my grl and I are still very much a work in progress at the early stages
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Using this rein just seems to cushion each of us a little from the imperfections each other offers! I'm not using it to avoid working on my hands though.

As for using it in competition. I know that when the chips are down it won't be legal. I was thinking of trying it on at an unaffiliated competition though where they might be thrown by Mr Hester's name
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I must confess though that I view our current outings as adventurous schooling sessions, so it wouldn't really bother me if I was eliminated!

Anyway - as you can see, we don't disagree!
 
Stella thats great you sound to be trying to develope and thats what dressage is about!
Good luck and i hope you find a way to cure your problems.
If i may i would like to offer a little advice and say that , it is probably not your hands that are actually the problem they merely reflect the problem. Frequently the root cause is core muscle development and the flexability and freedom of the pelvis.
The ability to understand our own one sidedness is also helpful [Alexander technique] as this helps understand co-ordination [or lack of!!] and therefore how our horse would interpret the sometimes mixed messages we send.
I wish you well but just dont hide away on this rein for too long.
I only know all this because i have made those mistakes a thousand times over and endevour to help people and their horses not to make the same mistakes i have made..
 
Thanks Partoow - funny you should say that. I hadn't put together the hand/core muscle thing (although it makes sense), but I had realised that my core muscles need strengthening and I'm just about to take up Gyrokinesis (a combination of yoga, pilates, tai chi and dance apparantly)!
 
I think the reins look, in theory to help but I haven't used them myself yet. I am certain that they would not be allowed to be used in BD competitions. They are seen as a training aid.

Elastic contact it always good!
 
Partoow. I don't see how the rein would damage someone's riding, it will help them develop by helping them to develop feel. None of these things are a quick fix, it takes a long time to learn to ride with feel, some people are more blessed than others ofcourse.
 
Dutch, i didnt say it would damage their riding it just negates the need to feel and therefore just delays the process. Its false. elastic connection is, as i have said the product of a suple body based on poise and good core muscles. This rein does nothing to promote that quest. Further more i think the exploitation of inexperienced people by a name is wrong. To me that is what this rein is; un-necessary and a marketing ploy.
Teaching a rider to understand the use of their body how that relates to the horse and therefore the development of 'feel' is hard work and i am sorry to say this is yet another symptom of lazy and substandard teaching. I certainly didnt get taught to use or see in use something like this at Ulla's yard. we were just made accountable for our actions and the effect those actions had on our horses.
 
I rode mine in it yesterday, having only put it back on the bridle a few days ago after a previous couple of uses. I must say that I felt like I didn't have proper feel and she didn't go as well as she has been going for me recently in standard reins. I guess this says something good about my progress
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Anyway on reflection, I wouldn't buy them again!
 
again, totally agree with partoow.
being able to keep an elastic contact and develop feel takes a lot of hard work, discipline, time and patience, from rider and trainer. there really really isn't a shortcut, as with most things with horses.
 
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