Introducing Side Reins to Youngster

[Joyous70]

My youngster is 3yrs old she is now taking her bit nicely, and i would like to move it on a stage by putting her roller on with a set of loose side reins, so we can go for some in hand walks but get her used to the feel of the bit, without me leading from it.

Im not 100% sure how to do this i don't want to upset her as bitting her itself became problematic for a while so im in no hurry, but wanted peoples opinions on how i should move one, i don't want her to panic and rear etc.,

I will add she has worn a roller before with no problems, its just the side reins being attached etc.

Thanks in advance

 

[HBBambee]

The best way to measure how long a side rein should be is to attach it to the roller or girth, then hold it up the the jugular grove on the horse and this is the length you should need.
However, for a youngster I would allow two extra holes on top of this to start with, they do not need to be holding a contact to begin with, you just want the horse to get used to the feel of having weight on the bit, and the side reins moving.
Generally we introduce once the horse is established leading in hand and we are moving on to long reining, you can pop them on leading in straight lines (we have someone walk by the horses head to begin with), try not to turn the horse tightly with side reins on as this can cause them to panic. If you are going to be using on the lunge, lunge for 5 mins without then pop them on for 5 mins and gradually increase so the experience is good for the horse.
They should not be so tight that they stop the horse going forward especially with a youngster you really want to be encouraging him to work forwards into a contact rather than being pulled into one.
Hope this makes some sort of sense!

 

[Cortez]

I'll tell you how I do it: get the horse going nicely on the lunge, trotting freely forward before thinking of adding side reins (and I NEVER ask a horse to walk in side reins, or take a contact ridden at the walk until much later on in their education - and I mean years). The first time attach just the inside rein and get the horse to trot off immediately, then send the horse off on the other rein, also with just the inside on that side attached. If all of this goes well and the horse starts to give to the inside rein happily (and 99% of them do), then attach the outside rein - this may not happen at all in the first several sessions, depending on the horse and how it is responding.

Most important thing is to get the horse forward, and DON't try to make it walk on side reins.