Long reining advice. Low head carriage

[phantomhorse]

I've just started long reining my youngster. She is wearing a Korsteel Tom Thumb Snaffle Bit with the long lines run through the stirrup irons on the saddle (irons positioned just below the saddle flap). She walks out well but walks with her head close to the floor a most of the time. I jiggle the reins along her sides to encourage her to walk up to the contact and encourage her with my voice, but she seems to like to walk with her head really low. This makes giving the rein aids to turn difficult and she's getting confused at times. She often ends up tucking her nose in because her head carriage is so low when I ask her to turn or halt. Should I be using loose side reins when I long rein to prevent her carrying her head too low? Or something else?

 

[Montyforever]

My little mare used to do this so for a while i put loose side reins on her until she understood where her head needed to be. I find now that her head slips back down when she gets bored so if you are walking behind and not longreining on a circle plenty of circles/figures of 8 ect keep her focusing

 

[phantomhorse]

My little mare used to do this so for a while i put loose side reins on her until she understood where her head needed to be. I find now that her head slips back down when she gets bored so if you are walking behind and not longreining on a circle plenty of circles/figures of 8 ect keep her focusing

Okay, thanks. I'll try some loose side-reins tomorrow. They were all I could think of (aside from a daisy rein) to help keep her nose from skimming the floor constantly. Daft horse.

 

[Kokopelli]

If you have no luck with side reins, try a loose bungie. I'm not a huge fan of these but they work very well when used correctly.

I love the picture in you sig btw, very well timed.