Long Reining

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fuzz

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Have just started to long rein and I'm looking for some advice. I'm having some problems turning my pony. When I'm turning to do serpentine loops we turn the half circle and then continue to turn instead of going straight. Does anyone have any advice on what I should be doing when I am trying the serpentine loops? Also I seem to be getting pulled about by my pony instead of me telling her where to go. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might help? She is quite prone to setting her neck chunky pony style.

Thanks
 
you could try working from her shoulder with the long reins for a while (both sides) this should give you more control until you are more comfortable with longreining.
 
Are you over-correcting with your steering? I can be guilty of this with my 5yo and we wobble all over the place! Generally the closer you are to the horse the more control you have so perhaps move a bit closer if you are confident she will not kick. As for pulling you around, if mine gets too strong/fast I ask him to stop, back up and then wait for a few seconds until he is asked to walk again. If you persist with this it is very effective
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If you are longreining with the lines around your pony's quarters, there will be a lot more drag and restriction on his mouth.I work all mine in long reins rather than lungeing, and find the danish method where the reins go just behind the wither works better for lightness of aids. If your pony is going forward it is much easier to change direction without wobbling. I start on changes of rein across the diagonal so that the horse has a straight line before changeing the direction. Hope this helps. I'm going to run a longreining demo with a ""have a go " option in the spring if anybody is interested. I'm in Suffolk.
 
A fulmer bit might help, also are you using side reins? Make sure you arent too far back (shorter long lines = more control). Lots of transitions should help in getting her to listen to you
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sounds like you are using the reins solely to turn instead of using them how you would when riding e.g. weight still in the outside rein.

and agree about putting the outside rein over the withers instead of round the bum to start with as this can make some horses bargy with the pressure on their bum when you try to use the outside rein.
 
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