Riding school put bungee side reins on all school horses- opinions?

[fleabitten]

Okay, I haven't had a riding lesson for years- a complete happy hacker with my sweetie arab who wouldn't know a dressage move if if hit him in the face.I recently moved abroad and have been having some lessons at a Swiss riding school.
The owner uses bungee side reins on all her horses, as she says it helps them hold themselves properly and saves them from rough novice hands.
One of the bigger mares now holds herself so low her nose is by her knees. They are all very 'long and low' -something I'm not used to.
What do you guys think?I've alwasy been under the impression that 'draw reins' were only for youngsters....

 

[Silverspring]

I've heard side reins are quite common in Dutch riding schools. Not sure what you mean by bungee side reins then go on to say draw reins are for young horses...are the horse being riden in fixed (flexible) side reins or draw reins (which surely the rider would control) or is it a bungee line that goes from girth over poll back to girth?

I have to say learning to ride without reins (and the hassle of trying to stear) will clearly give you a much more secure seat. It might explain why the continentals are turning out such better riders than us Brits

 

[fleabitten]

Sorry, my own technical descriptions aren't great! They are bungee side reins that run through the bit and are fixed onto chains that run from the stirrup leather rollers. The riders also have normal reins with which to control direction and speed.

 

[Alibear]

Sounds like a form of side reins which are commonly used on school horses on the continent, so wouldn't worry me.

 

[R2R]

They do this at Oldencraig. I phou phoued it however it allowed me to not focus on the rein contact so much and more riding forward and straight from leg to hand, so clearly works...however that was at a schoolmaster riding school where I was doing steps of piaffe in the end. Hmmm. Not sure why they would do this? Perhaps to achieve the same sort of thing?

Either way it wouldnt worry me. Its better that the horses are encouraged into a good outine rather than being dead to the mouth and miserable.

 

[Kat]

Some of the ponies in our riding school have a bungie rein on when being ridden on the flat by the little kids.

These tend to be the more robust native types, that are also a bit tricky and without a bit of extra help might pull the kids out of the saddle. They aren't adjusted to keep the pony in an outline, at this level the ponies aren't in an outline.

I'm struggling to remember how they arrange them, and it might vary...... I think they go from the D-rings through the bit and over the head piece but I couldn't swear to it as I'm not often there when the kids are riding.

I think if you can help protect riding school horses from the worst of complete beginners then you should as they don't have an easy time. But novices do have to learn and with good instruction and sympathetic horses it can be done without too much gadgetry.

It amazes me to see how well the riding school horses assess their rider and respond accordingly. I've seen kids doing things that would get me a buck on the same horse, but the horses know when they have got a novice, sometimes they even rebalance a wobbly rider! I've also seen ones that normally just step over jumps from trot and look permanently asleep, light up and jump 3'6" in an advanced lesson.

I rode an old ID that is used for all the adult beginners a while ago. I was a bit put out to have to ride him but the horse I was supposed to be riding had come out lame and he was all that was available. I was psyched up for a rubbish lesson, but after the first two warm up cross poles he came alive, rediscovered the hunter he once was and was pulling like a train and jumping anything and everything by the end of the lesson! In fact we had to do two laps of the last exercise because I couldn't stop! We both loved it!

 

[Flame_]

I wouldn't ride anything in side reins, even the really stretchy ones. I'd be too worried about the non-releasable aspect. Also, if I ride, especially in a lesson, I want to be doing the riding, not be over-ridden by an elastic thing. How can you decide when you want to give a bit, or allow the horse to stretch, when the bungee is just the length it is?