Riding with neck rope

[blitznbobs]

Does anyone do this - I am much more intrigued by this than any other form of bitless and it seems to becoming more of a thing…
Or am I just getting more new age/ quirky / mad in my old age?

 

[Maxidoodle]

Does anyone do this - I am much more intrigued by this than any other form of bitless and it seems to becoming more of a thing…
Or am I just getting more new age/ quirky / mad in my old age?

I’m planning to, Jesse Drent is a good one to watch on you tube, he does a lot with just a neck rope and does some good videos about how to start.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Yes I have done. My boy is trained completely off the neck rope by me as a teenager! He can do all transitions, rein back, figures of eight etc. I started by training him with a headcollar on and a rope too, so I could use that as and when needed and then progressed to just the rope.

 

[nagblagger]

40 years ago i could ride my part arab just with a neck rope round the yard/fields., but it wasn't the done thing. I turned up for a lesson in a headcollar with 2 lead ropes as reins as i felt safer with more control, i was then allowed a hackamore! I rode with no back shoes as he used to slip on the roads.
Nothing is new, it is just coming into fashion.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Yes, I play about with it. First thing I did with my last two horses was teach them to stop from a pull on a neck strap, this was bitted and with no intention of ever riding off it, it was more an emergency stop hand brake thing. With J I do ride both bitted and bitless and the last couple of years from neckstrap only. I find it fun, interesting and very educational in the way he responds. It took a huge leap of faith for me to remove his bridle and ride totally from it though.

Eta, as a child we often rode the ponies with headcollars and lead ropes, if you were lucky you had a lead rope either side of headcollar otherwise it was one under the chin which was interesting at times. I've sort carried on doing it ever since.

 

[GypsGal1718]

Yes I do.

 

[splashgirl45]

When I was young in the 60’s we used to take off our bridles once we were away from any roads , we were already bareback and we used to have fun just using our body weight to turn and stop.. this was all on ponies, we had no fear then and if we had any problem we just slipped off and the ponies would stop and graze

 

[nagblagger]

When I was young in the 60’s we used to take off our bridles once we were away from any roads , we were already bareback and we used to have fun just using our body weight to turn and stop.. this was all on ponies, we had no fear then and if we had any problem we just slipped off and the ponies would stop and graze

We used to ride alongside and take our friends bridle off as we went past - those were the days..

 

[splashgirl45]

We used to ride alongside and take our friends bridle off as we went past - those were the days..

We used to lift their leg up so they slipped off , it was hard to stay on without a saddle if your ‘friend’ was lifting your leg up, none of us ever broke anything or got badly hurt, the ponies were all under 14 hands so not far to fall… I used to be able to vault on anything up to 15.2 with no problem when I was in my teens… nowadays I would need a sturdy, high mounting block and a horse who stood absolutely still ..

 

[nagblagger]

You sound so much like me @splashgirl45 , yes have done the leg thing, even undone their girth, had to be quick to do that!

 

[paddy555]

I used to ride miles over the moor in a neck rope.This was many years ago so not a new thing. I also long reined onto a neck rope rather than a headcollar.

 

[SilverLinings]

Yes, and have one I can ride without any bridle/rope/etc. Unfortunately I don't do it much these days as I mainly hack now and it involves roadwork. I have only ever done it on horses that were already well established under saddle (with a standard bitted bridle or a hackamore), but I don't know if that was a particular help in them learning or not.

Years ago I bought a horse who was very heavy on the hand and quite dead in the mouth, and several months of a mix of riding with a rope (schooling and off-roads) and using a hackamore (on roads) made him much lighter in the forehand and he had a much softer and more responsive mouth when I went back to a bitted bridle about 5-6 months later (I wanted to compete hence returning to a traditional bridle).

 

[daffy44]

I've just started trying it a bit with my gp horse. I tried him in a headcollar with a pair of reins attatched and he was brilliant in that from the start, I could easily ride him through a gp in a headcollar, so I thought I'd try a neck rope. It took more concentration than I expected! But he grasped it pretty quickly, and we've only done it a couple of times, and we are both getting more confident with it, its fun to try different things.

eta: I also tried it a couple of years ago with my younger horse, who was five at the time, and he was easier in the neck rope than he was in a headcollar, so I guess to a certan extent it also depends on the horse a bit too.

 

[Pippity]

Yes, I play about with it. First thing I did with my last two horses was teach them to stop from a pull on a neck strap, this was bitted and with no intention of ever riding off it, it was more an emergency stop hand brake thing. With J I do ride both bitted and bitless and the last couple of years from neckstrap only.

I'll be honest, I don't get the neck-strap-as-emergency-brake thing. If my horse is ignoring my rein, seat and voice aids to stop, I don't understand why she'd decide to listen to the neck strap.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I'll be honest, I don't get the neck-strap-as-emergency-brake thing. If my horse is ignoring my rein, seat and voice aids to stop, I don't understand why she'd decide to listen to the neck strap.

I originally taught it with a very quirky and messed up horse who had been used to severe treatment and who reacted whenever he anticipated it. Because this was something new and he had no previous baggage with it he responded without any of the reaction that you'd get if you'd have used a rein aid. His go to was reactive bucking, if he was setting himself up to buck a rein aid would be another trigger, and as the pro rider who had been riding him to get him ready to sell before I bought him said he can still buck with his head up (shame I hadn't known all that before I bought him!) But a pull on the neck strap would halt him and give him time to realise that he didn't need to react, give him the time to relax and get his brain back I the right place. That horse taught me to think outside the box in many ways.

I then taught it to my 4 yr old as it's another tool in the box. Is it going to stop a determined horse, not at all but it does seem to work well for some reason. Perhaps others will know why better than me?

 

[paddy555]

I originally taught it with a very quirky and messed up horse who had been used to severe treatment and who reacted whenever he anticipated it. Because this was something new and he had no previous baggage with it he responded without any of the reaction that you'd get if you'd have used a rein aid. His go to was reactive bucking, if he was setting himself up to buck a rein aid would be another trigger, and as the pro rider who had been riding him to get him ready to sell before I bought him said he can still buck with his head up (shame I hadn't known all that before I bought him!) But a pull on the neck strap would halt him and give him time to realise that he didn't need to react, give him the time to relax and get his brain back I the right place. That horse taught me to think outside the box in many ways.

I then taught it to my 4 yr old as it's another tool in the box. Is it going to stop a determined horse, not at all but it does seem to work well for some reason. Perhaps others will know why better than me?

Re you final para because the horse becomes more responsible. I have seen that many times. He changes, remove everything and he is different. Different relationship. You have removed any force.

 

[paddy555]

I'll be honest, I don't get the neck-strap-as-emergency-brake thing. If my horse is ignoring my rein, seat and voice aids to stop, I don't understand why she'd decide to listen to the neck strap.

You are trying to force the horse to stop. Remove all the force and see if the horse listens better. The horse has nothing to fight against.

 

[Pippity]

You are trying to force the horse to stop. Remove all the force and see if the horse listens better. The horse has nothing to fight against.

I'm not sure how pretty much dropping the reins and saying, "Whoa-oa," counts as force.

 

[Red-1]

I originally taught it with a very quirky and messed up horse who had been used to severe treatment and who reacted whenever he anticipated it. Because this was something new and he had no previous baggage with it he responded without any of the reaction that you'd get if you'd have used a rein aid. His go to was reactive bucking, if he was setting himself up to buck a rein aid would be another trigger, and as the pro rider who had been riding him to get him ready to sell before I bought him said he can still buck with his head up (shame I hadn't known all that before I bought him!) But a pull on the neck strap would halt him and give him time to realise that he didn't need to react, give him the time to relax and get his brain back I the right place. That horse taught me to think outside the box in many ways.

I then taught it to my 4 yr old as it's another tool in the box. Is it going to stop a determined horse, not at all but it does seem to work well for some reason. Perhaps others will know why better than me?

This was me with one of mine. He was a habitual rearer and had been ridden by much better riders than me so I don't think schooling him out of it would have worked for me. I fitted a neckstrap and just used that anytime he lost his mind. He found nothing to fight so didn't fight. He went from rebellious to Mr Plug and Play. only evented to 100, but had huge talent. Sadly became a wobbler.



He also did schooling and jumping like this.

 

[paddy555]

I'm not sure how pretty much dropping the reins and saying, "Whoa-oa," counts as force.

sorry I meant remove the stuff on his head.

This was me with one of mine. He was a habitual rearer and had been ridden by much better riders than me so I don't think schooling him out of it would have worked for me. I fitted a neckstrap and just used that anytime he lost his mind. He found nothing to fight so didn't fight. He went from rebellious to Mr Plug and Play. only evented to 100, but had huge talent. Sadly became a wobbler.

View attachment 137854

He also did schooling and jumping like this.

lovely lovely pic. You must have been be so proud of him riding like this.

 

[MissTyc]

Amazing photo, Red-1 - beautiful and well done for figuring him out and giving him so much fun.