Riding with reins in one hand

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Rose Folly

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Why is sit that people are always taught to ride 'two-handed' these days?

I can count on one hand (forgive the pun) younger riding friends who are capable of riding one-handed. Yet in my own generation (old, old, old) we all do it as a matter of course.

If you ride with a rein in each hand you cannot, without changing your reins over, open a gate, lead another horse or stop a misbehaving horse in a hurry. This thread is prompted by an incident while riding with a friend and someone else's child this week. Some cows suddenly peered through a hedge. Shock, horror, all 3 horses had instant heart-attacks and thought they'd tank off. The child (who is quite a nice rider) had a rein in each hand - pony plunged, her hands shot up around her ears with no means of reeling him in, the plunge had thrown her backward off balance, and it was only my friend's very quick grab of the reins that prevented a tumble.

If you look at all the working horsemen of the world - gauchos, cowboys, Mongolian herdsmen, they all ride with the reins in one hand. Why isn't it taught as a matter of course to newbie riders?
 
Rose Folly said:
Why is sit that people are always taught to ride 'two-handed' these days?

I can count on one hand (forgive the pun) younger riding friends who are capable of riding one-handed. Yet in my own generation (old, old, old) we all do it as a matter of course.

If you ride with a rein in each hand you cannot, without changing your reins over, open a gate, lead another horse or stop a misbehaving horse in a hurry. This thread is prompted by an incident while riding with a friend and someone else's child this week. Some cows suddenly peered through a hedge. Shock, horror, all 3 horses had instant heart-attacks and thought they'd tank off. The child (who is quite a nice rider) had a rein in each hand - pony plunged, her hands shot up around her ears with no means of reeling him in, the plunge had thrown her backward off balance, and it was only my friend's very quick grab of the reins that prevented a tumble.

If you look at all the working horsemen of the world - gauchos, cowboys, Mongolian herdsmen, they all ride with the reins in one hand. Why isn't it taught as a matter of course to newbie riders?
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i think it should be to all and when i learnt 20 years ago it was. and evn now on lessons my instructer makes me do no hands and no stirrups etc cos if u cant ride without then you can use them properly with an independant seat
 
When my horse spooks I much prefer to have a rein in each hand so I can quickly correct him if he attempts to spin. I never ride one handed as I don't believe I could do this with one hand.

Also, most people who I see riding/hacking with one hand on the reins aren't doing anything with the other hand, so that shoulder drops, that hip drops, and they're sitting wonky in the saddle.

If I needed to open a gate, grab a horse etc, it'd take a nano-second to grab both reins in one hand. As over here we don't really use horses in the same way the americans etc do (ranch farming) we don't really have any need to ride one handed :)
 
I pretty much always ride one-handed, but that's mostly because Im lazy & i have awesome handy-ponies who let me get away with it & are much-obliging when we get to gates & things :)
 
No handed is also much more fun :p

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But yes, agree completely!!! Far too much health and safety culture now. I've just been making the bosses young daughter ride tackless all week and ride everywhere bareback. Now she's willingly riding bareback everywhere, as she loves it!

I remember the days of having lune lessons bareback and having to do round the worlds in various gaits. And jumping no reins and no stirrups, sometimes bareback on my own pony, down 4ft+ grids.


Loved it!!!!
 
I'm of the no-hands-no-stirrups generation...just about the only decent thing my RS (as a kid) taught me. I routinely ride one-handed.
 
Some people have no option ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=Dy8W-9_oM4Y

I was never taught to ride with one hand till I started to learn Western Style stuff and the first thing I was taught was riding with one rein on a rope halter(bit like doing multiplication or the alphabet I know it will do my riding so much good but I hate it...Malaga always knows exactly when to duck so I miss when I throw the rein over! LoL :D )
 
I too used to bring my horse in, in a head collar. Used legs and body position for stearing. Also opened gates one handed. Obviously a skill I'm going to have to teach hairy horse when noone's looking.

Paula
 
I grew up riding ponies either with no saddle or bridle, or western. As a result, when my instructor over here in England said she was going to 'torture' me and take away my stirrups and reins during a lesson, I just said bring it on. I'm comfortable with one hand or two, and when I was taking my son out on hacks with me, I was well known for riding with one hand now and then to snap the occasional pic. One handed can be very useful, as can two handed. I think instructors should teach both, personally. My instructor has never given a lesson riding one handed with me, I just know how so I do it automatically. I tend to ride the same horses and know them very well, so I can judge who I can ride one handed, and who needs both hands on the reins.
 
Sarah W said:
I ride one handed. Waaay to dangerous to light a cigarette when holding both reins. If it's windy then two hands are needed for fag lighting :D
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This is pretty much how I learned to ride one handed - I quit smoking 5 years ago but I still toddle along with both reins on one hand and my other hand just hanging there :D
 
This cropped up in my lesson last week and although I still had a rein in each hand I was only using one at a time to control the horse and was not allowed to use my legs. Hacking out I generally use both hands because I feel it gives more control on young opportunist cob.
Agree with the comment about posture and how one handed riders tending to slump.
 
Always had a habit of riding one handed on my old boy and now ride western with our QH so there is a lot of one-handedness! I find myself doing it a lot, even when I'm trying to school our horses which isn't always so great lol.
 
When hacking out I ride two handed but when powering along the road or a track in a propper working trot I tend to ride with my reins in my left hand (im right handed) as I am slightly less maneouverable on my left and I also funnily enough prefer to ride a spook one handed and then I can drop a shoulder into the movement.
 
I don't really think its a case of learning to ride one handed, the problem is people learning to ride with their hands (and more importantly the horses mouth) as an aid to balancing in the first place. A good rider shouldn't be affected balance/position wise if they suddenly drop one or both reins.
And fag lighting illustrates the importance of hacking with a whip. If you hack with the whip under your leg it provides the perfect place for the reins to hook over while you light up on windy days!
 
littlelegs said:
I don't really think its a case of learning to ride one handed, the problem is people learning to ride with their hands (and more importantly the horses mouth) as an aid to balancing in the first place. A good rider shouldn't be affected balance/position wise if they suddenly drop one or both reins.
And fag lighting illustrates the importance of hacking with a whip. If you hack with the whip under your leg it provides the perfect place for the reins to hook over while you light up on windy days!
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Absolutely agree, with both parts of this post :D
Also if you can't ride with only one hand, how would you manage with a sausage role, a drink, a fag and double reins? :D
 
littlelegs said:
I don't really think its a case of learning to ride one handed, the problem is people learning to ride with their hands (and more importantly the horses mouth) as an aid to balancing in the first place. A good rider shouldn't be affected balance/position wise if they suddenly drop one or both reins.
!
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^^agreed^^
 
Fascinated by the answers so far and completely understand the fags and tinnies problems. But seriously, for the 'two-handers' do none of you ever lead another horse out exercising? And my friend who saved the child from being tanked with pointed out some more things tonight:
1. Hunt staff ride one-handed (unless you want to keep the horn strapped to your face all day)
2. Two-handed you can't 'slip' the reins, i.e. tighten the reins mega-sharp in case of emergency by pulling the loop fast through your fingers with the other hand
3. It will impede the child, who is about to go to her first gymkhana, in the mounted games, as when she has to jump off (already a laborious exercie) she first has to stop the pony two-handed, transfer the reins to one hand and the get down. She should be pulling up the pony with one had and the free one should be already grabbing something or other, preferably saddle, for quick descent.

Finally, so agree with the no-hands, headcollar. bareback ones of you. Nothing gives you better balance, or makes you more intuitive - not to mention kinder to your horse's mouth. It's how we were taught to jump as children - and I believe the Housefhold Cavalry still train their recruits.
 
One of my show horses has learnt to school one handed as he is a Riding Horse. My dartmoor is also schooled to one handd riding just because I wanted to teach him.

All bar my two breakers can be pootled along on one hand. One breaker is just learning about my swinging spare arm for picture taking and she has only flakyed once. The other - well seeing as today will be only her second day witha rider on board we shall leave that for a while :D

We ride the racehorses one handed too and from the gallops and out hacking for the most part as it tends to keep your reins longer and looser and you are more relaxed and thus the horses are more relaxed.
 
I often ride one handed while leading my son on his pony. Even he is learing to ride on handed at the age of 4!
 
My son rides like this
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Not saying that he should not have at least one hand on the reins, but he has learnt great balance, and doesn,t hang on the reins.
 
I tend to ride one handed a lot, for some reason it seems to be easier on my back as I tend to get back ache riding sitting dead square, my pony does neck rein really well which makes gate opening and traffic signalling easy, I do ride with two reins when cantering jumping etc.
 
One of my sons was told off at pony club yesterday for riding one handed, he was letting his horse look at a X country water jump, and he was allowing the horse to drop his head right down and look at the water, then one of the mums starting saying he needed two hands and he should not be trying to look cool. My son was very pissed off, because he hates interfering old woman more than anything.
 
We though we would challenge the kids in our handy pony class by getting them to ride one handed through bending poles but they all managed it no bother as they are used to riding and texting at the same time :) :)
 
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