Side reins - shorter on the outside!?!?

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Apalacia01

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I have just been on another forum, and found a post regarding side reins when used for l lungeing. I have been watching the thread for a while, and quite a few people are saying to make the outside rein one hole shorter.

Does that make any sense? I would have thought if anything, that would them mean they had less inside bend? I would say at least equal, or one shorter on the inside (but this could cause falling in).

Just never really dawned on me to do that - my mare loves sticking her head to the outside anyway, and I would have thought that would make it worse!?

Also, Chambon and de gogue - which one is for riding, which one is for lungeing?

Thanks all.
 
I have always stuck to even side reins as a general rule, but either can be used slightly shorter for a specific reason , though short term only. The reasoning behind the shorter outside rein is, when you ride you ride inside leg to outside hand (pressing the horse in to the outside contact). The problem when lunging like this is keeping the horse off the inside aid in to the outside side rein. Having the inside rein shorter can in some cases in the short term help inside flexion but it will not be correct as there will be more pressure with the inside rein than the outside one which can cause loss of the shoulder to the outside. I find it more beneficial to two rein lunge so you can feel and adjust the rein length and keep the horse more correct, this is what i would suggest for a horse that looks out on the lunge
 
Side reins - should always be the same length on both sides.
Chambon - for lunging only
De Gogue - can lunge and ride in (but you have to modify it a bit for ridden stuff).
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Thanks for the response - yes, I thought that with it tighter on the outside would lead to evasion, as is not a similar feeling to inside leg/outside hand as there is no outside hand to keep to keep them together.
 
i tend to use then with the outside on to the girth and the 'inside' one up between the front legs - has always worked well for me.


if i do use them conventionally both sides are the same
 
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