Long-reining

[martini55]

Reading the post on whether NH supports lunging got me thinking about long-reining. In all my experiences with horses I have never come across someone long-reining their horse, it has always been lunging. I obviously know what it is, the equipment involved and know the likes of Kelly Marks prefer it over lunging. But how do you go about introducing a horse to long-reining?

I was just thinking about it for when I bring Martini back into work. It seems to be a more sensible idea than lunging as it would put less stress on her. And though that might be way off in the future I thought it would be a good idea to get clued up on it.

As far as I am aware she hasn't been long-reined before, possibly she has in the past but if she has then she hasn't done it in over 5 years. So how would you go about introducing your horse to long-reining? I would think a bit of ground-work would be neccessary first to get her used to the idea of the two lunge lines and make sure she is happy about them round her quarters etc.

Ideally would you have someone leading the horse forward when you first start out? The problem is I probably won't have that option. If I was alone would the best thing to do be sort of like lunging her with 2 lines, i.e. not stand behind her but to the side having the outside lunge line round her bum encouraging her forward?

It's just something I am looking into and I know a few members long-rein their horses.

I don't have a roller but using a saddle is okay isn't it? As long as you tie the two stirrups together from underneath?

I think the thing that has put me off in the past was the fact we always had an outdoor school and alot of the time she was pretty spooky- her spooks being spinning around and running in the opposite direction :eek: Not ideal for long-reining, especially if you are inexperienced in doing it! But she has nothing to distract her in the indoor school so I think I'm going to give it a bash.

Any tips and experiences would be much appreciated, especially what to do should things not go according to plan ;)

[Merlinz gal]

hi im going to l/r merlin when he comes back into work too.
if shes never been long reined before put a rug on her with a long fillet string and turn her loose in the school, this will get her accustomed to the sensation of ropes around her rear end.
i wont be able to have someone leading and i really cant lunge but this may be an option for you but lunge with a schooling whip this will come in handy later on.
when you start long reining if you can get martini working off your voice that would be ideal, start by going around the school and then if and when you have controll take her out. i shall be doing this with merlin with either other people riding or with someone walking with me.this gives the horses a change of scenery.
if you have a roller use this to start with then progress to a saddle.
dont forget your hat and gloves.
hope ive helped:D

[martini55]

hi im going to l/r merlin when he comes back into work too.
if shes never been long reined before put a rug on her with a long fillet string and turn her loose in the school, this will get her accustomed to the sensation of ropes around her rear end.
i wont be able to have someone leading and i really cant lunge but this may be an option for you but lunge with a schooling whip this will come in handy later on.
when you start long reining if you can get martini working off your voice that would be ideal, start by going around the school and then if and when you have controll take her out. i shall be doing this with merlin with either other people riding or with someone walking with me.this gives the horses a change of scenery.
if you have a roller use this to start with then progress to a saddle.
dont forget your hat and gloves.
hope ive helped:D


Thanks for the reply :) I think she should be fine with the line around her bum, but of course will make 100% sure. She is pretty responsive and don't need a whip to lunge her- I just need to use body language. If I have a whip she squeals and gallops off :D

I think I'll see how she goes and if she's alright we might progress to one of the fields around the farm. She won't hack out alone so don't know how far we'd get but maybe it would help build her confidence having me on the ground.

Good luck with l/r your horse too :)

[chev]

Better than a long fillet string (which she could get caught in if she kicked at it) is just to kit her out with cavesson and long reins and stand with her, running the reins over her neck, back and quarters til she's happy.

It is much easier to introduce long reining if you have someone to walk at her head, but it's not impossible to do it alone. This is how I manage, alone.

First off make sure the horse is happy with long lines draped and rubbed over their body. Best done standing in a school, and wearing gloves. When horse is quite happy with some pressure around the quarters, and lines around their legs, then you can start to encourage them to walk on.

I don't use a roller to start with - just a simple cavesson, with the lines attached at the sides. I stand by the horse's shoulder, with the outside rein coming over the withers. From here I can move the horse on using voice and body language. I work on one rein at a time to start with, and gradually fall back so I'm in line with the horse's flank. I practice walk, trot and halt from here.

Now I start to work on changes of rein while walking. I fall back behind the horse, and slightly to one side, so the horse can see me on the inside rein all the time. To change rein, I pput pressure on the other rein, and once the horse starts to bend, move round behind him so I end up back on a slightly inside track again. In effect this is driving from the ground.

Once the horse is managing that ok, then we move on to working on ciclres. Again, I start off on a straight line, and introduce a circle on the line. For this I usually start off without a roller and just keep the outside hand high - this may well be much easier on small ponies so you might be better with a roller to keep the rein up! I find having the inside rein very open often helps give the horse a good idea of what to do. Once we can manage a circle on one rein followed by a transition onto the other rein happily then I start using a roller. The reason I take my time introducing the roller is basically because I like the extra freedom having the reins loose gives. If you find keeping the reins above her legs difficult then use a roller if you need to.

We go through the same exercises again with the roller in the school until the horse is confidently long lining on both reins in circles, on serpentines, and in straight lines with me directly behind. Then we go out!

[martini55]

Thanks Chev :) Was planning on doing exactly what you said to make sure she was happy with idea of the lines around her.

[cvb]

long reining a.k.a. "ground driving" :D

Mark Rashid commented a little on this when he was showing how he lunges - that the way he lunges helps the progression to ground driving. We didn't see him ground drive - but the lunging is not "BHS" style stand-in-the-middle. You walk with the horse and use body language to help with speed etc.

I can see how this would progress easily to 2 reins as you are already very close to the handler position for ground driving ...

By the way, eventerbabe, Esther and I were having a conversation on kit for long reining recently if you want to do a search for it. I know you CAN long rein with saddle and use the stirrups as the loop - but I only really "got it" when I set myself up with a roller and reins that suited me. Have a look on the other thread to see piccies.

[Elly Koopman]

I l/r Rosie when I want to do something different or need to get her to go through spooky gates :)

I was fortunate in that she is push button when it comes to lunging which makes it a hell of a lot easier because you can use voice aids. However, while I assumed that she would have been long lined when she was broken in, that would have been about 7 years before we got her. Here are some tips that I have found out the hard way through the years (not just from Rosie):
I've attached quick diagrams - might help to show what I'm trying to explain! (but then it might not!)

Always use a fully enclosed area so that she can not escape, or shy towards an exit.
H(should probably be first) Always wear gloves, hard hat and sensible shoes/boots (ahir tied back to - it's a huge pain if you have to keep fidgeting with it - you might spook the horse too)
Use a head collar the first time and use a thin piece of baler twine (take a normal piece and separate them into strands so that they will break more easily if necessary, but are thick enough not to break with a strong contact) and tie it in a loop to the metal parts on the noseband of the headcollar.
Get some large plain keyring loops (or ones that are large enough for the line to run freely through)and attach them to the D rings (or top set of rings - where you would put a breastplate/girth on) - this is your substitute roller.
Very slowly run the line through the rings and place on the saddle so that you can go round to the near side and gather them up, obviously attach the other line to the near side. Start to lunge her with the line over the pommel of the saddle and ask her to walk on. Do this on both sides and then finish that session (Diagram 1).
Next time, and when she's happily going round like this, slowly start to move round to behind her, but making sure that you are about a metre in so that she can see you out of one eye. The lines should be running over her bum at an angle (diagram 2) - keep her moving!
When she's happily accepting this set up - try and change the rein by moving over - this is where you will really need to keep her moving.
Start to slowly move the lines down to either side of her bum - try to do it in a slow, but firm movement, like you're trying to smooth down the coat with the line - keep the contact. If you let the lines go slack and then take up the contact - this'll be where she'll possibly take a spook.
When this is going well, slowly start to come round into your lunging position, the line will go over her tail, but don't worry, she'll lift it if she wants.


Remember to take each step at a time, and finish early on a good note. If NH stands for NAtural Horsemanship, then emplpoy the same methods to introduce her to the line as you would anything else new.

Hope this helps - sorry for the chapter of war & Peace!!!

[cvb]

to save some time, the other thread is here

http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49998

[Elly Koopman]

Which is basically what chev said, only I took 10 mins to write mine!!!

[martini55]

Thanks a lot for the replies, much appreciated. And I'll have a look at that other thread thanks.

[sozzie]

I long-rein my 3yr old and she responds really well to it. I use a Monty Roberts Dually halter and a roller with rings that are low down. I had no one to help me whan I started but I got her used to the idea by putting the line aross her back and had her working off voice commands, and moing away from pressure in-hand before using the lines. I found Kelly Mark's book -Perfect Manners excellent for showing me how to do things like turning, backing-up, & halting before even starting long-lining.
I did have one of Kelly Mark's students come out and she gave me some tips on long-reining - My horse now halts, turns, backs-up etc on the long-reins and it is less boring for both of us than lunging and hopefully puts less strain on her joints too.
I personally think it better prepares a horse for backing (which I'll be doing soon) as it gets the horse used to two reins. Using a saddle is fine, My western saddle arrives tomorrow so I'll be using that with the long-reins through the stirrups to get her used to the saddle.
I have the advantage of a small indoor school which has helped my horse to concentrate. I took her in the huge outdoor school the other day and let her loose, she went nuts for a a while but then calmed downand worked nicely.
I always keep the sessions very short and end on a good note.
The best tip I got from the lady I mentioned above was to keep my voice much lower than usual to get my horse's attention, especially when I want her to move up a gear -it really does work :) .