shortening reins

[eucalyptus]

When I'm riding I'm told to shorten the reins, which makes a lot of sense but whenever I do that the horse (whichever horse I happen to be riding) always pull back at me and I end up losing the reins altogether and have to do the whole shortening up the reins thing all over again. I'm sure I've done something terribly wrong, maybe I'm pulling on the reins or something, I don't know. How can I stop this from happening again???

[Bay Mare]

Has your instructor shown you how to shorten the reins? If not get them to show you. I find it difficult to explain if I'm not doing it at the same time so I'll leave that one to someone else ....

Maybe you're doing it too quickly or shortening them too much. How are you shortening them?

[chalon1000]

Hi there!
I am teaching a young friend of mine how to ride, and she seems to be having a problem. The pony she rides LOVES to pull back on the reins.
All you need to do is practise the rein shortening. Make yourself some 'reins' out of rope or buckle a real pair of reins to a chair or similar. Then practise the shortening until you can do it in one smooth motion. Different instructors teach different methods of shortening reins, but the one I use seems to work ok. Just: take the reins in one hand (doesn't matter which one) in a fist. Then slide your other hands down the reins until the are the desired length. If you hold the reins with your left hand and slide down with your right, then once you have reached the right length, hold the reins firmly. Take the top hand (left, in this case) and grab hold of the left rein in the normal way you hold reins. 'Pluck' the left rein away from the right rein, and grab the right rein in the normal way.
This method is easy to remember. Just think to yourself, 'One, slide, let go, pull apart." it may sound silly to you, but thinking the words will help you remember the actions.
Practise using this method until you can do the shortening in about 1-2 seconds. Don't scoff, it is possible!
The shorter amount of time you take to shorten the reins, the more time the horse has to react. Also, if you are new to riding and have to fiddle around with the reins a bit to shorten them, the horse will think "What the heck is going on up there?" and pull. Practise with rope or reins tied to a chair until you can shorten the reins quickly but smoothly, without looking at your hands!
Hope this helps!