Side rein help

[Kira657]

Would someone like to make me a little programme of work for me and my mare. I have recently been advised by the 'back lady' to lunge her in side reins to help build up her muscle and help her work correctly, I of course want to bring her into them slowly but am not too sure when to start tightening them, and how long to keep each session. how would you go about it with your own horses? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Aphrodite]

Hi.

Not really experienced in this area. Don't know whether your back person said to lunge her in a saddle or whether a roller is best?

Anyway, personally I affix side reins either to the girth or, if a roller is fitted, about at the same point as where the buckles of the girth would be if you had a saddle on. I found that if I put them higher the horse could evade the bit by sticking their head in the air. Also with the reins lower it encourages the horse to lower it's head and work from behind,thru it's back, which is something that you are probably wanting if your back person has suggested lungeing in side reins. Start them off at the loosest hole and she how s/he gets on. if there is no contact whatsoever then tighten them one hole at a time.

The aim is not to strap your horses head in but to encourage your horse to lower it's head and work through it's back.

Afraid I'm not overly knowledgeable on this subject, but I'm sure there are others out there able to help also. :)

[jUmPingIsLifE]

when i introduced sidereins to tahoe i warmed him up first without them. then i put them on on like hole 1. it wasn't even really touching his mouth at all and i started like that. i went up a hole one hole from there after a couple minutes and that was enough for him to start lowering his head and once i really started pushing him i found that that was all he needed to start pushing into the bridle and rounding. i stayed pretty loose the first couple times and i still dont ever really make them tight or so that there is a lot of contact because really, tahoe doesn't need it. he is really learning to work well from behind with them on really loose. to the point where he rounds up without the sidereins at times.