Question and Answer Forum (Dec. 2008)
"Rein Aids"
Question:
As I see it - loosely interpreting - the German
rein aids "speak" to the horse's mass and/or posture where the French rein aids
"speak" to his feet. One of the fundamental differences is the German
practice of using the leg aid/s to laterally displace the horse's hind legs vs. the
French method of laterally displacing the hind legs via the direct rein of
opposition. What do you think?
Answer:
Neither really captures the full range of possibilities. I'm not sure how a rein would affect the horse's body mass. Rein and leg aids have to support each other. A rein aid that is applied without a supporting leg contact and seat will usually get stuck instead of reaching its destination. The same thing applies to the leg aids. A calf aid that is applied without rein contact will usually get stuck in the underneck and the back of the horse.
Rein aids can do numerous different things.
They can help to frame and turn the shoulders. E.g. a pressure of the right rein against the base of the neck (when the right front leg is up) can support the rider's pelvis and right knee in turning the shoulders to the left.
Reins can also help to move the haunches to the side. E.g. a pressure of the left rein can support the left calf (when the left hind leg is up) and the rider's pelvis in moving the haunches to the right.
A rein pressure can remove a blockage from the poll or the neck by flexing it laterally.
A rein pressure can hold a front leg on the ground for a split second longer, so that the hind leg on the same side has time to catch up and step more underneath.
A rein pressure can hold a hind leg on the ground and flex it, so that the horse lowers the haunches and elevates the withers.
It can also remove stiffness from a specific leg by flexing the neck a little against the grounded leg.
The proper application of the rein aids revolves very much around the footfall sequence of the horse and needs to be connected to the rider's weight and coordinated with the seat and leg aids, because by itself the rein can't accomplish any of the things I listed above. It always requires the "orchestra of the aids".
People who ride with a looped rein all the time miss out on a lot of information that they could receive through the reins. You can scan the horse's entire body with the reins and in combination with the seat, the reins allow you to feel exactly where the horse is still stiff in his body, where the aids and the energy can't flow freely back and forth. And those horses will never be completely supple in their entire body, because the rider will not be able to feel all the areas in which there may be hidden resistances.
- Thomas Ritter
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