3 minute read
The inside rein
by hqmagazine
TO TURN OR NOT TO TURN
When starting out in horse riding, every instructor worth their salt will tell you ‘not to turn with the inside rein’. In fact, the idiom ‘inside leg to outside rein’ will soon be something you’ll find yourself chanting in your sleep.
And yet, starting out in the sport, many of us will be a little confused by all of this. To add to this confusion, it is absolutely undeniable that using the inside rein turns our horse. So why on earth is this the ‘wrong’ thing to do? Why would we use our outside rein when we can simply turn our horse with our inside rein?
This very brief explanation hopes to clear some of this up.
THE REASON FOR THE OUTSIDE REIN
The benefits of turning on the outside rein are really all about efficiency and avoiding our horse ‘falling’ on the inside shoulder through the turn.
EFFICIENCY
If turning with the inside rein, we turn the head, which ultimately causes the shoulder, then the body and then the hindquarter to turn after that. Essentially, it’s a bit like turning an articulated lorry – slow and relies on a hinge effect in the neck/withers junction.
Turning using the outside rein, on the other hand, skips the head/hinge stage and instead turns the shoulder, allowing the body and hindquarter to follow. This, thereby, increases the efficiency of the turning, tightens the turning circle and keeps the horse more balanced throughout the turn.
If you don’t trust us, try it for yourself, and you’ll quickly see that the difference in the smoothness and tightness of the turn you can achieve is quite remarkable when the outside rein gives you your steering, rather than the inside.
AVOIDING THE LEAN
Another reason for utilising the outside rein for the turn is to avoid dumping all of the horse's weight on the inside shoulder. If the weight is on the shoulder, the horse is heavy and leans on the reins, creating an unbalanced feeling for the horse and an unpleasant motorbike-esque feeling for the rider.
Moving in this way is bad for the horse’s joints over the longer term, may lead to spookiness and bucking due to the imbalance and will not score very highly in a dressage or equitation test.
Instead, turning with the outside rein helps to keep the horse balanced through the turn, with his weight more equally distributed over his four legs. In essence, he turns rather than collapses to the inside.
THE VERDICT
It seems that whilst intuitively we may want to turn our horses with the inside rein, the outside rein really is the better option!
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