Types of Reining?

[u/sunstitch]

Hello all I'm trying to figure out the name of a reining technique I was taught last year. I was using a romal but I don't know if it's exclusive to those. Basically instead of neck reining or shortening one rein to turn, you'd pull the entire romal back to your shoulder on the side you wanted to turn. So if I wanted to turn right I'd pull the whole thing towards my right shoulder. It's definitely one of the more cowboy-ish techniques I've used. Does anyone know what this is called? It's driving me crazy and I want to learn more about it but I'm not having luck without a proper name. I've tried a lot of different word combinations particularly with "romal" and "reining" but just can't find it.

[u/Utahna]

That is neck reining.

There is a lot of variation in how to neck rein, but on a well broke horse, pulling toward your shoulder mitigates a lot of bad technique that many people fall into because of body mechanics.

[u/sunstitch → u/Utahna]

Interesting.. I remember the instructor telling me the horse didn't neck rein, which is why we were doing it that way. But maybe I'm remembering wrong. Thanks!

[u/Utahna → u/sunstitch]

There are horses that in low stress situations respond to you moving the reins off center before you ever make bit contact. That is one variation of neck reining. A lot of horses won't respond to such a subtle cue, so you take up slack in the reins until you have enough bit movement/contact and pressure on the neck that the horse recognizes the cue.

Its the same technique at different stages of refinement.

[u/sunstitch → u/Utahna]

When you say off center, how subtle are we talking? Is that like a light tap of the rein? When I first learned western riding, I was taught to move my hand up the horse's neck and over for turning, with leg. Sounds like typical riding with a romal is more refined, but I guess I don't have enough experience to really understand the differences yet.

[u/Utahna → u/sunstitch]

Moving off center is two, maybe three inches. Just enough that the inside rein loses contact with the neck.

You can do the same with the romal. Move your hand foward then over. The thing is most beginners when turning in the direction of their rein hand will pull way out to the side, drop their hand too low, and twist the hand. All of this results in losing the support of the inside rein and twisting the horse's head. When the proper way is to move your hand over the 2-3inches and then lift for contact. Then you can adjust your hand foward or back for the amount of collection that you need for the radius of the turn that you want. It is a lot for a beginner to keep track of.

By having you pull toward your shoulder, they are making the lift part be part of the cue and helps prevent you from pulling too wide. Basically, it's trying to simplify what can be a very complicated cue into so.ething simple that works well enough for a beginner.

As you start to develop a feel for it, you will start to understand when to lift, when to move your hand fowared, when to move a bit wider, etc.

I have an acquaintance, who is a pro, that switched from hunter/jumpers to reiners. She claims that a finished western horse is easier to sit on but more difficult to ride [correctly] than an english horse.

[u/sunstitch → u/Utahna]

Wow, this is a lot of great info, thank you! Unfortunately I've come to realize in the past couple of years that I was pretty cheated in my education growing up so now it feels like I'm learning everything from scratch 😅 This is really helpful!

[u/Nervous-Beans → u/sunstitch]

It happens to all of us, no shame in asking questions and taking any opportunity to learn! Research and the understanding of animal behaviour is constantly evolving, so sometimes when we learn from others it isn't necessarily the most up to date information and techniques. You learned the most from what was available to you while you were growing up, and now you're recognizing there may be some gaps in your knowledge. No need to ever apologize for not knowing something 😊

[u/PlentifulPaper → u/sunstitch]

This is not the correct way to steer. Depending on the horse’s experience level, and the tack used, you can even go as refined as 1/4” or less of hand movement to clarify a cue.

At that point the majority of your riding will come from your leg and seat, with your hand being used as a clarification for specific maneuvers.

[u/PlentifulPaper]

This sounds like a horse that really shouldn’t be neck reined on if you’re having to pull all the way back to your shoulder to get a response.

[u/MoorIsland122 → u/PlentifulPaper]

I was thinking they meant "toward" the shoulder instead of "to" the shoulder. As in draw the reins back and to one side. In 2nd sentence the used the word "toward." idk (?)

I looked up romal & said it the reins have a quirt attached to the end (middle of the closed loop reins). So if you were going to use the quirt I guess you'd draw the reins back further- they'd be long reins.

[u/PlentifulPaper → u/MoorIsland122]

Just because a set of reins has or doesn’t have a quirt shouldn’t change how you ride. You can also use the ends of a split rein as encouragement too.

This still doesn’t sound like a horse that knows their job 100% or is suited to a more novice rider in lessons.