Currently using draw reins? Considering using draw reins? Not sure if you should or shouldn’t be using draw reins? I want to know! 
I am looking for readers to submit their experiences with using or reasons for considering using draw reins. In exchange I will be writing a series of posts on solutions to training issues often dealt with by using draw reins.
You can participate by emailing me: info @ awarenessinriding.com or submissions can be made as comments… Thanks!
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Laura
April 15th, 2009
I don’t use draw reins, but I do use Vienna reins when lunging my horse. I have also used a neck stretcher.
I started lunging him for several reasons: he is a very nervous horse and lacks confidence and I wanted him to learn to trust me; he had a lot of intermittent lameness issues and I wanted to be able to assess his way of going before getting on; he has a cough (allergies)that is very unpleasant to ride through and I wanted to have a way to get his coughing out that was less upsetting for both of us; and I wanted him to understand the concept of “we are working now.”
Once we got through all of that, my dressage trainer suggested Vienna reins as a way of teaching him to really use his back (he was originally trained [not by me!] with the “kick hard, pull harder, head up, hollow back” method – and he was ridden in a full cheek knife edge bit and a standing martingale). Given his apprehension about anything new I wasn’t sure how he would feel about the Vienna reins, but he took to them right away. Depending on how bad his cough is, I don’t lunge him for more than 15 minutes before we ride – and it’s usually not more than 10. It probably takes me more time to get him “suited-up” then it does to actually lunge him!
I find that the Vienna reins have really helped the development of his body and his brain – he now understands that it is much more pleasant to go around with his back up and neck relaxed, and he has a really nice well-developed topline.
I used the neck stretcher when I was at a strictly hunter/jumper barn – my horse seemed to like the give of it.
I have seen draw reins used very, very well and very, very poorly – they are like anything else: in the right hands they are a wonderful training tool and in the wrong hands they can cause a lot of problems. They are not a short cut or a way to “force” your horse into a certain frame – they are meant to teach your horse proper use of his body. And, of course, they mean nothing if you don’t use them correctly and you don’t ride correctly – it will always come back to that.
Laura
3rica
April 17th, 2009
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the insight.
Erica