August 2007 • VOLUME 24 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

One International Barn - One Outdoor Arena

Four out of five riders riding with draw reins

The insiduous feel of the draw rein.. control, but at what cost.....

A double set of reins work off the snaffle bit. One standard, the other a draw rein that goes back to the girth.

A rein that depresses the neck carriage.. look at the height of the head and the muzzle, when our goal is to have collection with the muzzle even with the point of the hip. A horse that beyond a shadow of doubt is being held onto his forehand.

We know the horse sees down the bridge of his nose.. so from his perspective he is running around blind in the arena. Not knowing when he might bump into something.

Even tightly tied shut, the mouth gapes open, the muzzle wrinkles up - signs of loss of sensation and feeling.

No tongue. The tongue is withdrawn, drawn above the bit, trying to find relief.

The rider pulls back with the one hand feeling restriction, lack of release from the horse. But the horse has no choice.

The muzzle hangs open. The gums become dry and uncomfortable.

We know today that one study has shown that 80% of dressage and jumping horses have poll ossification. Calcification from the pull of the nuchal ligament to the poll. Something that is not reversible.

Even in the process of a calm walk and a friendly visit between riders, the tongue comes out the horse who only knows to stay behind the vertical.

Once the draw rein is removed we see a horse that has muscle atrophy at the base of his neck and in front of and over his withers. The pattern is now set.

Some masters of the past would use the draw rein for the extreme remedial horse, but would set the draw rein so that it would only engage if the horse went well above the vertical. Today instead, we see them used putting horses clearly on the forehand, the horse beyond a shadow of a doubt behind the vertical. A place where we know he will have problems breathing. The feel to the rider will never be good enough, the horse never released. The cause and the effect of the horse ending up on the forehand with a depressed neck and behind the vertical. It makes no sense.

Count the wrinkles,think of the forces involved. The danger of the draw rein is that no rider can feel in theirs hands the multiplication of power that exists. We feel lightness, but not so for the horse.

These pictures are one day in the arena. These horses go through this every day.

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