English reining?

[CarrieB]

I ride western generally, but I am going to start english after spring break. I was wondering how western and english differ on how you *stear* the horse. In western I obviously know that you lay the rein on one side of the neck to turn and ect... But I don't know how to stear in english. I think I read somewhere that if you wanted to go right.. then you just pull back on the right rein. I don't know if that's right though. And in western you have to use your legs to turn too, do you do this in english too?

Thanks in advance!

[Suki Wingy]

Some people around where I'm from ride western "split reigned" like english. English you give pressure and dort of pull back the direction you want to go and you usually have to use your leg. The horse I ride if I want to turn left across the arena then go straight over a pole I have to push with my left leg, pull with my left rein, and hold my right rein to get him to bend propperly. Basically no matter which way you do it you'll be pushing your horse into a turn.

[Miss Z]

The horse I ride if I want to turn left across the arena then go straight over a pole I have to push with my left leg, pull with my left rein, and hold my right rein to get him to bend propperly. Basically no matter which way you do it you'll be pushing your horse into a turn.

Yeah, I've ridden English for 10 years (seeing as i AM english...lol ) and legs do have a lot to do with how you ride. Have you ever seen dressage? If you look closely, you'll notice that they do barely anything with their hands, it's all in the legs. You can even halt or slow down without using the reins, simply by using your weight and legs to restrict the horse's movement, but that's a little difficult on a young or spirited horse .

With turning, i agree with what you said Eva, except for the left rein part. You basically said it, but the left rein can remain slack and you can get a better curve . Most people would pull the left rein if they wanted to turn left, and yes, it works and a lot of riders do that. But, if you want to ride properly, then you would actually appy pressure down your right rein to turn left. OK, i know that sounds weird, but i've been riding dressge style for quite a while now so i'll try to explain....

So, picture yourself, you're riding around the school english style, lets say you're trotting. You're in an arena, but now you're beginning to get bored just going all the way around like a goldfish in a bowl. You decide to ride a 20m circle at the A end of the school. Well, once you get to K, you need to think 'CIRCLE' in your mind, so begin to apply a little pressure with the left leg to make sure that the horse is moving in a nice round shape throughout his whole body. Then as you start to come towards B, you can either pull your left or right rein whilst applying pressure with the left leg. If you choose left, the horse turns, but you lose the lovely curved outline you just had and you'll probably end up straight, as the horse will have bent his neck first and not his whole body. Apply a little pressure down the right rein and let the left go slightly slack, and you get a beautiful curve with the whole horse bending and it looks as if you did nothing. It's not easy to do this at first, especially after you've learnt to pull the left rein to go left. If you have riding lessons in english style, try it out. Don't worry if you don't get first time, i really couldn't do it at first. I had to start by pulling the right rein slightly over the horse's neck and using the right leg to turn, which is completely wrong, but eventually it clicks, at believe me it feels so much better for you and the horse.

If you don't understand that, then i'll try to explain again, i don't know how experienced you are in english

[Suki Wingy]

wow, I've never heard of doing it that was Zara! But then again I ride jumpers. Sounds cool.
To get an extended trot you leg and half halts, right?

[Miss Z]

To get an extended trot you leg and half halts, right?

Yeah, that's basically it. An extended trot should not have a faster stride than working trot, the legs just extend more so you cover more ground. If you apply your legs, but sit deep and keep a firm grip on the reins to restrict faster movement you should get it Also, allow the horse to stretch its neck a little more in extended paces, believe it or not a lot of powerful muscles are stored in its neck which control its forelegs, so the horse needs to lengthen his whole outline to be moving actively.

You ride jumpers? Nice. Are they warmbloods? They always make good jumpers. I ride a few jumpers, and i do like a spot of showjumping every now and again, but i suppose dressage is my thing It's really helped me to become a better rider. And you don't fall off so much in dressage! lol

[Suki Wingy]

Almost all the horses I ride are Thoroughbreds

[Miss Z]

Almost all the horses I ride are Thoroughbreds

Ooh, i love thoroughbreds, and strangely enough, i ride them for dressage style riding! They are good all-rounders

[Sweet Sixy]

Well, i ride a little bit of everything.......western, hunt seat, dressage, side saddle, saddle seat....you name it!
I agree with everything that Miss Z said as far as stearing.
Although I have to say the same things don't work on every horse.
The mare that I'm riding now is very different from the horses I have ridden in the past. She is very green and doesn't really leg yield too well (although she's getting better) so to turn her right, you need to almost push more with your right leg to give her that support to bend around.
I think English is fairly easy to get comfortable with the way you control the horse. Good luck!!

[HollandLoppy89]

I ride english.. its been about 4 years i guess. Legs are very important in riding. If you kind of shift your buns to the L or R of the saddle and your inside shoulder's back with outside shoulder forward that's definitely a good way to do it. Reins don't do all that much. Not as much as people seem to think anyway. Slowing down a horse in posting trot is mainly leaning back more when posting and lightly pulling on the reins. When I first started I thought that reins were the only thing to steer and stop. Oh boy.

[dab_20]

Never ridden English before here. But there is also a different way you can steer in Western, and I think it's the same as English. The way you described above is called Neck Reining. There is also Bit Reining where you pull right if you want to go right. That is in western and english I think.

Good Luck!!