A bridle contains a bit (a piece of metal or rubber that is placed in the horse's mouth) attached to reins. Reins are leather straps or rope attached to the outer ends of a bit that extend to the rider's or driver's hands, allowing them to give commands known as rein aids.

Use for Riding

Reins are used to communicate to the horse or other riding animal. With the reins you can bend the neck and encourage turning, or move them back and ask for a slower speed or a halt. But a rider must also use leg cues and body weight.

When a rider squeezes her/his leg, the horse responds by moving away from the pressure. The reins can be used to warn the horse that you are about to turn. The sides of a horse's mouth are sensitive, so pulling on the reins pulls the bit, which then pulls the horse's head to the side.

Reins are also used to stop a horse. By gently applying pressure to the reins in a backward motion and sitting against the horse's movement for a short time, you can stop a horse completely or cause the horse to walk backward.

Harness Reins

On some types of harnesses there might be supporting rings to carry the reins over the animal's back. When pairs of equines are used in drawing a wagon or coach it is usual for the outer side of each pair to be connected to the reins and for the inside of the bits to be connected by a short bridging strap or rope. The driver carries "four-in-hand" or "six-in-hand" being the number of reins connecting to the pairs.

Other Uses

A single rein or rope may be attached to a halter to lead or guide the horse or packhorse. A long rein called a longe line may be used to allow the horse to move in a circle for training purposes.

Types

Types of reins include:

• Snaffle reins - Usually a laced rein used singly on a snaffle bit or on the bradoon of a double bridle.
• Closed reins - smooth reins that are either a single piece or that buckle together at the ends, usually used on curb bits.
• Side reins - used when longeing a horse.
• split reins - a rein style seen in western riding where the reins to not attach to one another at the ends
• Romal reins - a rein style from the vaquero tradition that incorporates a closed rein with a long quirt at the end.
• Mecate - a style of rein seen on a bosal style hackamore made of a single piece of rope that encompasses both a closed rein and a lead rope

Popular Usage

In popular culture, "to rein in" is used to refer to the need to hold back, slow down, control or restrict something. Due to the similarity to its homophone, the word reign, the two terms are sometimes interchanged, as in the grammatically incorrect use, "to 'reign' in," a phrase that makes no sense, as to "reign means to rule, control, or posess influence. Correct use of the two words would be as follows: Miss America received a new car to drive during her reign, but after getting five speeding tickets, her driving privileges were reined in.

Related Terms

• Neck rein techniques - used to turn a horse
• Reining - a Western horseback riding competition

BDSM

Reins can be attached to a bit gag for BDSM purposes.

The information above is provided by Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrightsfor details.)

Horse Smarts does not endorse or confirm accuracy of any information listed on this page. It was provided by Wikipedia. Horse Smarts does not endorse sites listed in the horse breed pages, the Horse Classified listings or link pages.

< Return to Horse Terms P - R

Top of the Page