Tip 37: Reining Techniques-Direct and Indirect Reining - No, we are not talking about the stuff that falls from the sky and cancels polo, we are talking about the four pieces of leather you hold in your left hand. Who cares about severe draughts anyway when there is polo that needs to be played ??
So, turning a horse? Oh that’s easy. There is an old Indian saying “Put hand left-horse go left-put hand right-horse go right”. (I’m kidding on the old Indian saying, as they were the masters of riding a horse through their legs). So reining may seem like pretty simple stuff initially…..but there is a lot more to it.
The beginner rider starts out pretty much all hand, while more advanced riding is all about the combination of seat, legs, eyes, voice, hands, and position. Hands or reining is only a piece of the puzzle, but certainly an important one.
There are two ways to hold your reins. What we call argentine style and English style. There are players representing both styles who have achieved the ten goal handicap, so the choice on how to hold them is really personal preference. The argentine style has your two snaffle reins running on top of your index finger and the two curb reins running underneath between the index and your middle finger. The English style is left to right starting inside of your hand and then inbetween each set of finger. The rein on the far right should be between your middle and index fingers. You start with your left snaffle rein through the heel of your hand and then out between index and thumb, then left curb rein through your little finger and the third finger, then right curb rein, then right snaffle rein. Your snaffle reins are the higher reins coming from the bit. All of the slack of your rein with the English style, should come out between your index finger and thumb. The English style is better suited for taking advantage of various reining techniques that may help you in slower polo and those of you that may be somewhat limited in the level of horse that you can afford. The great amateur horses pretty much do it for us. In the show world, that horse is called a great “packer”. In polo they are called “sponsor horses”. You probably know them better as the best horses in your string or strand depending on your budget. Polo with pretty much any horse is fun, but the great horses are what make polo the ultimate high.
There are many less than great horse out there that may require a little more direction or encouragement to get to the play. That is where a little more knowledge on the basics may help. The basic neck reining we do would be referred to as indirect reining with the method of two handing. That is laying the rein across their neck and hoping that they turn away from that pressure. That is one of the reasons four reins are better than two as you have more leather against their neck for direction. You should hold your hand down close to the horse’s neck as that will allow you to take better advantage of the horse’s neck as the majority of your reins will be on the neck. If you raise your hand, you will get the narrower portion of the horse’s upper neck, which is not the desired area.
When holding your reins in two hands, the most basic rein aid is your direct rein. You pull on the right reins to go right and the left reins to turn left. If you are turning right, your right reins are your direct reins and your left reins are your indirect or neck reining reins. If you were to use two hands, you would use both your direct rein, which is pulling back slightly on the right reins to turn right. And you would support them with your left reins or indirect reins across your horse’s left side of the neck. The reason that this is important to know, is that when you are holding all four reins in your left hand, you should learn how to utilize both the direct reins and the indirect reins while neck reining. Why? Because you are giving added signals to the horse which will produce better results. The easiest way to explain how is to remind you to pull up your reins evenly on both sides. Then if you are going to turn right, move your rein hand right, holding the two right reins steady and letting the left reins slide out a little looser. You will get to the point that you will have both your direct reins and your indirect reins working together. Once you come out of your right turn, you will need to re-adjust all four reins so that they are even lengths on both sides.
The easiest way to shorten your reins is to use your fingers off your mallet hand and grab the slack of your reins directly behind your left hand, and then slide your left hand forward. Learn to shorten and lengthen your reins turning both directions.
If you choose to hole argentine style, it is a little trickier to work right and left reins independently of each other. You need to use your fingers from your mallet hand to pull the desired reins shorter.
You always support the request with your hands with pressure from your “outside leg”. When turning right you either squeeze or kick with your left leg to drive the horse’s body into the turn. You should also be turning your upper torso into the direction of your turn. All of these things working together is what helps the horse into the turn correctly.
There are also a few tricks to using your reins for better lateral movement, but we will leave that to another article,such as indirect reins over the withers. That is the reining technique that will help you in ride-offs and getting your horse closer to the boards in the arena.
In the meantime, start working on the combination of your direct and indirect reins. But easy with your hands. Our motto should always be “guide with your hands, drive with your legs”. Happy Polo !!
