The Road to Horsemanship, 2.27. Rein positions

Listed below is a recap of the various rein positions, their responsibilities and their actions.

Rein Position	Action	Responsibility	Sometimes Called
Lateral Flexion	Bend your horse laterally to sniff your shoe	This is a neutral, go nowhere or emergency rein. An inactive rein used to gain control of your horse so you can get off or to soften them through the ribs.	Neutral rein Emergency rein
Indirect Rein	Flexing your horse similarly to lateral flexion, however this is activated by bringing your life up and disengaging the hind -quarter with your leg.	Communicates to and moves the hindquarter, specifically the opposite side hind leg.	Hindquarter yield
Direct Rein	An open and releasing rein position that leads the forequarter across by opening your leading hand and leg. There is no weight or pressure in this yield.	Leads the front-end across, in particular the inside front foot. i.e. the right direct rein communicates to the right front foot.	Forequarter yield
Support Rein	More a body position than an actual rein position. Ride the outside of your horse using a contact yield with hip and leg.	Yield the forequarter across. Supports but doesn’t replace the direct rein.
Casual Rein	Hand holding reins in the middle, resting on the wither of the horse with no rein pressure at all. Release.	Give the horse trust and comfort and the responsibility of maintaining gait and direction by leaving them alone. No yield.	No contact rein or Loose Rein
Semi Short	Two active reins. Reins neither short nor long. Elbows bent gives contact to the horse, straight elbows will give loose reins- no contact.	Preparedness for quick corrections while still giving trust and comfort. Used for all directions.	Butterfly (this refers to the action of picking up this rein position) Superman
Contact Rein	Two short reins with contact with the horse’s mouth.	Picking up a soft feel for greater refinement in communications in all directions. Relaying a more subtle message.	Soft Feel Butterfly

The term ‘Rein Position’ can be misleading as our goal is to be able to do all of these so well and lightly that we no longer need reins, so this refers more directly to our body position or focus that to the actual reins. At all times when practicing, try pretending that you do not have reins; focus hard with your whole body where you want to go, make sure your body position is correct and be as light as you can. This way, activating your reins will become a phase that you can eventually do away with.

Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.

- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.