A 'good' contact from the horses point of view, contains all of the 'qualities' listed here. Eeezy Reins TM have been designed
to help the rider to explore some of these feels with the confidence that the horse is kept comfortable through the inclusion
of the elastic secondary reins.
Once you are familiar with the feels you get back from the horse through the Eeezy Reins TM, you can simply unclip the
elastic on one or both sides to explore and learn how to recreate the feel with the ordinary reins. You cannot create a
'good' contact with your arms alone. The qualities in your contact originate in a stable, co-ordinated and adaptable body.
Therefore, an insecure seat or a lot of tension will always make it difficult to provide your horse with the quality of
contact he needs without the buffer provided by the the elastic secondary reins. Likewise, powerful, fluid, Natural movement
in the horse cannot happen if its rider is blocking the use of its head and neck and the desire of the horse to keep moving
forward. Correct (bio-mechanically) and beautiful movement comes from a supple, balanced, co-ordinated and unrestricted body.
BALANCE run 'Straight-Forward-Riding' Workshops and Clinics which are designed to help riders to be effective and supportive
of the horse's Natural Bio-Mechanics. Please see Events page to see if there is a 'Straight Forward Riding' event that you
could attend.
|
|
This is a 'horse friendly' product designed to assist the horse in teaching its rider how to provide a 'good' rein contact!
No-one would expect a gymnast, athlete or dancer to perform well with their hands tied behind their back, and yet many horses
are expected to perform with the equivalent restriction in the form of poor rein contact. Restrict the horse's head and neck
position and you change and restrict the movement of the whole horse. A 'good' contact has a combination of the following
qualities:
- Positive
In order to create a definite and reliable connection between you and the horse. Some
horses like a more positive contact than you might have thought appropriate. However, the heavier the 'weight' of the
contact, the more the quality of elasticity in the riders body becomes essential in order not to block and restrict
the horse.
- Elastic
In order to allow for the fact that the position of the horses head and neck needs to be able to adjust to
co-ordinate with the rest its body. This is one of the main ways in which the horse naturally balances and re-balances
itself. An elastic quality also allows the horse to interact with the contact without inhibiting the quality of forwardness
in his work.
- Attentive
As well as making it possible for the rider to make requests down the reins to the horse, a good rein contact
also allows her to get valuable information about the state of the horses '3 Dimensional Point of Balance'.
- Consistent
If the rein contact continually fluctuates it becomes difficult for the horse to distinguish between the background
'chatter' and a specific rein aid. Therefore, the actual rein aids tend to have to be bigger or more crude. The bigger
the aids have to be, the greater the chance of interfering with the flow of the horse and losing the very qualities you
want to retain.
- Equal
As the horse moves into a state of poise and self carriage his dynamic weight becomes
equally arranged around his point of balance. As this happens, all of the influences from the rider have to become
Equal as well. Obviously, in order to influence the horse to make a change to the way he is going, one has to deliberately
make the reins Un-Equal which is what we call a Rein Aid!
Interestingly the first letter of each 'quality' form the word PEACE.
|
|
