The Outside Rein, part 1, by Jane Savoie

Many years ago while visiting the stable of the late Hector Carmona in New Jersey, I was intrigued by a sign in his indoor arena that boldly proclaimed, “The secret of riding is the outside rein”.

I soon discovered that the outside rein (AKA the rein of opposition) has many critical jobs:

1. You control speed with it.
2. You use it to steer.
3. You use it to keep your horse straight.
4. When you combine the outside rein with both your driving aids and your bending aids for 3 seconds, you give the “connecting aids” to put your horse on the bit.
5. Later in training, you’ll use a momentary closure of seat, leg, and hand to give a half halt. (The half halt is one of the most essential concepts in riding because it allows you to improve your horse’s balance – an issue we’re constantly dealing with in training.)

LEARNING TO USE THE OUTSIDE REIN
This month, I’m going to give you some exercises to help you become more aware of your outside rein. I think this is a useful first step because riders instinctively rely more on their inside rein than their outside rein.

The first exercise is simply to ride in all three paces on the “second track” which is one meter away from the wall. One meter is a good distance because it’s fairly close to the wall. And you’ll soon find that the wall exerts some sort of “magnetic pull” that draws your horse back towards the track. Plus, it’s a small enough distance for you to clearly tell if you’re staying equidistant from the track.

Your goal is to make it all the way around the ring exactly one meter away from the track without having to make any corrections or adjustments. Pretend you’re on a 4-inch wide balance beam and any deviation off your line means you’ve fallen off the beam. If your horse is between your aids, it’s easy to keep him one meter from the wall.

Once you can do that, increase the difficulty of the exercise by making a circle. Ride one meter off the track as in the first exercise. Then ride a circle that begins and ends at exactly the same point. As you finish the circle, continue riding straight ahead maintaining your one-meter distance away from the track. The critical points are when you start and finish the circle. You’ll need your outside rein both to turn your horse onto the circle as well as to straighten him to tell him to go straight ahead again.

To add an even greater degree of difficulty to the exercise, turn down the centerline and leg yield over to the wall. When you’re one meter from the wall, interrupt the leg yield with your outside aids and redirect your horse’s energy so he travels straight ahead. Since your horse will be inclined to continue his sideways momentum and end up on the track, you’ll need to use the correct influence of your outside aids.

Have fun practicing these outside rein exercises, and next month, I’ll explore using the outside rein to connect your horse.

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A friend of mine sent me the following poem, and I’d like to share it with you.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you’re more blessed than the million who won’t survive the week.

If you’ve never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you’re ahead of 20 million people around the world.

If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you’re more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you’re richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, or spare change in a dish someplace, you’re among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you’re blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder, you’re blessed because you can offer a healing touch.

If you can read this message, you’re more blessed than over two billion people in the world that can’t read anything at all.

You are so blessed in ways you may never even know.

If you’re feeling blessed, repay those blessings by doing something for others.

A blessing can’t be kept. If it stops with you, then the blessing disappears. The blessing will only keep working if it is continuously passed around. If you’re the recipient of a blessing, keep the blessing working by being the source of blessing to other people.

Jane Savoie
1174 Hill St ext.
Berlin, VT 05602

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