Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Let It Go (The Inside Rein)

“A primary consequence of the inside rein is that it tips a horse onto their forelimbs and off of the hind. A knock-on set of results are that it speeds a horse up and becomes harder for the horse to come over their back, create a powerful push from behind and correct… frame.”

Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on the importance of easing up in the inside rein.

Over the past couple weeks you all have tolerated me turning this article into a blog about moving north. I figured you all needed a break from that. So, today we’ll delve into some solid training advice.

Let’s start with a common scenario that has two different potential outcomes: A rider hops on a green Thoroughbred for a flat school. The horse is a bit anxious, a little bit hollow, a touch quick off the leg.

Neil (Lute’s Angel) is a great horse (typical kind, green, talented Thoroughbred) to slot into this example. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

Outcome 1: The rider takes a breath and rides forward from their inside leg to outside rein (ahhh yes, that cliché) with a soft, guiding inside rein. The horse might be a bit above the ideal pace, but in no time they are soft, listening, coming over their back as best they can and balanced. The horse might bop around with their head a little bit, but soon settles gently onto some form of green-horse-appropriate contact and a quiet, mostly rhythmic gait.

Outcome 2: The rider takes a breath and feeling the horse’s anxiety and power, takes the leg off and begins to steer and contain with the reins, using the inside to turn and hold. The horse’s head tossing increases and their feet become fast, trying to run into the next gait. The rider tries to contain the speed and head banging by holding more firmly with the inside rein. The horse dances at the trot, flailing their legs a bit and getting quicker. The rider turns smaller and smaller circles all a bit too fast and anxious. If the ride progresses, the horse is slowed “behind the leg” and contained by regulating speed at the cost of balance and power.

Neil hacking around quietly with a soft inside rein. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

As I have written before (particularly in Disappearing Triangles), life astride is so much better when a horse is ridden off of the proverbial inside leg to outside rein. I could go on to sing the praises of the outside rein for how it helps them balance, becomes a throttle for speed control, and sets them up to step forward from their outside hind and be able to come over their back. But instead of delving into more detail there and repeating myself (go read the other article), I want to shift focus to the problem child — the inside rein.

A primary consequence of the inside rein is that it tips a horse onto their forelimbs and off of the hind. A knock-on set of results are that it speeds a horse up and becomes harder for the horse to come over their back, create a powerful push from behind and correct (and yes, eye catching) frame.

In more detail, thinking through the speed and balance relationship, when ridden from the inside rein, the horse’s weight shifts forward to the inside of the circle and their shoulders tend to follow — even if minutely. In other words, the inside rein has a domino effect to speed. The more a horse is held onto their inside forelimb, the more they lean, the more they lean the faster they have to go to maintain their balance. Then the faster they go, the more a rider who is prone to use the inside rein, uses that inside rein and again, the faster the horse goes. Sure, well schooled critters might figure it out and go, “Hey human, I don’t think you want fast and unbalanced, so I’ll help you out.” But a green Thoroughbred who doesn’t know much better might just take them for a ride.

Ramen (Plamen) will happily run through your rein if you lock the inside, but steady him on the outside and use the inside to guide and he’ll push from behind like a pro. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

As a result of those dominos and the perpetual threat of them toppling, riders who leverage off the inside rein are prone to hold a horse slow, keep them away from that “just above pace” and train them to go behind the leg so that speed and balance both are maintained. Other less than optimal outcomes here are commonly choppy movement and a lack of top-line development.

The great thing is that there is a solution that improves the situation for both horse and rider: the outside rein. The outside can open away from the wither (the amount is of course relative to how green the horse is) and provide space for the shoulders to move over and for the horse to balance back onto their hind end. This is the part I love to teach because getting that outside rein wider — even incrementally — has an immediate effect. The horse becomes bungee-er and freer through their body as they push into a more powerful, balanced shape and are able to get in front of the leg without feeling like one’s mount has turned into a runaway train.

Wolf (Louisiana Moon) showing off how fancy he can be when ridden off the inside leg to outside rein. Note: the inside rein is still doing work, it is just not doing the majority of it. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

Importantly, at the point that the rider is starting to ride off the outside rein, they need to lighten up on that inside one. As soon as the horse pushes from behind, the reward needs to be movement of the inside rein forward towards the bit just enough for the equine to feel it. That reward is space, softness, and an opening for them to move into with their head.

Trainer Laura Ciarletta pilots Oak (Oconee – an adoptable horse from Neer North Horse Rescue) into the outside rein, maintaining a rewarding inside rein during a recent Thoroughbred Logic Clinic in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Photo by author.

This idea of “softening the inside rein” does not mean throwing it away or giving up the ability to guide and turn, though it is going to feel like that for a rider who is accustomed to riding from inside to outside. Instead, as the rider asks with the outside rein and inside leg and as the horse moves over and rebalances, that inside rein softens. When the horse reaches into that space, the rider times the reward and softens again. I like to think of having slightly different “weights in my hands” often two pounds of pressure in the outside and one point on the inside. The reward reduces the inside to .5.

Wolf showing off around a 20-meter circle in the new Kivu Sporthorses location in Bath, NY. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

Next week I’ll review how to turn when not relying on the inside rein, but for now (in short), that rein needs to lift and float with light tension while one’s outside leg, rein and hips shape the turn. Yes, yes, easier said than done. But what I want to get to here before finishing up (there is only so much technical reading that one can manage at a time, right?) is why it is so important to release the inside rein. To do so we return to that original example:

Let’s forget all the positive stuff about balance and push from behind and forward for a second and simply think about the locked-in vice that is created when a rider holds with both reins. I see this all the time on young Thoroughbreds – they are green, wiggly, and well frankly, they’re usually prone to be pretty quick footed. Locking down on either both reins or simply holding too tight on that inside rein won’t likely settle them – it instead creates the hold that translates to “go” on the track. It also fabricates a vice that locks their head in a position, causing them to ping off the bit, toss their head, root, or lift it and try to dash forward through their chest. If a horse is behind the leg, it can cause them to ball up, think about standing up, or simply refuse to want to come onto contact and ride forward. In other words, that inside rein is perhaps the biggest impediment to a quiet ride out there. Let it go and that green Thoroughbred is going to eagerly show you what they can do in the sport world and just how fancy and balanced they can be.

Yep, Wolf is even fancy and round on a loose inside rein when out hacking. Photo by author.

So go ride folks, channel your inner Elsa, let that inside rein go and see where it takes you.

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