Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Disney and the Inside Rein
“… in order to get the outside rein to do its job, I often have to ask riders to let go of their inside rein and use it to guide not to direct.”
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 use of the inside rein.
Let me start by saying that what follows — the dive into Disney dance scenes — is a discussion of what is likely my least favorite riding metaphor. But oddly enough, asking grown adults to think through specific aspects of how princes and princesses spin around together seems to work wonders for clarifying use of the inside rein on turns. Sure, many riders have children and so have been relegated to years of watching royalty approach their to-be dance partner and head off to a dance floor of twirling couples. But, kids or no kids, while society has mostly lost the desire to ballroom dance and to know steps and protocols, the notion what it looks like to dance and — perhaps more relevant here — what it looks like to get to the dance floor together remains firmly part of the greater American imagination.
Stay with me, we’ll get to all this Disney fun in a second. In the meantime, the context: I spend a lot of time teaching about the use of the outside rein. Whether restarting neon green Thoroughbreds or bringing along a mid-level dressage or event horse, that outside rein is critical. It is key to speed control, balance, connection to the hind end and bend. It pairs up with the inside leg in that wonderful cliché and enables a horse to push from behind, come round over its back, and move forward freely in contact. Great. (See more on the outside rein in the Disappearing Triangles article).
Needles Highway clicking around on his outside rein. Photo by Allen Graham.
But in order to get the outside rein to do its job, I often have to ask riders to let go of their inside rein and use it to guide not to direct. The inside doesn’t need to completely flop around, but it does need to soften and become secondary to the outside. Put frankly, that’s tough. The inside rein is often used (and I’d argue, overused) to turn, to create flexion and to contain speed. Asking someone to make the inside the secondary rein probably feels like I have roped their arms to their torso, rendering them passive and likely quite concerned about things like basic steering and the miles per hour their young Thoroughbred might be reaching down the long side. So when this happens, I end up having to chat through two different metaphors/concepts.
The first is the ‘door’ metaphor. This is the idea that you cannot close all the doors on a horse. They must have somewhere to go forward, some opening to move into. As illogical as it might sound, even amounts of inside and outside rein generally push a young horse behind the leg and into the wonderful land of suck back, buck or rear. (There’s a whole article on keeping a door open). In short, when you put leg on, one of the two reins must contain less pressure, creating a clearly open door for the horse to head through. The more advanced they get, the less the pressure difference needs to be. Regardless of whether the horse is running Prelim or just starting out, if we add outside rein and start to really work the inside leg to outside rein connection, we need to lighten the inside rein and use it to guide not to demand or drag. And here’s where Disney comes in.
Neumann (Bubba Bob) making a good show of bending right into a soft inside rein while getting support on the outside. Photo by Lily Drew.
Yep, princes and princesses and evil step sisters and drunken fools… hyperbolic concepts of grace and guidance or harsh/sloppy demands. That said, I have honestly avoided writing this article for a while because the metaphor makes me roll my eyes. Alas, I just can’t find any that work as effectively, so here we are. When teaching this, I end up parodying dance scenes and if you have met me, you know that there’s not a lot of grace until I swing a leg over a horse.
The worst part about this metaphor is that I can’t remember the last time I watched a Disney movie, let alone one with princes and princesses taking to some grand dance floor. I am pretty sure I liked things like this when I was five. That was also the year my parents painted my bedroom, so I ended up with wallpaper roses and baby pink trim until I left for college. By six, I don’t think I cared about who Cinderella became or the prince and all his wealth — all I wanted to do was ride horses and catch frogs. So please bear with my woefully poor Disney knowledge… I promise, it will make sense and be useful even if I’m a far cry from a resident expert.
Neil (Lute’s Angel) learning to turn in the dressage arena at the Ithaca Equestrian Center. Photo by Lily Drew.
When gaining that connection and forward, I ask riders to turn by lifting their inside rein slightly (maybe plus or minus one inch), opening space to turn. Many riders want to (or are unaware that they) pull down towards their thigh on the turn or curl their wrist over, knuckles to the neck. Either way, those inside rein actions cause the horses to do anything from hardening their jaw and tipping their pole, lifting their heads and inverting against the pressure, speeding up, losing connection, dropping onto the forehand, or any and all of the above. The horses’s shoulder follows the inside rein. Lift it and they will lift the shoulder. With the help of inside leg to outside rein, they will then and remain balanced over their outside hind, able to turn gracefully into the open space presented. Drop and pull on the inside rein, or curl the wrist over and lock them into it, and they will commonly fall forward in the ways discussed above.
Finch (Morning Artie) working serpentines through a soft inside rein. Photo by Lily Drew.
I like the verb “to guide” to discuss how to use the inside rein. It directs, but gently. And the best way I can get folks to think through the idea of “guiding” is that proverbial gender-normative Disney scene where a man approaches a woman, takes her hand gently and lifts it up and away from himself to present the path to the dance floor. That raised, guiding hand does not need to pull to direct said fairy tale female. It provides the path and just enough support to let her know where to step and turn. The man’s other hand that may land on her waist providing support and control of the speed and connection. That hip-hand would be a rider’s outside rein and leg (but that’s another article). Should the proverbial prince lift and guide gently, the imaginary princess follows along into the turns to the dance floor effortlessly, with grace and her feet well beneath her.
Cinderella and Prince Charming. Something like this… though hopefully the horse would be less distracted by the birds.
In effect, the “guided” princess who received a raised hand to follow would be over her hind end remaining in the requested rhythm, pleasantly guided into the open space. And because nothing is uncomplicated with horses, to guide effectively with said inside rein, one must turn from the hips and stay connected on the outside rein and leg. The elbow of the inside rein must bend back from the shoulder, not down towards the thigh. And just like the prince presenting the princess with a path to the dance floor, the inside must remain soft, bungee, but confident in its slight lift and ask.
The opposite would be the moment that a drunkard tries to drag a lady to the floor or the evil stepmother (proverbial or otherwise) grabs the Cinderella character by the wrist and drags her out and away from the perfectly coiffed pairs. Remember, I’m no Disney expert, I can’t remember if these things actually happened in the movies or not. But think about the physics of it. A strong downward pull or drag will topple the female dancer off of her feet towards her knees with forward momentum. She’d need to move faster — her feet scrambling and trailing out behind her — in order to keep up with the pulling demand. Dropping the inside rein and dragging down as a rider would send the princess…er, horse… onto their forehand, change their speed to maintain balance, and hollow their back to stay upright.
Belle and Beast with another version of the “guide.”
In sum, as ridiculous as it is, Disney makes it clear that guiding and lifting into open space (that open door) with the inside rein trumps pulling it.
So go ride folks, and whether you dance or not, enjoy thinking through not just where you steer your horse to, but how you communicate the turn.
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