Description
Kavalkade Leather Lauffer Reins
Colour: Black
Sizes: Full and Pony
Durable, best quality leather with excellent craftsmanship.
Length of Full size reins: adjustable from 80″ to 90″ per rein.
Lauffer reins are also known as Phillips or Sliding Side Reins. They consist of two separate leather straps and are used for training the horse on the lunge with the emphasis on stretching and straightness.
The usable length is adjustable at both ends of the leather straps.
The reins are attached with one on each side of the horse’s body. Starting from a mid-to-high point on the girth or roller, the free end runs forward and through the bit ring on the same side and returns to fasten to a lower point on the girth or roller, forming a triangle or V shape on each side of the horse.
The advantage of Lauffer reins over fixed side-reins is the former allow the horse to stretch long and low to loosen its neck and back muscles, instead of being fixed in a short arc where the only possibility is to move the head up and down. With Lauffer reins, the horse has a framework within which it can move its neck to establish balance and achieve self-carriage. In addition, these reins provide more possibilities to adjust height, length, and frame of movement.
Please note, Lauffer reins are not Vienna reins. Vienna reins consist of one rein that originates from the girth, passes between the horse’s front legs and then splits into two. Lauffer reins may be attached as Vienna reins but then have a different action and effect on the horse. Lauffer reins provide the horse with a lateral framework to train straightness and to work in a stretched frame, whilst Vienna reins allow the horse to turn its head to the side but restrict movement up and down, thus having no effect on straightness.
When beginning training in Lauffer reins, keep the reins long, then shorten them if you need to. You want the horse to seek the contact, not be held or forced into a shape. The horse should be able to make contact with the bit when he carries his neck slightly arched, with his face at, or marginally in front of, the vertical. Early in the training when working the horse long and low, the reins are attached to the middle and lower roller rings, at the height of the horse’s chest. As training progresses, with the horse having found self-carriage and a degree of balance and engagement, the reins may be attached higher, to the upper and middle rings.
Lauffer reins are very useful for horses that are tight in the back and/or have difficulty remaining straight – falling through the outside shoulder for instance – and for horses with long and/or weak necks. The framework of Lauffer reins provides a lateral restriction that helps the horse to remain straight, with flexion occurring through the rib cage and not in front of the withers.
Lauffer reins are less restrictive than traditional fixed side-reins and hence, if introduced carefully, are more readily and safely accepted by untrained horses.
