check reins

Hi, I’ve used both check and overcheck reins with saddle horses. I’ve not found any benefit for one over the other, their use being dictated by availability and/or the presence/interference of other gadgetry. May I ask why you would wish to use them? I’ve heard of them being used on carriage horses and riding horses but not otherwise. Amanda

Jen ~ You say that you use the check reins for keeping your horse from grazing while in harness. Is that a bad thing? I mean, as long as he’s not actually pulling (stopped, resting, etc.) I don’t know, so that’s why I’m asking. When we use the mules for packing or pulling the stumps out or the trailace, the boss’s philosophy is “If it doesn’t interfere w/ their work”. If it’s a bad habit or unsafe, I want to know BEFORE I start training my Dragon.

Yes, putting the head down to the ground while in harness, hooked with a partner, to an implement, is not a good idea. Simple reason is it leads to wanting to take a step, which should not be allowed. This can also lead to tangling lines, etc. Pretty hard to keep them from eating standing hay if it is under their nose, though. The simple check rein is from bit to bit and is dropped over one hames. Be sure to adjust the length so the animal can work freely. I have friends that don’t have a check rein on any over their horses and it is the first thing I put on bridle. Donn

As Ira says, the overcheck will emphasise pressure on the poll (atlas) and enourage the horse to ‘bring in’ the nose. Sidechecks, like antigrazing reins, inhibit downward flexion to the same end i.e. ‘don’t lower the head’ but with less incitement to put chin to chest. A

What I think of as an overcheck is a line that runs from the bit, through rings near the top of the bridle, and hooks to a strap attached to the hip assembly or back pad.

We use an overcheck line, but loop it around the hames, on our one mare who insists on hooking a side check on the end of the neckyoke. Since the overcheck runs up alongside her head, she can’t hook it. It doesn’t bother her when she gets the sidecheck hooked, it’s a fun game to her. She hooks it and pulls it off…hooks it and pulls it off…EVERY time we stop. Drives me bananas, hence the switch to the overcheck.

We keep them on to prevent grazing and any sort of mischief. I know of a horse that didn’t have one that put his head down to scratch his leg and got his foot over the line. I don’t feel that they hurt anything as long as they aren’t overly tight. Both our horse’s checks are adjusted to be barely loose when in a resting position. If we’re doing any heavy pulling where they might want to get their heads down more we take them off.

Hi Robert, if you look at my web album every animal in there, except Connie, is wearing a loose check rein. They are hard to see in some photos, easier in others. This type of set up is the easiest to use and serves only one purpose; to keep their head off the ground while they stand. Look at the bits. They all have two lines going to them. The upper one, hooked direct to the snaffle ring, is the check rein and goes over a hames ball and down to the bit on the other side. The lower line is the driving line. There are mules standing around in the “clipping” file, you can also see them in a couple photos in the “firewood” file. They all wear them. Donn