Les Barden's "Reins and Reining"

[Does’ Leap]

Thought I would start a thread on a article written by Les Barden that was posted by Carl Russell in a previous thread (see attached). Here are a few questions for discussion:

“Turn the horseʼs body, not his head. Tighten one rein slightly in the direction of the turn but do not release the other rein. Sweep the horse on a stopped turn. Have the inside horse lead on a moving turn.”

Can someone explain why we don’t want the horses’ heads to turn?

Keep the reins inside the pair at all times.

This seems clear when driving in a cart. However when I am ground-driving, particularly ground-skidding logs, my lines are often on the side of team. Is this consistent with others?

Back with a verbal command, not the reins. A whipstock is necessary for training
horses to back.

I try to minimize the pressure on the lines while backing, but I certainly use them albeit intermittently. Can anyone explain why back on verbal command only? What is a “whipstock” and how is it used in this training?

Thanks and I look forward to hearing your responses.

George

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[Donn Hewes]

Hi george, I find these questions interesting as well. I think I understand some of them and have guesses for the rest. Hopefully Carl will help us out.

When your horses are standing still and you want them to move over left or right; tipping their head tells them which way they are going, but turning their head means the front legs follow the turning head, and and makes it physically harder to move over, hind and front together. I use two hands with alternating touches when moveing over this way. Ideally I can give and take with each step they take.

I think the comment about reins inside is talking about a cart. Some folks don’t under stand that shifting the lines over the back of one horse is just like making a line adjustment. I like my school bus seat for sliding behind the slow horse and it is like a little line adjustment. It helps me illustrate the effect of our postion relative to the team to begining teamsters.

I am a little unclear on the backing suggestions. I am sure that backing and moving over in the woods while logging would be great if horses would take any step you want just for asking. But in the farm equipment world it seems tricky. Backing the spreader into the shed with out the lines, I don’t know how (or why) to do that. Of course, with 6 animals working they vary greatly in how they respond to pressure while backing. Some are very responsive to a light touch, and at least one mule and one horse need a heavier hand to start backing; I probably trained that into them. For begining teamsters my horses can be hard to stop while backing. Using a light touch while backing, makes it easier to keep them stopping each time you ask.

I also have been working with lines attached for about 20 years. Today, I alway suggest to begining teamster that there is a risk with each; tied or untied. Tied, you can always drop one and still get both back in your hands. With a buckle or knot you can get it stuck on something you didn’t intend. Recently I have been thinking that perhaps 90% of the lines are not connected, so I have been trying to teach myself to work that way. Boy is it tough to teach your self new tricks.

Over all I think Les probably just had really well trained horses that do as he wants. Certainly something to aspire to. Carl?

[Carl Russell]

Another reason why we want the horses to keep their heads straight is that it is more effective way to manage the draft. If they are bending their body, then they are not meeting the load straight. Having the inside horse step up allows each horse to cross over as they turn. If they sweep as they are moving forward they have less forward power.

Keeping the lines inside the horses refers to driving from behind. Clearly when you step off to the side one must make adjustments. The point has more to do with adjusting cross check length. If the cross checks are set correctly then the lines will naturally fall between the animals, and the bodies act as parameters to hold the lines consistently. If they are set so that the line fork over the top of each horse than there will be too much variability at the bit.

One thing to understand about Les is that he believes in fundamentals, so statement like always, are meant more as standards than actual practices.

Such as backing with voice command only, does not mean just saying back. It means picking up slack to the taught line, then rather than pulling back on the lines to force the animals back, using voice as the cue. It is important to understand that stopping on a slack line is still pertinent when backing. The natural expectation of starting on a taught line is that the horses move forward into the pressure, so voice instead of pressure for backing helps to clarify the different messages of pressure, then releasing pressure will be the cue to stop.

I was told by someone recently that a team that they had taken over from Les were ” a handful”. This is because his horses were not really well trained to do anything in particular, but the method of driving that he professes is a consistent disciplined communication that the horses learn to follow, but if a driver does not use that “language” with them they will be completely different animals.

There is more to say I’m sure, but I need to get to bed, Carl

[Carl Russell]

A whipstock is a lash. The point being that horses do not back naturally, and rather than teaching them to back by pulling on lines, one should use other methods. Les is old school, so a whipstock used like on oxen to stand in front of the horse and cause them to back away from you by touching knees while saying back would be his method. Someone like George or Donn may choose to use a round pen and body position to get the horse to back while saying the word.

The idea is that when you use line pressure to mean many different things it blurs the lines of understanding for the horse. Contact is not so much for direction as it is a method of engagement, augmented by voice and slight variations for directional change.

Carl

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