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You see McCoy after the last fence on Nacarat when the camera zooms in you can see a great close up, well what exactly is his action with the rein doing to the horse, to me it looks like he’s just punching thin air and horse can’t feel anything from McCoy?
Cheers
I have long thought McCoy punishes horses unnescessarily, and often wonder if the horse remembers that next time or is ever quite the same again.
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Phill thanks for the reply, but what exactly was he pushing there surely it was the horse doing all the work, he had no control over the neck with the grip on that rein right?
What exactly do you expect him to have done with the reins please? The reins are there for both steering the horse and if necessary restraining its enthusiasm. They are connected to a lump of steel (the bit) which sits in the mouth. By releasing the tension on the reins the horse feels free of this restraint and therefore more inclined to move forward, particularly if it is under the whip. Shaking the reigns might prompt it to be more enthusiastic in its running but I doubt whether that has any great influence on events. So to suggest he was shaking the reigns in free air and somehow inhibiting the horse is, to my limited knowledge as only an occasional rider, incorrect.
Are you possibly thinking of instances where you have seen the jockey holding the reigns firmly whilst simultaneously appearing to be pushing on the horse’s neck?The less contact with the reins in a backwards motion, i.e. restraining the horse, will allow for more forwards motion and flexion of the head.
If you are on a tight rein and kicking the horse on, then you are giving the horse 2 different signals from the saddle.
Tight rein = halt progression
Kicking on = increase progression.McCoy does nothing wrong at all there.
Actually it’s not quite that simple. Even when applying leg aids to go faster, it’s still necessary to maintain a contact on the reins. The amount of contact needed does vary between individual horses and their degree of sensitivity – some need the confidence they get from a fairly strong rein contact. There is also a big difference between keeping a contact and pulling. However, completely dropping the contact can cause a horse to wander off a true line and some will actually slow down.
Exactly right, Mort.
Basically jockeys will ride with a "bridge" in their reins unlike a regular rider who will just hold the reins one in each hand with the loop hanging down. The bridge across the horses withers allows for a better balance and firmer control. When a horse starts to come off the bridle a jockey will change his hands (i.e. change the position of his hands on the reins by shortening them up slightly) – in the US it is known as "throwing a cross." Horses will usually respond to this action by quickening up. Indeed with some horses you only have to twitch a finger on a rein for it to respond and if the horse is a strong free-going sort, you have to sit painstakingly quiet and not move your hands at all until you want it to quicken.
Ideally you want to keep a pretty good hold of their heads and not let the reins go floppy although when jockeys are riding a vigorous finish, invariably the reins go slack as they throw every ounce of strength at the horse – especially noticeable NH racing.
At home when you are educating youngsters, I think it is very important to keep a good hold of their heads and use your legs to squeeze them up into their bridle to get them to learn how to travel on the bridle. It is also important to teach them that changing your hands means go faster.
Hope this make some sort of sense – it would be easier if I could give you a visual explanation!
Actually it’s not quite that simple. Even when applying leg aids to go faster, it’s still necessary to maintain a contact on the reins. The amount of contact needed does vary between individual horses and their degree of sensitivity – some need the confidence they get from a fairly strong rein contact. There is also a big difference between keeping a contact and pulling. However, completely dropping the contact can cause a horse to wander off a true line and some will actually slow down.
Yes of course, and with racehorses being fairly ‘dead to the leg’ in terms of steering, you have to have some contact.
However, if your mount isn’t likely to drift off it’s straight path, then you dont need a heavy contact.
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