Neck Reigning?

Question

In horseback riding, what exactly does 'neck reigning' mean?

Answer 1

Neck reining (not "reigning") is the use of indirect reining as an aid to turn a horse, as opposed to direct reining.

In direct reining, you apply pressure by pulling on the rein that is on the side you want to turn to.  I.e., if you want to turn right, you pull on the right rein to turn the horse's head in that direction.

In indirect reining, you bring the rein that is on the opposite side of the direction you want to turn onto the neck of the horse, and the horse moves away from the pressure on his neck.

Most generally, indirect or neck reining is used in Western riding with a curb bit, sometimes an extreme curb like a spade bit, where to bring direct pressure of the bit on the bars, tongue and roof of the horse's mouth would cause real discomfort because of the severity of the bit.  Indirect rein training is usually fairly advanced.

Of course the rein/bridle aids are only part of what is used to turn a horse.  There are leg aids and weight-shift of the rider, also, all of which combine to turn the horse.

This website gives a good explanation of direct vs. indirect reining:  http://www.naturalhorsesupply.com/reins....

Scroll down until you come to the "Direct Rein" heading.

Answer 2

exactly? link: http://www.westernmulemagazine.com/image...

Two types of riding methods of using the reins dominate the sport of horses: english and Western reining aka neck reining. I wont bore you with a cut and paste answer: link has good discriptionand pictures.Riding diciplines define how to use each technique. "Reining " is  HUGE growing sport, spectators love it, link below.

Simple example:Jockys use a form of english reining vs cowboys  neck reining on rodeo horses.