Surcingle Very Usefull?

I was just curious since I've never used one does a Surcingle help with head sets and balance training? I'm looking for proper use article but am having difficulty finding anything :S. If anyone knows a good website to refer to please let me know :)

What's a surcingle? If I knew what it was I might know how it works. X)

http://www.horse.com/Western-Tack/Tr...gle-WQK15.html

Thanks^^

Well.. how will you use it? Long reinng?
The placement of the rings you put the rein through makes a differense, the lower the ring, the lower the frame, generally. But it's mainly your work with the reins that matters.

If it's for lunging and with sidereins... I personally don't believe in sidereins, they only teach the horse to tuck the nose in. Collection and balance can't be fixed like that, it has to be soft, yielding and able to let the horse stretch and move. But that's my opinion :)

They are excellent for lunging. When I start off babies I always use one. Really helps when ground driving and teaching the basics of stop and turning, backing up etc. I think it's also a safety issue as well. It allows you to lunge all while keeping the lines up and off the ground (as long as you know how to use them).

Links I found on the web. Different ways of using the surcingle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwELwTP1gG4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ3PVoF9ChQ

it will help tons. Just be sure to have the sidereins at the "correct" length - - too long, and they can't find the support they're looking for, and too tight, well, it just doesn't accomplish what you want to.

Keep in mind that if you set the reins really low, it will help the horse to lift and work through his back - - as he develops more muscle, you can raise the reins up - - the highest setting is actually the hardest ;)

Good luck!

In Australia it's called a roller and a surcingle is the belly straps on a rug hehhehheeh

I have never used a roller, but I have access to one if necessary, and I think they're great to attatch training devices to while lunging, if you don't feel like riding, or the horse is just coming into work etc

^^^ yup! When I saw surcingle there I thought you were talking about the surcingle on a stock/western saddle

We do call them rollers/lunge rollers here. I have one and use it a lot. I either attach side reins or use it with my pessoa training system. The most common would be the side reins though I would imagine.

Using side reins is good for teaching head set, balance etc you just have to be careful not to overuse them. While lunging is a useful training tool its not something you would be doing every single day. You can also attach your side reins to a saddle so if you were only using side reins as a training tool then you could always just attach them to your saddle and lunge that way if the situation required it

I always use surcingles when starting off babies. Great for balance, great for headset, great for self-carriage.