Direct Reining Vs. Indirect Reining

Direct reining and indirect reining differ as direct reining applies direct pressure to the horse and indirect reining uses gentle cues to steer. Choose which reining method to teach a horse with helpful advice in this video on horseback riding.

Hi, I'm Rick Gore from the Travis Equestrian Center. Today, we're going to talk about the difference between direct reining and indirect reining. Direct reining is basically direct pressure. Some people will refer to direct reining as plow reining because when they used to drive the old plow horses, they would use a direct reining technique to direct the horse. Direct reining is most commonly used with the bosal, a halter, a side pool or a snaffle bit. All those are direct reining type devices which means when you pull one pound with the hand, you get one pound of pull. So if I want this horse to turn left, I pull one pound with the left hand and the horse turns left. That's a direct rein. If I want him to turn right, I pull on the right rein, I get one pound per one pound and he turns right. Indirect reining is what you get when you more back into the neck reining. I'm giving him an indirect queue. Instead of pulling him and feeling pressure to pull this way, I'm going to lay this rein on his neck and give him an indirect queue to lean this way. So it's an indirect because I'm not pulling him to the direction. This is a direct rein, I'm pulling, this is indirect, I'm laying it over. So direct and indirect and that's the difference between direct and indirect reining.