How to Hold The Reins When Playing a Shot

answering your polo questions riding Sep 12, 2020
 

Finding it hard to know what to do with the reins when you are playing a shot?

Watch this short clip with some advice on this point.


How to Hold The Reins When Playing a Shot

Transcription:

The next question. Can you tell us about holding the reins when playing a shot. The angle of the left arm, etc? Yeah. So, one of the biggest things I see. Okay. And obviously, sorry, I'm look a little bit back to front of the camera here. My left hand. Okay.

Holding the reins. When I try and turn to play a shot, if I don't allow my elbow to travel with my shoulder as I turn, okay. And it doesn't have to be far, but as I'm turning, I have to allow...keep my hands still, that's the most important thing, because that's how you're directing your horse.

So, even if you turn it to play the shot, you have the lateral movement, and the back and forwards movement, to slow your horse, let it speed up, take it, left, take it right.

But if you don't allow that shoulder to travel, with your shoulders slightly, what happens is you're now in this seat and you try and get your shoulder back, and you can't, because you're not allowing that shoulder turn. I mean, the elbow to travel forward with the shoulder turn, that allows you now to get your shoulders and your hand in line.

That's the most important thing in the swing plane. So, as you turn it's shoulder, shoulder, hand, all in a straight line coming down to, you know, as you start to swing down to the ball. And that will happen as you allow that left elbow to come with your shoulder in the turn.

Now from a near side, what you wanting is, that horse is going to want to go with your body. You need to make a slight seat adjustment, put your left butt cheek up on top of the saddle and then kick into that left stirrup, and into the right stirrup to get really firm. But you've made a little half turn there.

Now, as you play at nearside forehand, you drag your weight left. So, what you want to do is almost do the old cross-my-heart, you know. Where your left hand is, very much, keeping the horse away from the ball.

As you play these backhand or forehand on the near side. You've got to take that left hand across you, and hold the horse away from the ball without coming across it.

Otherwise with the forehand, you always end up with the horse, sort of, in the way of the mallet and you play a little neck shot.

Or if you playing a nearside backhand, the horse's heads away and you can't get the angle you're looking for. You've got to keep that horse straight, play the ball wide on the backhand and forehand. And that gives you the swing forwards and the angle backwards.

So, that the left shoulder on the off side and the hand on the nearside has got to move to your right-hand side to keep that horse straight.