To say I was excited to trial & test out this product was an understatement. Dante is a horse that needs a little extra help to “hold” together, and I the rider am not ashamed to say that I need a bit of back up when it comes to training and excelling Dante to the best of his abilities. Sometimes being a small woman has its difficulties, but my determination seems to over ride all of this when I manage to put my mind to it!
I would like to introduce you to the “ReinRite” Created & made by the Cork Native Timothy O’Keefe. He is the genius behind this fantastic product & from the reviews I have been hearing, I hope he is enjoying the amazing success he is having from this product.
So lets get into some detail, a lot of you were extremely curious about what the ReinRite was, what its benefits were & most importantly where you can buy one! Count yourself lucky, keep scrolling below, I am about to go into a lot of detail explaining the wonders of the famous Reinrite and everything you as an equestrian need to know about it…
What is ReinRite?
ReinRite is the perfect solution to encourage horses/ponies to adapt a correct outline and to engage their hind quarters. It helps to promote correct muscle development when being worn. It relaxes the horse when being ridden and promotes correct muscle build with less injury.
It is designed to encourage your horse to lower their head whilst working developing correct topline muscles. There is no restriction of movement when you are riding your horse, allowing free flexion for you horse when turning left or right and most importantly it can be used in all paces. It can also be used for jumping, once used correctly.
There are two types of Reinrite’s, one for Race horses & one for sport Horses. Whilst the benefits are the same, the attachment under girth are different for each Reinrite.
How To Apply It To your Horse?
Step 1: Clip the two smaller clips onto your horses bit, one on each ring.
Step 2: Before attaching the individual clip to your girth strap between your horses legs, you can easily adjust the sizing on the ReinRite to suit your horse by simply moving the buckle up or down a hole.
Step 3: Clip to the girth strap & away you go! (with the racehorse reinrite, their is a loop that you slip your girth through)
The roller near the attachment at the bit, this maneuvers side to side, allowing your horse the freedom to bend & flex his head freely. Remember your horse will take a few days to adjust to the outline from wearing the Reinrite. The bungee attached to the girth is elasticated so it gives your horse a lot of stretch. This is also a great aspect to the Reinrite when it comes to jumping your horse.
The Benefits For Horse & Rider
How It helped me, The Rider: The Reinrite has helped me massively. Whilst riding with the Reinrite I was forced to ride Dante into an even contact, this is something I am dreadful at. I really had to work to get him to move from my leg up into my hand. Having this aid on Dante certainly did not mean that I got to sit on him while the training aid done all the work, it basically assisted me in the how I should of been riding Dante all along!
How it benefited Dante: There are many ways in which this product benefited Dante when being ridden. I found it extremely beneficial doing pole work. Dante tends to run or lift his head when he sets his eyes on trot poles/raised poles, but with the reinrite it was encouraging him to carry himself in a lower carriage, working over his back, and in turn showed some super results over poles. I always say, when you see your horse riding with floppy ears that’s when you know they are enjoying their work. In all 3 gaits, I got that flop! As I persistently rode in the Reinrite he became more willing to lower his head carriage each time, with any other training aid I have used in the past there was always a way out for him, or at least he used his strength to get out of doing any work. The Reinrite was a game changer, it completely relaxed Dante, which is not an easy thing to do! Personally, I think this is down to the freedom he has whilst being ridden in this product he still has all the freedom to find and move around whilst carrying himself correctly.
What do I really think?
There were a number of ways in which this product helped Dante. Before I used to used training aids to correct behavioural problems, for instance if Dante used to continuously shoot off on me or not listen to my leg aids, a set of draw reins were quickly put on him to let him know that that behaviour should not be tolerated.
One of the best benefits to this training aid for me was the muscle memory. Is this a thing for horses as well as humans? I found that whilst riding in this product I would be working on riding Dante forward into the bit or holding him in the canter, once I done these exercises reinrite on I could see massive improvements in the way he was moving almost as if this aid was still on.
Jumping in a reinrite, OMG. Well I will be honest and say at first I was petrified, what if he trips, what if he freaks out & forgets to lift his legs? Only yesterday I bit the bullet & jumped a course of 4 fences, (a cross pole, 2 Verticals & an oxer!) He jumped everything PERFECT!! He was chilled, calm and most importantly he was not rushing. He took every fence in his stride, I was delighted. He is a scopey horse who needs no help when it comes to jumping, But at times he can be one to get sloppy after a fence, so my reinrite will be used in this sense to get his muscles used to relaxing over fences. It will only help build the correct jumping muscle groups!
So my advice to you all, save up your money & get your hands on one of these bad boys! They are certainly well worth the money even though they are a little on the pricier side.
ReinRite for Young Horses – Orla & Cosmo
I used the ReinRite on Cosmo during one of our lunging sessions. I realised I needed to start asking more of Cosmo during these sessions rather than just using them as ways of getting rid of excess energy so with Cosmo never having had any type of gadgets or anything on him before, I thought the ReinRite would be a good place to start. With the ReinRite you can adjust the length so for our first time using it, I was able to keep it long enough to allow him to lift and move his head while the little bit of tension meant he was also encouraged to stretch down and use himself more efficiently. I found it to be a nice soft way of introducing these type of training aids, rather than just putting him straight into anything that was overly restrictive.
The Cost & Where you can purchase?
The cost to purchase a Reinrite is slightly on the higher side of the equestrian market. They are €159.00 to purchase.
They are available to buy from – http://www.reinrite.com/shop/
FAQ’s by you our followers
What are the benefits of using it?
There are a number of benefits for your horse, including, It Relaxes your horse whilst being ridden, It Holds your horse in a correct frame, It Builds your horses topline muscles, It encourages your horse to lower their head carriage whilst being ridden & most importantly it Gives you a happy horse & a horse that is willing to work with you rather than against you!
Do you find any other aid to get the same reaction?
Any of the other training aids I have used, such as draw reins have worked, but have taken a longer amount of time to work properly. Dante used to always find a way out of working with draw reins on, but with the reinrite it encourages your horse to relax in their work as well as correcting the way they carry themselves.
Is it worth the price?
I know it is on the pricier side. But my honest answer is yes. I had been saving up to buy one until I got in contact with Timmy from Reinrite about a review.
Is it not cruel, restricting his movement?
It is not cruel at all. But like anything everyone has an opinion on horse training aids. Some people believe in them, whilst other find them to be unnatural or as you mentioned, cruel. Sometimes being a smaller woman with less of a presence on a big horse, you need all the help you can take when it comes to training & training correctly. The Reinrite doesn’t restrict his movement at all, the roller between both bit clips allows full neck movement when being ridden.
Who recommended it/gifted it to you?
I am a big believer of training aids, especially for big horses that need the extra help. I had been following Reinrite, watching professional / International riders using them and reached out to Timothy to work on a collaboration!
It is worth the money to buy for a young horse that can get stressed in the canter?
Personally I dont think training aids should be used to get rid of a nervous horse issue. A stressed out young horse in a certain gait will just need that bit more work to establish an even balanced canter. Spend a bit more time bonding with your horse on the ground, so that they can relax & work with you when been ridden. Orla has used this aid on her 4yr old horse, but she has used it on the lunge. I would recommend using the Reinrite on your young horse in the lunge pen first for a few sessions so he/she can learn to relax in the canter with a correct way of carriage before you begin to ride your horse in it.
And there you have it, everything you need to know about the Reinrite. I have really enjoying reviewing this product & continue to use it weekly with Dante to help encourage his way of moving, so far I am seeing amazing results.
A massive thank you to Timmy in Reinrite, it was a pleasure to speak to you & get to know about the massive amounts of work you put into this product (Did I mention that he makes them by hand himself?)
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in contact, or to drop me a PM, Be sure to follow Reinrite over on their Instagram page, this is a product that has gone worldwide & it is so fascinating to follow & learn what different equestrians use & ride with the Reinrite.
Until Next time & as always a Massive thank you for reading,
Very good written article. It will be valuable to anybody who employess it, as well as yours truly :). Keep up the good work – looking forward to more posts.
How long have you ridden your horse in this before you tried him without and what was the feel like then?
Hi! At the beginning I rode Dante in his reinrite for a full week, then after that when he began gaining more strength for using himself correctly he would be ridden in it once or twice a week! Now I use it mainly just in his canter to help him carry himself properly as he is such a big long boy and I am not the biggest human in the world! But I can safely say he feels amazing!