# One Rein Stop vs. Pulley Rein



## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Two very different methods. The one rein stop uses hind end disengagement as the primary tool. There is only contact one the inside rein. This method is best for times when you can catch the horse before it gets to a full out bolt. 

The pulley rein is very harsh on the horse's mouth and should only be used in true emergencies. While it also ultimately disengages the hind end, it does so much more harshly by planting one rein at the neck and pulling the other one up in sharp and rhythmic pumps until the horse is under control. If done very severely, it can permanently damage the bars of the horse's mouth. 

One rein stop works for 99.9% of problems, so just concentrate on that one.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

They are two methods to get control of a horse, yes. But you use them in different situations. In short:


A one rein stop is what you'll use 99% of the time when your horse is acting up. 

A pulley rein is serious shiz. If a horse bolts -- I mean truely bolts and gallops off with you, and you are unable to stop him---, you use a pulley rein. Pulley rein uses an amazing amount of leverage and can hurt a horse, especially in a harsher bit. I don't practice pulley stops for this reason.


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## littleamy76 (Jun 30, 2011)

When I was taking lessons while in college (studying equine studies), the pony I was on decided to take off. My instructor was telling me to make the pony go into circles and to make them smaller and smaller and eventually he would stop. I not knowing what she was talking about, could not figure out why I would make the pony go in circles in which it could throw its balance off causing us to tumble over. After reading this, I know now that she was telling me to one-rein stop the horse. Thing is, I wish they would have properly taught us this BEFORE an incident happened because I totally freaked out and refused to ride that pony ever again. I will keep this info you all have posted in my mind for future reference. Thank you!


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## Ferhoodled (Jun 7, 2011)

Ok, thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense... the pulley rein sounds much more drastic, and I'll focus on the one rein stop. Good to have in mind just in case.


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## Sarahsbabies (Dec 9, 2013)

I wish I had known about the pulley rein stop this morning, I knew my pony was spooking at an approaching tractor, we circled and stopped, thought he was gonna be ok, then he took off, I was trying to one rein stop him but lost my balance and took a fall, he wasn't going to stop. I am now nursing road rash hands and sore hip, think I was dragged for a second along gage road. Will practice this for next time lol.. He's only a baby at four and a half x


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

A one rein stop needs to be practiced in a controlled environment for it to be effective. The horse needs to be very responsive to it in the controlled environment. If not, the horse can still run off or forward no matter if you have its head pulled back to its side. Been there, done that. Also, the rider needs to practice it so the action is instinct and not something you have to think of first. 

The pulley rein doesn't have to be harsh. The reasoning behind it is that you are not creating equal pressure on the bit for the horse to brace against. It should only be used in cases of emergency.

Edit: All you have to do with the pulley rein is to pull just a little more on one rein than the other. The pulley rein can be done in a see saw fashion for more affect but that can be harsh.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

I think it's important to know both methods (and how to gauge your strength on the pulley rein so you don't end up using more force than necessary!). My horse is still a little iffy on one rein stops (we're working on it), but even if he had them down solid it's highly unlikely I'd have a place to use it when we're out trail riding, since I'm usually in the woods. The trails I ride on are mixed use in a state park, so a bolting horse could potentially be very dangerous for hikers, cyclists, or other horseback riders nearby.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

A spiral to a slow down is fine if there is room. 

A 'one rein stop' is a learned behavior, and about as effective as any learned behavior - ie, it depends on the quality of the training! I've never heard an explanation as to why training to stop with one rein pulled is more effective or natural than training to stop with both reins pulled.

Yes, a horse can gallop very fast with its nose at your knee.

A pulley stop isn't that big of a deal. It gives you the mechanical leverage to pull harder than most people can without using it. It isn't gentle, but a bolting horse can be an emergency.

A curb bit is a frowned upon but sometimes useful option for riding without contact. The pressure on the poll and curb strap can make it much more effective than pulling on a snaffle. If the horse's head is near horizontal, pulling on a snaffle merely braces it against their teeth. They can ignore it pretty easily in that position. But that won't stop the pressure on their poll or the curb strap with a decent curb bit.


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## Aimz (Jul 16, 2013)

I use a the one rein stop, however only from a walk or trot, the version I use is not really a spiral down. It's a fast whipping of the head around (at fast speeds you can pull a horse over, it's how stunt horses fall in movies) however it's also using leg to move the hind quarters over. 


I will use it to stop a buck, if a horse breaks gait, sometimes in a spook, to stop a bolt before it happens, I will also use it gently to just stop a very green horse or a horse with a hard mouth.

It's something that needs to be taught to both horse and rider. It also needs to be practiced (one each side every time I ride) to maintain it's effectiveness, it can be used with a bit, bitless bridle or even a halter so long as the horse understands how to yield to pressure. (Stiff/untrained horses generally will spin rather then stop). 

The you can also pull the bit through the horses mouth, rending the stop ineffective. So a cheeked bit (fm, big d ring, English Tom Thumb) or chin strap should be used.


The pulley rein can be very harsh and I would use it if needed only on a bolting horse, where I missed the window to use a one rein stop, and I could not circle the horse

The idea of the pulley rein is to tighten and brace against the neck with on hand (to keep the horse head straight and create leverage) and pull up with the other rein. I've never needed to use it but I have (gently) practiced to make sure both my horse and I understand it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Kno this thread is old, but I've never heard of a 'pulley rein' before today & when googled to learn more, this thread came up... 

Firstly, Ferhoodled, if you're still around, have to say that's a hilarious avatar pic!

I don't actually get why it's called a 'pulley', just seems like a way to get harsh enough with a bit that it gets through/forces through pain, to a horse who's 'lost the plot'.



bsms said:


> A spiral to a slow down is fine if there is room.
> 
> A 'one rein stop' is a learned behavior, and about as effective as any learned behavior - ie, it depends on the quality of the training! I've never heard an explanation as to why training to stop with one rein pulled is more effective or natural than training to stop with both reins pulled.


Absolutely bsms - that, I believe is why people can find a 'one rein stop' ineffective - because they try to just MAKE it happen, rather than *teaching* it. And 'spiralling to a stop' is part of that - it's called a one rein STOP, rather than a one rein turn for a reason. While in early/slow training you might start with allowing spiralling, for it to be effective in 'real life'(well, aside from those 'real lives' that stick to arenas & such), you need brakes to work going straight ahead too!

I think the reason it can be more effective to use one rein than 2, esp in an emergency, particularly I think if in a snaffle or bitless, is simple physics for one - you have a lot more leverage to turn the horse(or his head at least... which is usually a good start!:wink, and that pulling back on 2 reins, particularly I reckon with a snaffle, can just cause the horse to resist more, brace against it, etc. Pulling back equally with 2 reins & a single jointed bit can also cause a 'nutcracker' effect too.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Given that I ride outside horses, sometimes once, sometimes for a month or so, I find what is probably called a pulley stop safer and more effective. We can stay upright with it.

I've seen a few people who begged to bring their horses out to trail cows, go down with their horse when Dobbins #1 and #2 got excited and went to run away from excitement (two different incidents. a few years apart). I was not impressed with the one rein stop on rough ground. 

I prefer not to take effective vision from a horse I am riding.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I've used a pulley rein to stop a horse (Mia) in a full blown bolt. I did not teach it to her before hand, and we were going straight down a narrow trail with cactus on either side. I'm certain it hurt her mouth. I also believe it prevented us both from going off the trail at full speed where it made a sharp 90 deg turn ahead of us - which is why I used it.

I used it one other time, when she felt she was competing with another horse and refusing to slow. It worked then, too.

I then switched her to a curb bit, and found that an easy way to teach her to stop well. With about a year of practice, she got good at it in a snaffle too.

This is the video that taught me how to do a pulley rein stop, and I think it may have kept Mia & I alive.






BTW - when I pull back on both reins to stop a horse, I pulse the pressure - bump, bump, bump about twice a second or a little slower until the horse responds. That seems to prevent bracing. If the horse is just not interested in listening in a snaffle, wiggling it slightly back and forth in the mouth sometimes helps...although with Mia, it resulted in her swerving back and forth at full speed between the cactus. That was when I pulled the pulley rein out of my bag of tricks...


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

I've used the pulley rein with my guy- we were in full on galloping race mode once, for reasons not relevant to this thread, and my horse was pretty spun up and not into quitting. If I had tried a one-rein stop, he'd have ignored it at best. At worst, I would have brought him down on both of us when he tripped and fell on the rough footing. I thought that keeping his head pointed in the general direction of travel was a far safer bet for both of us, and due to the area we were in, stopping needed to happen right quick for both our safety.

Did I hurt his mouth? I doubt it- we both had so much adrenalin going that we weren't feeling much pain, and as soon as he responded, I eased up the pressure. Had I pulled that hard when we were just moseying along I might feel bad about hurting his mouth, but in this case, and any case where a pulley rein might be used, I feel like you're only using the amount of pressure you need to in order to force* the horse to listen and respond over all the other thoughts in their head. Better a slightly sore mouth than broken limbs or loss of life for either of us.

*Force. Yes, force. This isn't for a case of training and education IMO. If I'm using a pulley rein, it's because those niceties have failed (at least for that moment) and we're down to brute force methods in the moment for significant safety reasons. Given the time and space, I'd rather (and have) run a horse out for a couple miles until they figured out that listening and stopping was better/easier than going. But that is not always an option.

Now, a one-rein stop? I'll use that if he's just being a goober, needs a quick reminder that what he's doing isn't a valid option, and it's safe to do so, but his brain has to be somewhere in the vicinity for it to work safely.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Sharpie said:


> but his brain has to be somewhere in the vicinity for it to work safely.


I love that. So true.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Thansk for that video BSMS. I had never heard of the 'pulley rein' and really couldn't picture how it differed from the one-rein stop based on the written descriptions. Totally get it now.


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Sharpie said:


> Now, a one-rein stop? I'll use that if he's just being a goober, needs a quick reminder that what he's doing isn't a valid option, and it's safe to do so, but his brain has to be somewhere in the vicinity for it to work safely.


I ride in a rope halter and the one-rein stop has saved me every time I've used it. I think the key to the one-rein stop is more psychological than physical. It's a conditioned response that tells the horse, "disregard whatever your instincts are telling you to do and stand still and await further instructions." It is exactly what brings his brain back somewhere in the vicinity.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

Joel Reiter said:


> It is exactly what brings his brain back somewhere in the vicinity.


In my hands, with my horse, a one rein stop takes us from "somewhere in the vicinity" to "100% back under control and listening."

"Nowhere in the vicinity", aka when I choose to use a pulley rein, is a dead run off a cliff/through a fence/into a drainage ditch sort of not listening. Their brain has exited the building. Sure, you can pull their head around, but they can keep running with their nose to your knee, which is even more unsafe than them bolting along to begin with.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Joel Reiter said:


> I ride in a rope halter and the one-rein stop has saved me every time I've used it. I think the key to the one-rein stop is more psychological than physical. It's a conditioned response that tells the horse, "disregard whatever your instincts are telling you to do and stand still and await further instructions." It is exactly what brings his brain back somewhere in the vicinity.



yes. any stop requires the brain to be there. and by pulling the horse's head way around, and putting the horse into such a bind that he has to put his brain back into the equation to sort out his feet , this will, even if for only a second, interrupt his thought from where it was; fleeing in panic. once you've interrupted that thought of bolting, he becomes mentally available for you to make him do something else. 

but, you can't pull te horse's head around when he's going fast. it's just too dangerous. but, whatever interrupts his rigid thought on fleeing is what will work to get him thinking about slowing/stopping.
heck, you might even put more leg on him (if you were a competent rider) and by so doing get his attention. sounds crazy, but it can bring him back to you mentally and then the reins can work.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Sharpie said:


> Their brain has exited the building. Sure, you can pull their head around, but they can keep running with their nose to your knee, which is even more unsafe than them bolting along to begin with.


I don't think you get what Joel meant, which I also tried to explain in another thread(I think 'bit trouble & bolting'). It is a *Conditioned* response, and it is NOT about physically wrenching their head around.(Or just bringing their head around... or EVEN bringing their head around). Yes, doing that will indeed not necessarily stop a horse, just make it more likely to trip over too. But well conditioned/trained to be an automatic response, it will cut through 'brainless' reactions too IME. And well trained, it's a straight stop, not a 'one rein turn in circles' or 'one rein head to knee'.

I do agree though, that if the horse isn't well enough trained in the one rein stop, in a true emergency, I would think the 'pulley' idea is probably more effective & definitely safer than pulling a horse's head around.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Pulling the horse's head around: By itself, that does not make a horse stop. I've been on a bolting horse (years ago, visiting a ranch) with his nose at my knee, and he didn't slow at all. However, we WERE in a large pasture, and I could still steer a little by kicking his shoulder. That proved enough to miss a barbed wire fence.

To the extent a one rein stop is a conditioned response, it is like all conditioned responses: habit overriding instinct. In that sense, I see no gain over a conditioned response to both reins.

However, there is also an instant - maybe 0.5-1.0 seconds, when the horse is gathering itself to explode forward. A hard pull sideways right then (and not 5 seconds later) can get a horse to do a 180. If it then gathers to leap forward, you can do another 180. I've done 6-8 of them in a row before my horse stopped long enough to realize the scary thing wasn't there.

I've seen and ridden a couple of horses with a well-trained one rein stop. Just a small motion on the reins, and they would stop fast and STRAIGHT. If taught right and used right, it can be very effective without unbalancing the horse. But to be honest, most of the horses I've met who were trained to do a 'one rein stop' were just being circled to a stop, or jerked on by someone who didn't realize it could flip a horse.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

bsms said:


> But to be honest, most of the horses I've met who were trained to do a 'one rein stop' were just being circled to a stop, or jerked on by someone who didn't realize it could flip a horse.


That is what I've seen too. 
Personally, I am an english rider and I like to use both reins to any degree of pressure or direction and have the horse respond. It is not helpful to me if I pick up on rein and the horse runs his hindquarters off to one side, and it is also not helpful if I pick up one rein and the horse turns his head and looks me in the eye. It seems safer to me to have the horse following his head with his body in small degrees as directed by my rein, and if I want him to move his body off that path I indicate it with my leg aid. This gives a subtlety that will allow you to run between those two narrow trees and then take a sharp left up the hill without having to be harsh on the horse. 

At speed and on strange horses, the pulley rein is the way to go. But truthfully, it is only an exaggerated half halt, so you can use it in an extremely subtle way to get a half halt (just pulling back, not up with one rein while holding the other steady), or you can apply it stronger on a horse that is trying to take his controlled gallop up a notch into Mr Crazy Pants territory. It does not have to be used to stop, or even to break gait, but can be used to simply check a horse. "Helloooo...?" If the horse responds, I let him go on. If he doesn't, I'll do it stronger, and sometimes break him down a gait. If you have a secure seat, you don't usually need to grab mane with your steadying hand, but can just hold it close to the horse's neck.

Personally, I've never used a pulley rein in a leverage bit (you have enough power with a leverage bit to stop, and green horses don't belong in leverage bits so I've never been on a panicking runaway in a leverage bit that wouldn't stop). I've also never used a pulley rein to go to a complete stop, because there are very, very few reasons when riding to need to stop on a dime. If a horse is bolting, he is in a state of panic and I won't add to his claustrophobia by trying to get him stopped altogether, I'll just take him down to a more sane pace and then let him settle down naturally.

If you think you can physically pull a horse's head around when necessary, try it on a big, unflexible draft horse such as the Percheron I once rode. I have seen it on a couple of green horses now, the inexorable but slow "trotaway."


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## rascalboy (Jun 30, 2007)

They're very different.
One rein stop is where you hold the outside rein, and draw the inside rein up so that the horse has to go in a circle.
Pulley rein is where you hold the outside and jerk on the inside. Circling doesn't really happen.


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