Long reining people - a question for you

[Naiad]

Skeeter, my retired horse, took to long reining as if he'd been born with them attached to him. He instantly loved it, much more than riding. He was relaxed the first time we tried long reining him (yet he did not have much prior experience). I did a lot of long reining with Skeeter, so I am reasonably good at it (at least at the basic level).

I've long reined Amigo about three times. No particular demands yet on him. Just relaxed walk work and a bit of trot (no trot since his splint though). After three sessions of long reining, Amigo still seems a bit tense and uncertain of the whole thing, and he seems unsure of the feeling of the reins on his hind legs etc. After about 10 minutes, he starts to relax. I usually end the session after 15 minutes.

So my question for you long reining people. I suspect Skeeter's response was a bit skewed in one direction (loving it so immediately), and I suspect that I cannot expect the same quick response to long reining from Amigo. So for a more typical scenario such as Amigo, how long might it take Amigo to relax more with this long reining thing? I guess that I just keep making it as tension-free as I can for him and with time he will unwind/relax more? Any particular suggestions to help with this? 

[DollysMum]

Lots of treats and praise is a technique I'm employing with Nelly and it's working very well She used to tense up, back up and spin round so she could see me but since I've been treating her for standing still and moving away from me she's far keener to comply and as a result, more relaxed. We're still mostly long reining on circles to make it less stressful for her as she can see me for most of the session but when I do ask her to turn away, either for a change of rein or for me to walk behind her a while, she's not so worried about it anymore.

[catkin]

My new pony is the other end of the size scale to Amigo so this may not be suitable....... She understands longeing and is broken to ride but we don't think she's done any longreining before.

Before I put longreins on I always make sure that the horse is happy with ropes over the back, round the legs etc and that they understand the rein can be on the other side from you and can still give an aid - I practice with mine whilst turning out into the field etc, using a long leadrein.

I usually start with the longreins loose straight to the hand rather than through the terrets - I find you can make the requests 'bigger' which they seem to twig quickly. Also if they are inclined to spin like this little girlie you can open the rein more if need be so the horse gets to know that they keep going 'into' the 'funnel' made by the reins (it don't look pretty at the moment but very quickly getting better) - you do have to be pretty quick on your feet behind the horse!!!

I find that Mini-me is comfortable with feeling the reins along her body at present, I guess she 'knows where they are'. I'm not yet using the whip for cues - that will come later when the forwards is a bit tidier, as will moving the reins up to the top terrets.