News

Nonsuch
News articles and events
from the stables of Ayrshire
farm

Winter 2010 Vol.1 no.1

Christmas in Middleburg
2009
Despite blizzard conditions and driving snow the
Middleburg Christmas parade went on. The crowd was a
little smaller than usual but nonetheless enthusiastic to
Inside see Santa driven down the street on an antique Private
omnibus built in the mid 1800’s by Brewster and co of
New York
Achenbach’s Safe,
Sane Driving
Grips 4

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 Nonsuch News Vol. 1 No. 1

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 Nonsuch News Vol. 1 No. 1

Achenbach’s Safe, Sane Driving Grips

By Kathy Hansen
reprinted by kind permission from the August 2008 issue (Vol. 46, No. 4) of The Carriage
Journal

For final work on collection, the horse must be put into a curb bit. This bit is not designed to control an
unruly horse but is a refined tool to coax the finest, lightest performance possible from a strong, highly
schooled and responsive equine athlete.
To handle such a tool, the driver must be as finely trained and coordinated as the horse. While the
jointed snaffle bits used in training programs are forgiving, curbs are not. Jarring a sensitive horse’s
mouth while changing grips on the reins, or while turning, can destroy weeks of patient work.
Thus a driver’s hands now become vital. To review the general concepts of good hands and the
driving position, and the seat from which it arises, see “The Education of the Driving Horse” in the
January 2008 issue. There you will also find a discussion of contact, the yielding versus the fixed hand,
etc. Please review that earlier article, as this article will focus on handling the reins.
The system of choice is the Achenbach method. Its combination of safety, flexibility, and logic make
it ideal for most kinds of driving. This style was developed in Regency England, where coachmen
devised new ways of handling the reins to control their fast, stylish horses. One of the leading
exponents of this style was Edwin Howlett, born in France of English parents, who in 1864 set up his
own business in Paris as the first of the driving masters. A student of Howlett, Benno von Achenbach,
popularized the “English method” in Germany and published a book on driving in 1922. From then on,
the style he taught came to be known as the Achenbach system in Germany, and it is used by many
international drivers today.

The basic grips

At first, the Achenbach method may seem
awkward, but once learned, its movements are so
efficient and effective that they seem natural. In
this method, the left hand holds the reins—all of
them. The right, which holds the whip, can make
adjustments in these reins for turns and stops. In
the dressage, or training grip, the reins are
separated and carried one in each hand. But even
this grip is based on the reins-in-the-left-hand
grip and it therefore differs from run-of-the-mill
two-handed driving.
Pick up your reins to the driving apparatus
and follow along. Get a whip, too. To control a
horse, you must be able to send him forward
instantly. Without a whip, voice commands
become only empty noises. Never pick up your
reins without one. Start learning to handle it
now. Hold it under your palm, balancing it
loosely on top of your thumb and little finger.
Control the whip with either your little and ring
fingers or your thumb and first finger, as the
need dictates.

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The holding grip

Bring the near (left) rein over the top of
your hand. The off (right) comes between
the middle and ring fingers (see the photo
on the previous page).
To ensure a soft contact with the horse’s
mouth, keep the thumb and first finger
relaxed. Hold the reins with your lower
fingers. Keep your driving hand near the
center of your body, your right with the
whip in it, close by.
To make delicate adjustments with the
lines, grasp the reins in front of the left The right, first finger goes over the
hand. top of the near (top) rein, the lower
rein between the ring and little
fingers. In effect, you’re slipping your
middle two fingers between the reins.

Relax the driving hand’s tension and, by twisting the right hand, adjust the reins. You may
also shorten the reins by tightening the fingers of the right hand on the reins and sliding
the left hand forward.

If you must take up a lot of slack in an

emergency, grip the reins with your whip (right)
hand behind the left.
Then loosen your hold with the left and,
by pulling with your right, shorten the reins

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Practice these adjustments on the driving

apparatus. The weights should not swing, but
slide smoothly into their new positions as you
adjust the reins. As you use your right hand, be
careful with the whip. More than one passenger
has lost a hat to an inexperienced driver’s whip.
To turn left, twist and move your hand to
the right. Keeping your thumb and finger
relaxed, tip your hand over so the back of the
hand is up.

The rein will lie across the back of your hand.

Watch your weights. The left one will rise, the
right, lower. The left rein shortens, the right
softens, and the horse, if you had one, would
turn left.
If you want a sharper turn, twist your hand
and then move it toward your right elbow.

This motion shortens the rein and signals the turn—

the weights will rise. The shortening not only slows
the horse, but also takes up the slack he produces in
the reins as he shortens his stride and collects.
While giving rein aids, be sure keep your fingers
turned toward your body. Only then can your wrist
act like a spring to damped the inevitable jars of the
reins and soften the force of the bit.
To turn right, twist your hand upwards, so that
you can see your fingernails.

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The right weight rises, the left lowers, and a horse

would turn right. To increase the sharpness of the
turn, move your hand toward your left hip.
Especially in this position, be careful to keep the
wrist softly bent.
To halt, grip the reins with your right hand as in
figure 3 (two fingers between the reins), but farther
in front of the driving hand. As you bring your right
hand back to halt the horse, the left moves upwards
taking up the slack.

By reaching forward to grasp the reins with your right hand, you don’t have to stop the
horse with your hands under your chin. The horse cannot escape the aid, and the whip has total
control throughout the halt.

For fine English harness we turn to Greg Hunt of Hunt Harness.

Greg continues to maintain a low volume shop with select craftspeople
striving to create the finest harness. Their quality and service have
satisfied customers who in turn are the most honest form of advertising.

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 Nonsuch News Vol. 1 No. 1

The dressage grips

Often a trainer must use a rein in each hand. The

Achenbach method provides a series of training, or
dressage, grips that meet these needs.
For the working grip, separate the reins by
grasping the lower (off-side) rein with your knuckles
up.

To keep track of the amount of rein pulled

out, touch your right thumb to your left hand.
Then when you return the rein (by
reversing this process), the reins will both be
even.
Pull the rein out about six inches. Keep a
hold on the rein in the left hand, creating a
bridge. Pull enough slack out so your right
hand can move independently of the left, but
not so much that you can’t return the rein
easily to the left hand.

The near rein will enter the top of the left

hand; the off rein enters the bottom of the right
hand. To keep the right hand relaxed, you will
have to hold the rein with your thumb. To put
both reins back in the left hand, reverse the
process—sliding the off rein back into its
original position. Note: Always halt or use the
whip with the reins in the left hand.
Practice transferring the reins from one
hand to two. Keep the weights still. They must
not swing sideways or move up and down. You
only want to change the position of your hands,
not signal your horse.
To turn left, tip both thumbs backwards,
toward your body.

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This action shortens the left rein and lengthens

the right. Watch your whip. This is where I often
take my passenger’s hat off.
To turn right, press your thumbs forward.

Notice that the weights don’t shift

much. For the dressage grips to be
effective, the horse must be in contact
with the driver’s hands.
For a half-halt, bring the left thumb
back and move the right forward.
(see photo below.)

This shortens both reins, checking the horse for

an instant, balancing and collecting him. It takes
practice to do it smoothly, without making the
weights swing. Take care you don’t poke your
horse in his rear with your whip tip.
To halt, put both reins in the left hand by
reversing the above procedure. Be sure they’re of
equal length from the bit; otherwise, the horse
will slide sideways. Then reach forward with the
right hand, slip two fingers between the reins and
halt as in the single-handed grip.

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 Nonsuch News Vol. 1 No. 1

Practice, practice

As you practice with your driving apparatus, try to keep the weights from swinging. Still weights
reflect good, smooth hands. When you feel comfortable with a couple of pounds in each hand,
increase the weights to condition your hands for the stress of actual driving. Morley Knight, in his
Hints on Driving (1884, reprinted in 1976), notes that an average team puts ten to twelve pounds
into the whip’s hand, and those pressures “not infrequently exceed thirty-five pounds.”
Once you feel comfortable handling the reins, start using the Achenbach grips on your horse.
Experiment—move your hands and see how the horse responds.
The Achenbach method is specifically designed for safely driving show or pleasure horses. The
flexibility of the dressage grips is perfect for schooling horses in the snaffle, while the single-
handed grips supply the stability demanded by the curb bit. Practice until your hands are steady
and sure. Then you can put the final polish on your driving horse.

reprinted by kind permission from the August 2008 issue (Vol. 46, No. 4) of The Carriage Journal. Photos (14) by
Jennifer Singleton; hand model: Kathy Courtemanche.

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