Ok, here's the photos I promised for chain length...below shows 3 links...we could probably go one more link easily with this horse if we wanted...
Sorry about the grainy picture...grey day and my student was a ways off...anyway... see the slack she has left in her lead? She can run her hand up and down her lead if she needs control...you can't do that with too much chain...
Below she is walking towards us, again see the slack she has in her lead? For this particular horse, she can go no tighter...why? At some point in this horse's career someone has done the "smack behind" as they trotted (and psst, yes, we know she has a whip in hand, it's not used for his forward motion of walking/trotting), so he learned how to trot sideways with his handler, this is something we battle
continuously...if you need your horse to go quicker, you should do the pull/release method of tugging your lead FORWARD and releasing when your horse is trotting/walking next to you. If you SMACK them behind yourself as your walking/trotting your horse will try and get away from your smack and travel crooked... This exhibitor has to be very
conscientious about how she even holds her hands, pull him too close, he travels crooked, too much slack and he wanders... he's a work in progress :) Anyway, I digress.... Her slack and chain length are appropriate for HER situation. She can move her hand up and down the lead as she does her crossovers. I would say her lead from hand to hand is a touch long, but this was a quick practice and we were concentrating on chain length and slack...
Thank you Janet and Jack for being my examples!
Sorry about the grainy picture...grey day and my student was a ways off...anyway... see the slack she has left in her lead? She can run her hand up and down her lead if she needs control...you can't do that with too much chain...
Below she is walking towards us, again see the slack she has in her lead? For this particular horse, she can go no tighter...why? At some point in this horse's career someone has done the "smack behind" as they trotted (and psst, yes, we know she has a whip in hand, it's not used for his forward motion of walking/trotting), so he learned how to trot sideways with his handler, this is something we battle continuously...if you need your horse to go quicker, you should do the pull/release method of tugging your lead FORWARD and releasing when your horse is trotting/walking next to you. If you SMACK them behind yourself as your walking/trotting your horse will try and get away from your smack and travel crooked... This exhibitor has to be very conscientious about how she even holds her hands, pull him too close, he travels crooked, too much slack and he wanders... he's a work in progress :) Anyway, I digress.... Her slack and chain length are appropriate for HER situation. She can move her hand up and down the lead as she does her crossovers. I would say her lead from hand to hand is a touch long, but this was a quick practice and we were concentrating on chain length and slack...
Thank you Janet and Jack for being my examples! 
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