# long lines length ?



## CCC (Dec 28, 2010)

Hi,

I'm Getting a lady to make me a head stall and some matching long lines for ground driving my minis with and was wondering what length would be good.. I am new to all this, I've never even ground driven the big horses, so I have no idea what length would be nice.. just long enough , but not so long that my hands are all tied up in lines 

thanks for any advice!

should I invest in a surcingle?

also would just a snaffle bit be best? or do I need a driving bit?


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## hobbyhorse23 (Dec 28, 2010)

If you're new to long-lining, find someone who's good at it to mentor you. It can be very confusing without a little help and quite easy to get tangled up in 18' of lines!






Yes, you'll need a surcingle for any type of long-lining or ground-driving work. You can use your harness saddle but I prefer not to as I don't want rub marks on my nice saddle and it doesn't have as much adjustability as a surcingle does for where to run the lines.

You don't need a driving-specific bit but a broken-mouth snaffle may not be your best choice either. Look for a French Link bit and something that has either half or full-cheeks to help prevent the bit from sliding though the horse's mouth although really, anything your horse goes well in will work.

I'd recommend checking out Clay Maier's videos on long-lining for some tips and tricks as they're quite useful.

Leia


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## CCC (Dec 28, 2010)

Great, thank you very much for the info! I'll check out the videos

I do have a friend that is going to come up and give me some pointers and teach me how to ground drive, thank goodness, cause I'm sure I need lots of help!





Is there a good place I can buy a surcingle online? are they pretty adjustable for most minis? I have a fairly small mini and a fairly big mini as well that I'd love to use it with.

I'm also in Canada if it there was a website, I could buy one from that is in Canada that would be great!





Nicole


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## MiLo Minis (Dec 28, 2010)

Pam Christopher runs Ozark Canada and you can purchase a longing surcingle from her. www.ozarkcanada.com

I have several sets of longlines - 2 of them that I use for Minis. I have a set that are 12 feet long and another 20 feet long. I like to start them longing and the longer lines are nice for that. I go to the shorter set when I am ground driving them because I am closer to them and don't need all that extra rein dangling.


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## CCC (Dec 29, 2010)

Great , thanks very much for the info!


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## georgiegirl (Jan 4, 2011)

I made mine out of 5/8 " cotton rope from the hardware store. I bought two snaps that would accomodate the rope and spliced it in. The length of the lines is 15 feet.

I love them. They are soft and dont slip in your hands. I let the tails drag behind when working.

I liked the size of the rope so well that I made another set of driving reins the same way only shorter.


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## shorthorsemom (Jan 4, 2011)

I bought two long cotton neck ropes with the smaller snap ends. I took off the metal thingy that makes it a neck rope and these worked well for my initial ground driving lines. sounds like what georgie girl described in her post. I bought the surcingle on :modedit: *please read the new rules page at **http://www.lilbeginnings.com/forum/et/* pretty cheap and the combination worked well for starting out.


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## MiLo Minis (Jan 4, 2011)

You would be surprised at what a difference a good quality, well built surcingle will make in your long lining.


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## hobbyhorse23 (Jan 5, 2011)

MiLo Minis said:


> You would be surprised at what a difference a good quality, well built surcingle will make in your long lining.


If I ever found one for a mini, I'd be happy to test that theory.



I'm sick to death of the nylon crap I've found!

Leia


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## MiLo Minis (Jan 6, 2011)

hobbyhorse23 said:


> If I ever found one for a mini, I'd be happy to test that theory.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have nylon ones too and they slip and slide and are a major pain in the behind. I took a leather harness saddle, that I had and liked the way it fit, to a friend of mine who does harness work and got him to revise it into a surcingle for me. Works great!


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