Adjusting Your Reins

Lengthening and shortening your reins is an important skill every horseman should develop early. 

Yes, when we first learn to ride, our instructor tells us to hold the reins in a certain spot, and we are good to go. But as we develop our horsemanship, we quickly find out that the length of our horses neck changes from gait to gait.
The neck is very long and low in a walk.
During the trot, the neck raises a bit, and the distance from our hands to the bit is shorter. The rein length that was good in a walk, is now too long.
Once we bring our horses into a lope, or canter, we quickly realize we have very little control, because our hands have to come wayyy back behind ourselves to ask our partners to turn, slow down or to stop.

Here's a quick video from quite a while ago about how to adjust your rein length

Adjusting your reins from Julie Slater on Vimeo.