Shadowing Practice: How to Handle the Reins- Beginner Horseback Riding - Learn English Speaking with Video

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I'm Clay Clemick from Rising K Ranch.

I'm going to show you how we'll want to use our reins, especially if you're a beginner rider out here.

This will be a very basic introduction to using the reins right here.

It's your steering wheel as you ride.

Now, later on, not only are your reins a steering wheel, but your feet will also be steering your horse.

We'll have a few videos about that

and even the way you sit where you look everything in a way is a steering wheel

but for day one maybe the first week of riding

this is pretty well going to be your steering wheel now your horse is going to neck rein

so for the most part you can hold on to your reins in one hand

so if you have split reins here at the beginning

if they're split reins then they'll probably be tied in a knot for you

and you can just let that hang

and you'll just hold on to it this way here

and that's called well it's called Rommel style these aren't really Rommel reins

but that's the way you'll hold them it's just thumb up just like that

and there's your left then here's your right move your hand the way

you want to go now when we start off

and you first get on your horse we're gonna have you learning how to ride for a minute

so we'll probably have you hang on to a rain in each hand okay

so what you'll want to do I'm gonna come right up here

you don't want to hold on to your reins like this you're not a plow boy okay

you're gonna have your your reins will be this way your hand

that way all right not like this like this you can just hang on to the slack and

the left rein you can hang on to the right rein

so this will be called direct reining

when you have rain in each hand you're pulling directly on the bit

so you want to be as light with your hands as light on their mouth as you can

but as hard of a pull as you need to get the job done.

Now with this horse it's not a very hard pull at all.

I can just pull right over here to the left and my horse goes left.

I can pull right and she just goes right pretty easy.

Sometimes though you might have a horse that's a little more stubborn especially the ones

that we have a lot of little kids riding.

Sometimes the horse learns to take advantage of the rider

and you might have to pull them a little harder for a minute.

Once they learn to respect you just a bit then it'll be a lot easier to ride them.

So usually in the round pen at the beginning we have you ride a rein in each hand.

There's your right turn, there's your left turn, and then to stop you just pull on both.

Once we go out on the trail you'll switch back to one hand

because we'll be able to follow each other a little more

and the horse won't be having to rely on you

so much the horse will follow the one in front now obviously

if you break off from the group or you want to do something special

that the rest of the group doesn't then you'll probably go back to direct reining

but for the most part you can just relax and neck reining

which is this because instead of the bit they're a direct rein instead of

that they're feeling the reins right here on their neck

and that's the cue to turn okay

so that's why it's called neck reining

that's how you'll ride out on the trail for the most part just relaxed loose rein neck reining

now probably the most important part as far as just any trail ride you ever go on

is right here when you start riding most people have a tendency to keep the reins real loose

which is good but when you go to stop your horse you really don't have anything there

so when your horse takes off you end up just unable to slow your horse down

because they can't even feel when you pull

because of how long your reins are

so what you'll want to be able to do is just let go of this saddle horn

it's not the horn of your salvation you're going to let go of

that saddle horn grab the rein here and slide your hand down

and now when you pull your horse will feel it

and they'll stop and they'll back up

if you keep pulling we don't really have any horses

that will put you on that won't stop

if they feel it all right if your horse is not stopping

when you pull on the rein it's because they're so long that you're having to do this and they can't feel you

Well, I look forward to riding with you and showing you some of this in person.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Handle the Reins- Beginner Horseback Riding”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: rein, horse, pull, ride, reining. This video has 67 sentences and 869 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:06. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
steer verb	/stɪɹ/	To guide the course of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft etc. (by means of a device such as a rudder, paddle, or steering wheel).
trail noun	/tɹeɪl/	The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the…
horn noun	/hɔɹn/	A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.
rider noun	/ˈɹaɪ̯.dəː/	An old Dutch gold coin with the figure of a man on horseback stamped upon it.
saddle noun	/ˈsæd(ə)l/	A seat for a rider, typically made of leather and raised in the front and rear, placed on the back of a horse or other animal, and secured by a strap around…
slide noun	/ˈslaɪ̯d/	An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.
rely verb	/ɹɪˈlaɪ/	To trust; to have confidence in; to depend.
thumb noun	/ˈθʌm/	The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.
tendency noun	/ˈtɛn.dən.si/	A likelihood of behaving in a particular way or going in a particular direction; a tending toward.
salvation noun	/sælˈveɪ.ʃn̩/	The process of being saved, the state of having been saved (from hell).
stubborn adjective	/ˈstʌbɚn/	Refusing to move or to change one's opinion; obstinate; firmly resisting; persistent in doing something.
knot noun	/nɑt/	A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its…
slack adjective	/slæk/	Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.
beginner noun	/bəˈɡɪnɚ/	Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
back up verb	To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
go back to verb	To stem from; to originate in.
hand down verb	To transmit in succession, as from father to son, or from predecessor to successor.
look forward to verb	To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.
start off verb	To begin.
take off verb	To remove.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	will be called · is just let
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might have
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	start riding · keep pulling
Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction	we'll want · will be · will also be

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 41 contractions and reduced forms, such as you'll, you're, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like steer, trail, horn.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How to Handle the Reins- Beginner Horseback Riding - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Beginner English Introduction

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?