There is more than one way of doing things, really annoys me when people are dead set on when their way is the only right way. I'm fine if they admit there is another way of doing things but they want you to do it thier way, I'm fine with that.

I would like to go horse riding eventually but at the moment the closest thing I'm gonna get to that is a motor bike which is just as fun :D

I always do right rein, left calf.

It really depends on how the horse is trained. Yes, the latter seems to be more like Western.... neck reining and the off heel used, and the horse turns away from the cues. English, generally, the horse turns on the side the cues are given. GENERALLY

OKAY SO HERE IS HOW I SEE IT

I've been riding for over 11 years and I've been training young horses in UK and Germany for some time. I've also been a riding instructor in many places.
So when I have unexperienced person who just wants to ride for fun, I teach them to turn to sides the way you explained at first: just pull one rein and add the calf. However, that is incorrect way of teaching A HORSE to turn. But this is advaned topic and I dont want to throw too much at people who are not going to ride profesionally anywhere soon. It is easy to understand and old school horses are doing it.
Here is why it is incorrect:
Have you ever saw a really stubborn horse, where rider turned his head to the side at almost 180 but the horse is still going forward? That is because horses are able to go in other directions than their head is turned and it happens especially often with young horses for whom it is not clear where the rider wants them to go. We as riders shouldn't think of reins as our "steering wheel", even though thats what we are thought at te beginning. Reins are just the communication tool with the horse - it is the way HORSE is telling us his thoughts - that he is stiff, or he feels relaxed.
When we ask horse to turn, we have to ask his whole big body to do it - not only his head. That is why instructor asked you to push his neck with your left rein - when you do it, your body (and legs) is in position where it is more clear for horse to turn - also because you are not just pulling his head to the right side, but with the other rein you are asking his whole shoulders to move to the right side and that is the most important part. After the shoulders and front legs the back legs wil always follow. However, if you are just starting out it might not be good for you because you don't know how to lead horse with your whole body and might end up using incorectly, or even pulling left rein even though you want to turn right and make horse confused. Your instructor wants to teach you the really correct way and my co-workers are doing it often too. But unfourtunetly it can make more harm than good at the begining stage. So please think for yourself, understand your level and be careful with the outside rein and the inctructor will be suprised by good results!
Hope I could help. Can't belive Im giving riding lesons on furry porn site.
Good luck and remember to have fun!

You explained it perfectly.

Thank you!

Riding lesson on furry porn site xDD
But omg, thank you so much for explaining it to me! This question bugged me all the time since my first ride here a week ago and now I finally will be able to fall asleep not pondering over it. No, like really I couldn't sleep because it just shook my riding outlook. I definitely will try to learn the elaborate way, I'm starting to adjust to it already. I used to ride quite a lot years ago, and it seems my riding "instincts" didn't die (just my leg muscles xD'), so I hope it will be possible for me to learn the pro way easier than for a total greenhorn. I'm not really into professional riding, like shows and stuff, but I definately want to ride often and do it in the most horse-friendly way possible. Also the idea of the reins being used by the horse to comunicate with the rider and not only the other way around... So many years of riding and nobody really explained those things to me ಠ_ಠ I'm really super thankful you did

Oh I have one more question if I may... What's with the legs? Why is the outside one used instead of the inner one? Does it have any additional effect on the horse, like that controlling of shoulders you wrote about or is it just a matter of how you teach your horse to react to cues?

LET ME VISUALIZE THAT FOR YA!:

https://gyazo.com/dbff82fb28a1bc114fb586800bd60cd1

Hope that explains it.
I know many people are writing here that "its just the matter how horse is trained" but that is wrong statement. Horse can either be trainder properly or wrongly but if you ride well you will have no problem with riding on any horse, even wrongly trained. You will be able to correct him then. I've been riding in many stables, many countries and many disciplines - expensive british dressage horses, winning eventing and show jumping horses, old destroyed by kids school horses, spoiled private horses riddden by one rider, or horses who were abused their whole live by incorrect trainning methods. I never complained that "the horse is ridden in different methods and I cant do anything about it unless someone tell me what that method is". Of course its not like I sit on a horse and magicaly now everything about him. It takes time to know the horse and think how to translate correct way of carrying rider to his very individual language. You'll see that when you'll be riding long time with different instructors all confusing and different commands will merge into one intuivite style of ridding which will work on every horse. BUT it is very important to support yourself with teoritical knowladge too. No matter how competent your instructors are, there are people in horse community that know more than them and training with them will cost fortune, but you can have their knowladge in books forever. Reading and implying their methods by myself helped me way more than any of my trainer even though they were high competent and very helpful. If you are enough into the topic I recommend you take a look at them too! The ones that are famous enogh to have their books transleted to english are Ingrid Klimke, my favourite Kurd Albrecht von Ziegner, and Gerd Heuschmann who travels a lot around Europe and States so it's easy to watch him working for not so much money and have an autograph!

Hope I could help!

You definately did help me and you already explained to me more than some of my long-time riding instructors from before. I've just checked and some of those books are available in my city's university library (aaaand since my gf is studying there I have access to them~ :J) so this week I'm borrowing them and immersing myself in the read. Thank you so much for helping me here. I feel like I thought I'm in a closed room with my riding knowledge and didn't really see where else I could go, but I felt there's something wrong. I just couldn't pinpoint it. And you opened a door unseen by me before. I know I have tons of information to learn, but now I know where to look for it. Thank you

At least one little positive thing happend after all those years of suffering in this toxic community and a tragic story of my horse career. Glad I could brighten up your passion a little!

That is more western. Western uses neck reining mostly, which is using the contact with the left rein on the neck and pressure with the left leg to signal the horse to move away from those contact points, thus going right, rather than being made to move right. It also is usually meant to keep any contact directly to the horses mouth at a minimum if any at all (depending on the horses understanding of those signals there is no bit closer tact needed at all with neck reining).


But some people do have their own versions of popular methods. It sounds like theirs a a little off of standard neck reining and is maybe them training you to it???? Don’t quote me not the ‘training you’ part. That’s just how I was introduced to neck reigning...

From my experience in Texas, it's always just right rein. But when I have to bend at the corners, I use my right leg to push the horse to the corner as I turn to the right. They call this "Bending the horse".

It depends on how the horse was trained.
A Friend of my mom's, who has trained and raised horses for years, had her equines trained to turn by how you touched and draped the reins on the either side of the neck.

Was hoping I could help but I ride western. TwT the second one you were talking about does sound more like how I ride.

That is interesting, I learned the same way you did, right rein right calf. Although if the horse is Western trained you can push the left reign on the horse's neck. I'm guessing the horse you rode was Western trained.

The correct variant is the one the horse has learned. So that you don't punish it for your way, which doesn't know it.

I was always taught Right hand left leg to help the horse turn. But it depends on what the horse is taught to respond to. *shrug*