A good pair of long-lines is an ­invaluable tool in schooling your horse effectively. ­Tommy and Dalene van Staden of Bapsfontein near Pretoria, provided this ­information.

What you need to make a good pair of long-lines, they say, are two bands of 20 mm webbing of 5 metres in length, depending on the size of your lungeing ring, and a pair of fairly thin (between 6 and 8 mm), densely ­woven nylon ropes of about 2,5 metres.

The typical nylon skying rope one ­commonly finds in hardware stores is not ideal. It needs to be more tightly woven. In addition you need a pair of light pulleys with two pairs of snap hooks. One pair of snap hooks should be of the teardrop type to hook onto the pulleys, while the other pair is to snap onto the snaffle rings or the ­lungeing roller.

A very tidy way of attaching the rope to the webbing is to, after knotting the two pieces together, cover the knot in a leather tube that you sew around the knot.

This is, however, not necessary. A simple ­uncovered knot will be just as effective. You can even cover the knot with insulation tape.

Although one can leave out the pulleys, they play an important role in causing the contact between the hand and the horse's mouth to be immediate.