Hi Stryker, I have recently gone back to making Historex mounted figure in 54mm. The reins are really rather simple, I currently use the foil from wine bottles, not the old lead foil the newer plasticated stuff.
Other materials used range from kitchen tin foil to paper to lead strip. All have their merits and issues it depends on the modeller, personally tin foil is too flimsy for me as I can be heavy handed.
My method is to cut a length of foil, I tend to judge by eye how thick I want it because I can never remember the width, I would say no more than 2mm at the very most.
This is then threaded through the horses bit and fixed in place with a dab of superglue. The other end is then attached to the hand holding the reins making sure you leave enough slack or keep it taught depending on the pose of horse and rider. Stood still the rein can be loose, charging the rider would probably want to keep the rein quite taught. I am no horseman so that is guess work.
Carry out the same steps on the other side of the horses head and conceal the joining of the reins in the riders hand. There may be the need to add a loop of rein hanging from the had if they are held taught.
I use buckles supplied in Historex kits to detail the rein near the bit.
On most military harnesses there are two sets of reins, the one above is the riding rein and connects to the forward most attachment ring on the bit. The second set I think are halter reins used for walking the horse, these ate shorter and usually hang on the saddle forward of the rider.
Hope this helps and hope others add their take on the matter. It's a lot of words but a simple job to do. If you are wanting to know about the halter and bridle that thr horse wears on its head, the curcingle under the horses belly and cropper strap passing round the tail I would suggest getting a Copt of Bill Ottingers book on Historex figures as it is far more informative and more knowledgeable than my ramblings.
Good luck.
Cheers Simon
