Power Stop!

[Frankie]

Hi HT,

What is the best way to teach a horse to go from Cantor to zero without the need to work their way down to a stop? I know it can be done as I have seen my own horse run from Gallop to dead stop in his pasture. Sit deep, lean back and pull hard or?

Thanks all!
Frankie

[chappel16]

A reining trainer in my area, run them towards a fence, and sits back and says whoa at the last minute. I figured they would teach them without a fence, but thats how one did it that I visited.

[Range]

Work, work, and work harder - coupled with a voice command. Also, practice one rein stops. For me, if the horse doesn't stop with a light command - sitting deep and raising the reins (and I use a voice command), then I make them work harder and longer. Trust me, the next time I ask lightly, the horse stops. I'm working with my mare on one rein stops and I'm hoping to get a little more success that way.

[tuffsmom]

The trainer is teaching us this. Tuff has to stop when I say whoa. If He doesn't stop we back up then start going again. We start it at a walk and when he has it under control then we move up speeds. It all starts with ground work.

[beth55051]

Everytime you ask him to stop, starting at a walk immediately ask him to back a step or two. That will help him to get his rear end underneath him. Slowly work him up in speed being consistent. At first you may want to use a fence to enforce that you want him to stop now. If you use the fence you can get him to start responding quicker without getting hard on him.
The reason behind asking him to immediately back is so that when you're asking him to stop he begins to think okay I really need to get my hind end in the ground because I'm gonna have to reverse really quickly.

Make sure that when you ask him to stop you're sitting deep in the saddle with your feet under or slightly in front of you and using a steady pressure on the reins. If you're leaning forward it will give him a mixed signal. Yanking or pulling hard to stop him will only cause him to throw his head in the air and pound to a stop on his front end.

[Frankie]

Just to clarify, the above advice is for stopping from cantor/gallop to a hard stop without the horse having to work his way down, right? I hope I did not make it seem like my horse has no Whoa or is not listening to his rider. Romeo has a fine whoa but he does have to work his way down when at high speed. It's a matter of seconds but I just want to go from 30mph to zero in one move. Is this called something? Power stop? Sliding stop?

Thanks all!

[cook1745]

I did what beth said. The say whoa and ask for a step or two back. My mare got that pretty quick and now when I say whoa I have to be ready or she will stop dead.

I also like Clinton Andersons method of say whoa and if they don't stop then start to spin then in a circle till they stop.

Also try really lean back in the saddle before you say whoa and the horse will start to recognize that feeling and know what comes next.

Just remember to be consistant and with what ever technice you use and be patcient it won't happen over night.

[cook1745]

Yes that is a sliding stop. But that could be hard for the horse to do on the wrong ground or if you aren't sitting right. You can actually inhibit him from being able to stop that fast.

[Frankie]

I found this online if anyone else would like to know more. I don't think he is ready for a 20 foot slide but a 2 foot sure

http://www.horsetrainingvideos.com/article1.htm

As I am reading all of this great advice from everyone here, I wonder how I advance him to whoa at high speed and quickly. Should it be done just by vocal? No right? I'm a tad confused. LOL.

He will whoa from a walk on vocal command and no real rein pull.
He will whoa from trot with vocal command with more rein pull.
He will whoa from Cantor but I need to pull hard and say whoa a few times. This is what I mean by "coming to a stop" and me wanting to teach him to just stop hard at high speed.

Hope I made it easier for everyone to help and sorry for the confusion.

[beth55051]

I hate to burst your bubble but the average horse cannot physically slide 20 feet unless they are wearing sliders. Best my mare can do in a good arena is about 4-5 feet and that's barefoot or with regular shoes. One of our 4-H girls has a reining mare than can do a good 10 foot slide but her dad insists that her barrel horse must wear sliders. Good for stopping but not good for turning and running.

[Frankie]

No bubble bursted as I never said he could do it or that I would ask that of him. We are both way too new for that kind of work.

My "20 foot slide" was a joke about the link I posted. As in, not in this lifetime

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by Range

Work, work, and work harder - coupled with a voice command. Also, practice one rein stops. For me, if the horse doesn't stop with a light command - sitting deep and raising the reins (and I use a voice command), then I make them work harder and longer. Trust me, the next time I ask lightly, the horse stops. I'm working with my mare on one rein stops and I'm hoping to get a little more success that way.

Hi Range,

Question for you. When you say a "one rein stop" do you mean while at the cantor/gallop pull only one rein? This would seem very dangerous. Would that not cause him to flip over on his side when at high speed? How hard do I pull? How deep do I bend the neck?

I have heard of this before. It's about finding his power brakes/emergency stop/disengage, right? I never was told the details and how to do it . Any help would be great!!

Again, to clarify, I am seeking advice on how to achieve a faster response time with the whoa at high speed. To avoid the "work down" to a stop and just stop hard. I am unclear if the one rein stop is a part of training for a faster response or something different.

Thank you in advanced!
F

[ron]

If you are having to pull, then pull harder and more pulling....

the horse needs more reinforcing
go back to the walk. stop....walk stop....walk

everything begins at the walk

one rein stop is a method used to disengage hind quarters a gain control

running is fun
training is slow and tedious at times

[Sonseeahray's_girl]

Like others have said, you have to start at the walk. You cannot try training the one rein stop at a hard gallop, or you will flip your horse!

The secret is teaching it at a standstill, then a walk, then a trot, then a canter. By the time you get to a canter, the horse will stop just with you shifting your weight, or picking up on one rein, not by actually cranking his head around to your knee. That is, IF you've not been impatient and moved on too fast.

Like Ron said, training can be tedious sometimes and slow going. But the end result is worth it!

[Range]

If you are looking for an immediate stop, like what reiners do, even for 2 feet, you're going to need good footing (like in an arena) and you're going to need shoes. An immediate stop is also not very comfortable for the rider, if it is not a sliding stop. The horse kind of "bounces" on stiffened legs to get that immediacy. A horse does not naturally slide to a stop. Have you seen the shoes that a good reiner uses for a sliding stop...wow!

Now, if you're looking for a stop within a couple of feet instead of another half turn around the arena, work on body cues, and control. The one rein stop is started at the walk and is, yes, an emergency stop. But, it also teaches your horse to listen/feel for the cue of the one rein being picked up. Once they "get" it at a walk, then move to the trot. The suggestion is to work on one rein stops for 10 minutes a session. It also increases the horse's flexibility. And, no, you don't want to crank the horse's head around or you will cause a fall at a gallop. But, the idea of a one rein stop in an emergency is to get that stop before you are at a gallop.

Once they are listening to body cues, then the stop will come much quicker. You most likely are not going to go from 40 to 0 in one stride. Even race horses go another 1/4 mile around the track to slow down.

I don't really know if this answered any of your questions, but I hope it helped! I know that if I work MY Romeo a little more after he has ignored a whoa command, when I even shift my weight slightly back, he will stop within 2 to 3 strides. I don't want him stopping any more immediate than that because I don't want him to get hurt.

[Frankie]

Thank you guys so much. You have cleared it all up for me big time. I will look online for even more details and start to teach him this. Heck, he may know it for all I know. He's not going to be happy if I figure this out and he will wonder who taught me this

Without knowing how to word it, I was asking about a faster whoa response and not sliding into home plate with special shoes. The whoa/pull/pull more and bounce our way down to stop is getting old. It's almost like he gets too jazzed at the run and does not want to stop just yet. He will but he's not happy about it.

Thank you for all the advice and I'll keep you posted as to our progress!

[doyle82]

I almost fell off the first time I said "whoa" to Ki
Man....I didn't know a horse oculd slam on the brakes like that! Now, we stop and immediately back a few steps so that he keeps his rear end underneath him like previously mentioned.
Helps keep him supple and he never knows when I'm going to ask for the immediate back so he constantly keeps his rear under him when stopping just in case

[Frankie]

Let me add a short, but related story. One time myself and my trainer took Romeo and Donte on a 7 mile trail ride. At one point, we started to cantor and then moved up to a gallop. I was in the lead. We were flying and Romeo spotted that he was approaching a downward hill. He just stopped! It caught me by surprise but I stayed with him fine. I was proud of him for that because I think he was protecting me and him.

A few months later, I had remember this and wondered why he cannot/will not stop that sharp when asked. He obviously can physically do it (back to when I was saying he does that in his pasture when he is giving chance to one of the boys). That fast, no fighting stop is what I want wherever I ask for it. How do I ask for it/teach him was what I was trying to convey.

[cowgirlmommy]

Hey frankie,
The way I understand power stops is exactly like Range had said, I could not have said it better! It is just for emergencies! And the sliding stop is just that, a sliding stop! It has taken ME literally my middle teen years(all of them!) to learn myself, as to how tolean back properly and adjust my weight and use the proper cues, even though my horses may have been ok(the were my dads trained rodeo/ranch horses so they knew!)! And now I am thankful I took the time to listen to my father and really learn because now on Jazzy I kno my part as does she and I say whoa at a dead run(she is a very fast TB,her best barrels run is 18.55 for fun not competing!)lean backin my seat and I have never,ever pulled on her and she slides, not far yet(2 1/2-3ft) but that is not what we are working on now! I suppoose if I had to pull to get that little bit of a slide ,I would go back to the basics!
So as the others said,training,training,training!No matter what our horses are capable of, or what stage they are at or we are at for that matter it never hurts us to learn and train more ourselves as well as with them! Keep working at it and you will get exactly where you want to be! Good luck and keep having fun!

[Frankie]

See now I am confused again Trace. I am not asking about sliding or am I? He did not slide in my posted story... just a fast stop.

Romeo says, "Gee Dad! Could you be more slow?"

Anyway, just as soon as the rain stops, I can get to work! 2 days of rain forecasted But a beautiful weekend coming.