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STOPS
In the last two articles, we have covered
lateral flexion and vertical flexion - two very important points when
gaining control of your horse and teaching him to be soft and supple and to
listen to you. Now we are going to talk about stops - being able to stop
your horse and what it takes to get your horse to have a desire to stop by himself.
When I say stop by himself, many people simply trot the horse and say
"whoa", pull on the reins and, eventually, get the horse
to stop. But usually if they do this, they always have to pull on the horse. I
like to get my horse to a point that when I say "whoa",
they automatically, and with a willing attitude, stop by themselves on a loose
rein. If I can get my horse to stop on a loose rein with a willing desire, he
will stop much easier and will try even harder if I happen to pick up on the
reins.
Good horsemanship is all about being able to
do less and get you horse to do more. Your cues get more subtle and refined,
and your horse does more and more for you.
When a rider pulls on the reins and asks the
horse to stop, it enables the horse to lean against the bridle and stick his
head up. If he doesn't stop fast enough, the rider will get themselves
another bit or a more severe bit. If you have done your homework correctly and
you have done a very good job with your lateral flexion to get the horse
willing, calm, soft and supple, and you have followed up with the vertical
flexion exercise, this stopping exercise will be very easy to complete and
should not take much time at all. However, most people in the beginning will
have a natural tendency to skip the basics and go straight to the exercise. It
is very important that you follow the procedures.
If you can get your horse to stop willingly
off a loose rein with no rein contact and he doesn't stop when you
ask, you can always take hold of the reins and reinforce your verbal cue.
Anytime you pick up like this, your horse will immediately know that he has
made a mistake and that he hasn't listened accordingly, and he will try
extra hard to stop next time. But if every time you stop, you simply pull on
the reins, pretty soon if you do it over and over again, he will become less
and less sensitive and and he will have a tendency to want to hang on the
bridle. If you can get your horse to rate your body and rate your verbal cue to
stop, he will be much more in tune with you and be prepared to listen to you in
many other areas.
How do we teach this stopping on a loose
rein exercise? Well, first of all, I will spend a good five to ten minutes
bending my horse around, like in the lateral flexion exercise, getting him soft
and supple to either side. I will get him warmed up properly - do a lot
of trot-to-walk transitions - and get my horse mentally prepared for the
lesson. Then, I will begin this exercise in some sort of an arena or enclosure.
I will usually just trot down the long side
of the arena, right beside the fence. For example, if I am trotting the horse
along and the fence is on my left-hand side, I want to make sure that, to begin
with, I am posting to the trot. We are going to exaggerate our body movements
in the beginning - our cues - in order to separate the difference
of going forward and stopping and relaxing our body to stop. I will make sure
my reins are very loose as I trot down the side of the arena. I will be holding
the reins in a bridge fashion with my right hand. Both reins will be very
loose. It is very important that you dare your horse to stop on a loose rein.
I will trot down the fence 20 or 30 feet.
Then I will sit down and say "whoa". When I say sit down,
I mean physically stop riding. I will drop my weight down on to my hip pockets,
put my legs slightly out in front of me and kind of over-exaggerate the
movement of stopping. I will say "whoa". At this point,
it is very important that I keep my hand down and let the horse make the
decision to stop or not.
In the beginning, most horses who have never
done this type of exercise before and have always relied on the rider to pull
on them, will not stop. They will usually keep trotting straight ahead. If this
happens, all I do is slide my left hand down the rein and turn the horse in to
the fence. As soon as I turn him in to the fence, I quickly go back to my
lateral flexion exercise to the left and bend the horse around - pull and
release using my inside leg - making it uncomfortable for him not to
stop. I am telling him that he needs to listen to me, he needs to get soft and
he needs to pay attention to me. You should always turn in to the fence every
time he makes a mistake. I usually pull and release him for at least seven or
eight small circles or until I feel that I have gotten him soft and supple.
Most horses, when you first start this, will probably stiffen up their head and
neck a bit as you turn them in to the fence; so I will get rid of that
stiffness, get him soft and immediately, if I am turning to the left, come
around and let them flow back out to the opposite direction, again in a trot.
So now I will be trotting down the fence on
a very loose rein with my left hand on the reins and my right hand will be
free. I will trot down the fence about 20 or 30 feet again. The longer the
distance is between Point A and Point B - our stopping positions -
the more the horse will have a tendency to forget you are up there. The shorter
the distance is in the beginning, the better. So I will trot down the fence 20
feet or so, say "whoa", sit down, drop my weight and
leave the horse on a loose rein. I will usually wait about two seconds before I
correct my horse and remind him to listen to me. I will say "whoa",
wait two or three seconds and, if he doesn't stop, I will immediately
slide my right hand down and bend him around in to the fence as before.
I will keep bending him - pulling and
releasing - basically my lateral flexion exercise. I will bend him around
at least seven or eight times, making him become soft. It is very important
that when you bend your horse around that you use a little bit more inside leg
to create a little bit more of a "hustle-type" attitude. The bending
is more of an uncomfortable feeling for him at the moment, because we are
trying to tell him that is much easier for him to stop on a loose rein that it
is to keep working. So, it's very important that you create a little bit
more energy when you are bending him around. I will be bending him to the
right. I will wait until he softens. I will let him flow back out to the
opposite direction, and now I will be trotting with the fence on my left side
again. I will keep repeating this exercise over and over again until
eventually, when I say "whoa" on a loose rein, he will
begin to stop.
In the beginning, when you say
"whoa" and he does stop, it might take him ten feet or so
before he actually stops moving his feet. During the whole ten feet between the
time you say "whoa" and when he eventually stops moving
his feet, you do not pick up on the reins. If you have completely left your
rein loose and the horse eventually stops, consider this just a starting point.
Usually, if a horse is going to stop, he will listen to you within a two second
time period. If they don't catch on within a two to three second time
period, I make the assumption that they are not listening or paying attention;
so I will slide my hand down the rein, bend them around, get their attention,
trot off the other way and do it over and over again. If you wait too long
before you take hold of them and bend, they won't relate the bending and
softening to the "whoa". Basically, he needs to hear
"whoa", have a chance to stop and, if he doesn't stop, you take
hold of him, get him soft, make him listen and then go back the other way.
Let's say that he stops after ten feet
from where you said "whoa". Once he gets stopped, keep him on a loose
rein - your hands should not have moved - and rub and pat him on
his neck. Let him rest there for at least 45 seconds to a minute. Let him
really enjoy being stopped there and let him realize that nothing is going to
happen to him. Once he does get stopped and he has a little rest, I will then
slide my hand down and turn him back in to the fence and repeat the bending exercise.
However, now that I have repeated it, I won't be using it as much inside
leg; and I will probably let him relax a little bit more because I am trying to
show him that he did the right thing but he still has to soften and listen to
me.
You never want to start your horse, have him
stop and relax and then immediately walk forward again. In the beginning, you
want to exaggerate to teach and then refine as you go along. So it is very
important that, when you stop him, you always go back the opposite direction,
at least in the initial stages.
You want your hose to imagine he has a cliff
in front of him and when you say "whoa", it's "whoa"
now! It's not "whoa" when you feel like it - it's
not "whoa" when you stop paying attention to other things -
it's "whoa" now! If there was a cliff in front of you, you
would both fall off the edge if he did not stop immediately. We are trying to
build a mental picture in our horse's mind that "whoa" is a
very serious word.
Most people use the word "whoa"
way too freely - they will say "whoa" to slow the horse down,
"whoa" to take control, "whoa" for everything. If I
don't want to stop, I will not say that word - and when I do say
that word, I make it mean something. It's kind of like "crying
wolf" - the more you say "whoa", the less the horse
listens to you. It is very important that you back your words up with action.
So, I will turn the horse in to the fence,
and I will gently jog him back the other way. I always like to post while I am
trotting in this initial stage; because when we are posting, we are kind of
urging the horse forward. When we sit and say "whoa", we completely
stop riding - we relax our body, we take our legs off and it is a very
dramatic difference between our body posting and our body completely stopped.
Remember, the more black and white you can keep horse training, the quicker it
is for your horse to understand.
So, I will trot him back the other
direction. I will say "whoa", have him on a loose rein - if he
doesn't stop, I will slide my hand down, bend him in to the fence and
keep repeating this procedure. Most horses will take at least 10 to 15 minutes
to begin to catch on. Don't be concerned if it seems to be taking a while
for your horse to catch on. This takes a little bit of time, especially with an
older horse who has learned that you are supposed to be doing all the work.
Most riders do all the work for their horse - they say "whoa"
and pull, say "whoa" and pull again. Pretty soon the horse becomes
dependent on your pulling to make him stop. Remember, this exercise is about
getting our horse to want to stop - not making him stop.
Once your horse is stopping at some point
after hearing "whoa", whether it takes him ten feet to eventually get
his feet stopped - that is a starting point. So, the first time he stops
on a loose rein without you having to take hold of the reins, then he has got
to stop within ten feet from this point forward. Every time a horse tries, he
has a new rule. He now has to try that hard or better for the rest of his life.
It is very important that you keep these strict rules in order for the horse to
keep learning and progressing.
For example, if you expect your horse to
stop within ten feet every time you say "whoa" and the next time you
say "whoa" it takes him twelve feet to stop and you don't do
anything about it - you don't correct him or make it uncomfortable
for him to have broken the "rule" - what are you teaching him?
There is no incentive for him to try harder or to even maintain the same
performance.
Remember, horses are professional people
trainers. They are also professional cheats. We are lucky they don't play
cards or we would all be in trouble. It is very important that when you say
"whoa", from the first time he listens to you and stops, he has to
stop that good or better for the rest of his life. I can't stress this
enough. If you don't, he will learn to dictate how much he tries every
day.
Let's say he stops within ten feet.
You pat him and reward him and let him sit there for at least a minute to let
him get his breath and relax. Pat him and let him know that he has done well.
We turn the horse in to the fence because it
acts as a barrier which makes the horse sit back on his hindquarters and make a
180-degree roll over his hocks. Another reason why you turn him into the fence,
even if he stops well, is to continuously reinforce your lateral flexion
exercise. Remember, lateral flexion is the key to vertical flexion - the
better and better we can get our lateral flexion, the more soft and supple our
horse will be and the more he will listen to us. As we come around, we will let
go of the left rein and trot back in the opposite direction.
When you say "whoa" and he takes
twelve feet to stop instead of ten, as soon as he crosses the ten-foot marker,
slide your hand down, bend him in to the fence, pull and release; and get a
little more assertive with the inside leg to make it uncomfortable for him.
Basically, what you're telling him is that the longer he takes to stop,
the more he has to work. The quicker he stops, the quicker he gets a rest.
This could go on for another couple of
minutes. What will happen now when you say "whoa", is he will stop
within seven feet and you will give him a rest. The more you do this and the
more you say "whoa" and relax, the sooner he will continue to stop on
a loose rein. Eventually, as soon as the word comes out of your mouth, he will
stop within one to two feet instantly. Now, it may take one or two sessions to
accomplish this.
Once your horse is stopping confidently off
"whoa" and trotting up and down the fence on a loose rein, he should
be able to do it anywhere - in the arena or outside. Now, I will trot my horse
out in the middle of the arena, but I will still imagine the fence is beside
me. Still try to keep your stops within a 20 to 30 foot radius to begin with or
your horse will have a tendency to forget you are up there.
Trot your horse off - post, post, post
- sit down and say "whoa" and give him a chance to stop. Now,
when you get off the fence, it will take most horses a couple of minutes to
refresh their memory and stop off "whoa" and the relaxing of your
body. Remember, if your horse is stopping within three feet on the fence, you
expect him to stop within three feet or better off the fence. If he doesn't
stop, slide your hand down and bend him around - just act like the fence
is still beside you. You will bend him around, get him soft, get him listening,
do seven or eight circles and trot him off again on a loose rein. Just keep
changing sides like this until he eventually remembers.
If stopping well on the fence, it should
only take four or five repetitions before he remembers what his job is off the
fence. Once you get your horse very solid at stopping off "whoa"
instantly on a loose rein anywhere in the arena, then begin outside on trail
rides or in an open pasture.
This is an excellent exercise to see how
willing your horse is and how much of his attention you have. It's easy
to tell, because if you say "whoa" and he doesn't stop, he is
telling you that he is not listening or paying attention. I do this exercise
every day on all my horses in the beginning of a session just to see whether
they are really listening to me and paying attention.
Once you begin this exercise outside and on
the trail, you will begin to refine his response. The more you go outside, the
more distractions you will have, and this exercise will teach him to listen to
you under any circumstance.
Here are some important notes to remember:
- It is very important to keep your reins very loose when you perform
this exercise. The looser the reins, the better; because you will be
daring your horse to listen to you.
- It is very important that you follow the fence in the initial
stages.
- It is very important that you ask by only saying "whoa"
and giving your horse a chance to stop by himself.
- It is very important that you don't pull immediately on the
reins as soon as you say "whoa". If you do, it doesn't
give the horse a chance. The more black and white you make it, the easier
it is for your horse to understand.
- If he doesn't stop, it is very important that you act a
little more assertively with your inside leg and make him bend and try
harder.
- When he stops, it is very important that you make it pleasant for
him as a reward for doing well.
TROUBLESHOOTING
These are some common mistakes that people
will make with their horse when performing this exercise:
- Not enough lateral flexion - if you try this exercise and you haven't completed
the lateral flexion exercise, it will take you considerably longer because
your horse won't know that the bending means "listen to
me!" Don't skip your lateral flexion.
- Pulling on the horse's face before you give him a chance to
stop - a lot of
people will trot their horses down the fence, say "whoa" and, as
soon as they say "whoa", they will automatically pick up on the
reins with one or two hands. Most of the time, they don't even
realize they are doing this because it is such a habit to say "whoa"
and pull on the reins. To keep from doing this, I recommend you grab a
little bit of mane with the hand holding the reins. That way, when you say
"whoa", if you go to pick up, you will be holding the base of
the horse's mane and it won't let you pick up on the reins.
- Saying "whoa" and not giving the horse a chance to stop
on his own - people
will say "whoa" and within half a second they will slide their
hand down and bend the horse around. It is a fine line there - you
don't want to give your horse 20 seconds before you bend him around
and make it uncomfortable for him because he has to relate that extra work
to his failure to stop when you said "whoa". Then again, you
don't want to say "whoa" and instantly snap on his face
and bend him around. So, wait a minimum of two seconds - a maximum
of three seconds - before you correct your horse. This time frame will
usually give your horse a good chance to stop on his own. Say
"whoa" and count to three slowly to yourself, this gives
you enough time to determine whether the horse is going to stop on his own
or not.
- Your horse doesn't seem to be getting the lesson from the
exercise - You have to ask
yourself some basic questions: Have you done enough lateral flexion? Spend
a good ten minutes to get your horse in tune with you and listening to
you. Are you making it uncomfortable for your horse when he
doesn't stop? This means put a little pressure on him when you
are bending him around, otherwise there is no desire for him to look for a
better place to be. You don't want the horse to trot madly around in
a circle however. He actually needs to calm down, soften - even if
he starts to jog when you bend him around, don't let him out of the
circle until he walks. Are you saying "whoa" and too quickly
picking up on the reins? If so, your horse will never learn to stop on
a loose rein. Are you exaggerating to teach and refining as you go
along? When your are posting, are you posting up and down; and when
you say "whoa", are you taking your legs off, putting them out
in front of you in an exaggerated position and making sure that your body
language says "don't go anywhere"? A lot of people will
say "whoa" and sit down; and without even realizing it, they
will squeeze the horse with their legs. Make sure you are not giving him a
cue to continue to go. All of these things could interfere with your horse
getting the hang of this exercise.
- Your horse is stopping, but he is stopping inconsistently - one time he will stop within ten feet of
your saying "whoa", another time five feet, and another time
twelve feet. Inconsistency is quite normal in the beginning. Don't
worry about it. You will still make corrections, but as he gets better and
better, he will be more and more consistent. As long as he keeps trying
with each repetition, you must make it comfortable for him. Every time he
doesn't stop as good as the last stop, or as good as the best stop,
you must make in uncomfortable for him.
MISTAKES ARE GOOD THINGS
The great thing about this stopping exercise
is that even if my horse doesn't listen to me and doesn't stop, I
still win because now I get to bend him around and get him softer with my
lateral flexion exercise. I always try to turn every negative situation into a
positive one. Most people, if the horse doesn't stop good enough, will
immediately pull hard on the reins or jerk on the horse's face. They are
trying to fix a negative with a negative. I try to turn every negative scenario
into a positive one. So, every time he makes a mistake, it's almost a
blessing in disguise because now I get to work more on his lateral flexion.
It's a double win.
As your horse gets better, you will be very
surprised at how much more in-tune your horse will be with your body language
and reactions. As you keep progressing, you will eventually be able to do this
at the canter. To really get a horse to stop, he has to have a desire to stop.
You can't make a horse stop extremely well by always pulling on the
reins. That's how I get my horses to really slide to a stop on a loose
rein - they have a desire to stop. They know that every time they stop,
they will get rewarded and get a little rest. I instill this in two-year-olds
from day one. Eventually, when they become refined, you can gallop the horse
along at full speed, sit down and say "whoa", and your horse will slide
to a stop with the reins dangling loosely. Eventually, you won't even
need a bridle. Exaggerate to teach and refine as you go along. So good luck,
and keep up the good work!
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