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<blockquote data-quote="Horse Guy" data-source="post: 337901" data-attributes="member: 5753"><p>Some basic concepts:</p><p></p><p>*Some horses are not great natural stoppers. They just aren't built to stop really hard, and no matter how much you school on them, you may never get much more than some basic improvement. Don't insist that a horse be a big stopper, they may not be able to physically hack it. </p><p></p><p>*At the foundation level, rollbacks are useful in helping a horse learn to set his hocks, but stay free in the front end b/c of the rollback movement. Focus more effort on leaving the rollback with energy than trying to rip the horse into the ground going into the rollback. Hustle him out of there several times and he will start trying harder in the stop portion of the movement. At the juvenile level I tend to just tip that nose, get your inside leg off the horse and drive with my outside leg. I'll use both legs to hustle 'em away from the rollback. Make sure that you rollback into your tracks, and don't let 'em slop through the turn. Start with trotting, then progress to loping. </p><p></p><p>*Build speed to your stop in a linear fashion. It is much easier to get a smooth deep stop out of a horse that is accelerating. </p><p></p><p>*Make sure that your horse stays in the appropriate gear and does not "burst" into another gear. Having good speed control is very important. </p><p></p><p>*Make sure that your pony is staying soft in the face and is holding a reasonably collected frame. Horses that stick their nose out, flatten their back and run like a racehorse don't stop well. Insist that the horse holds some reasonable semblance of frame/collection. His face must be soft. He must willingly break at the poll while driving from behind. Make sure that you are getting adequate impulsion from behind and that by getting face that you are not just causing the horse to dump on his front end. This is very critical. Taking face without impulsion from behind is a very bad thing. If you need to, really drive him up into that frame....then relax him...then insist on frame...then relax him...until you get a reasonable degree of 'self carriage'. </p><p></p><p>* Sit very quietly, don't telegraph your stop cues by jerking backward or anything like that. Make sure that your horse will stop with the slightest cue. A horse has to be willing to be 'pulled into the ground'. I don't mean RIP him into the ground, I mean get a soft feel until he actuates his hindquarters, breaks at the poll and then signal for the stop. Being soft in the face and giving to the bridle is very important here. Example your cue to stop could simple be taking your legs off the horse, dropping your heels a bit and saying a sooooft 'whoa'. Just b/c your horse is running faster you must not speed up as a rider. Stay soft, sit up, look up and out, ride quietly to your stop no matter how fast you run, and stay fluid and back just enough so that you do not get dashboarded. </p><p></p><p>The rundown is key to the stop. Make sure that your horse is running free and is soft. Practice at all different speeds and stopping places. Don't bother stopping (at first) if that horse is not driving from behind soft in the face and neck, and accelerating. I sometimes loosen a pony in my rundowns by cranking their head a bit from side to side. NOT to your boot, probable just 6" each way laterally as they run. Then ask for the soft break at the poll as well. If your horse is stiff and elevated during his run, he won't stop well. You need to insist on softness through the length of the rundown to the stop. I don't mind if a horse elevates a bit, but I do not want it to be a motivated stiff neck. That pony needs to learn to run and stop in frame without getting too worried or pi$$ed. </p><p></p><p>* The best videos out there are by Andrea Fappani and Shawn Flarida/Craigh Schmersal. </p><p></p><p>Anyway im out of time, but there's a few ideas. If I dont get slamed on the horse slaughter thread I might come back on here and sling some more bull.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Horse Guy, post: 337901, member: 5753"] Some basic concepts: *Some horses are not great natural stoppers. They just aren't built to stop really hard, and no matter how much you school on them, you may never get much more than some basic improvement. Don't insist that a horse be a big stopper, they may not be able to physically hack it. *At the foundation level, rollbacks are useful in helping a horse learn to set his hocks, but stay free in the front end b/c of the rollback movement. Focus more effort on leaving the rollback with energy than trying to rip the horse into the ground going into the rollback. Hustle him out of there several times and he will start trying harder in the stop portion of the movement. At the juvenile level I tend to just tip that nose, get your inside leg off the horse and drive with my outside leg. I'll use both legs to hustle 'em away from the rollback. Make sure that you rollback into your tracks, and don't let 'em slop through the turn. Start with trotting, then progress to loping. *Build speed to your stop in a linear fashion. It is much easier to get a smooth deep stop out of a horse that is accelerating. *Make sure that your horse stays in the appropriate gear and does not "burst" into another gear. Having good speed control is very important. *Make sure that your pony is staying soft in the face and is holding a reasonably collected frame. Horses that stick their nose out, flatten their back and run like a racehorse don't stop well. Insist that the horse holds some reasonable semblance of frame/collection. His face must be soft. He must willingly break at the poll while driving from behind. Make sure that you are getting adequate impulsion from behind and that by getting face that you are not just causing the horse to dump on his front end. This is very critical. Taking face without impulsion from behind is a very bad thing. If you need to, really drive him up into that frame....then relax him...then insist on frame...then relax him...until you get a reasonable degree of 'self carriage'. * Sit very quietly, don't telegraph your stop cues by jerking backward or anything like that. Make sure that your horse will stop with the slightest cue. A horse has to be willing to be 'pulled into the ground'. I don't mean RIP him into the ground, I mean get a soft feel until he actuates his hindquarters, breaks at the poll and then signal for the stop. Being soft in the face and giving to the bridle is very important here. Example your cue to stop could simple be taking your legs off the horse, dropping your heels a bit and saying a sooooft 'whoa'. Just b/c your horse is running faster you must not speed up as a rider. Stay soft, sit up, look up and out, ride quietly to your stop no matter how fast you run, and stay fluid and back just enough so that you do not get dashboarded. The rundown is key to the stop. Make sure that your horse is running free and is soft. Practice at all different speeds and stopping places. Don't bother stopping (at first) if that horse is not driving from behind soft in the face and neck, and accelerating. I sometimes loosen a pony in my rundowns by cranking their head a bit from side to side. NOT to your boot, probable just 6" each way laterally as they run. Then ask for the soft break at the poll as well. If your horse is stiff and elevated during his run, he won't stop well. You need to insist on softness through the length of the rundown to the stop. I don't mind if a horse elevates a bit, but I do not want it to be a motivated stiff neck. That pony needs to learn to run and stop in frame without getting too worried or pi$$ed. * The best videos out there are by Andrea Fappani and Shawn Flarida/Craigh Schmersal. Anyway im out of time, but there's a few ideas. If I dont get slamed on the horse slaughter thread I might come back on here and sling some more bull. [/QUOTE]
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