How to get heel horse to stop on her butt?

Question

How can I get my heel horse to set down and really stop on her ***? She'll break at the poll and tuck her nose in to her chest, but she just won't put her weight down on her rear end!?!?!

Answer 1

simply back her up a step or two after stopping at a walk or trot.  This is train her to prepare to back which shifts the weight to the rear....later she will "get it" at a canter. Stay lite in her mouth...sit back back..give her the back cue after each stop...she'll the the idea

Answer 2

Conformation plays a big roll in a horse using or working off of it's rear end, she may not be built for it.

Horses that handle their hind ends right usually have prominent withers.  A mutton-backed horse usually runs downhill & they have to work harder to push their rear end.  They pull with their front end instead because it is closer to the ground.

A long sloped croup also means the horse has good hock angle & that sets the rear end in the perfect position to get the rear end up under them.

So, if your horse has the confirmation to put his rear end under him naturally, then it is a matter of teaching him to use it.

I would say the way to teach a horse to use the rear end is to stop, back & go over & over & over.

Backing makes the loin stronger. Making it stronger, makes it more flexible.

Answer 3

Sit down in the saddle as if you were the horse sitting down.  Make her walk into the reins.  Until  gets this at the walk and trot, don't pick up speed

Answer 4

Why would you want to, horses have four legs for a reason.

Answer 5

To teach my horses to slide, or stop on their butts, I back them up every time I stop them.  A horse has to use it's hind end to back up, so they start to anticipate having to do this, and start using their hind end sooner and sooner into the stop until they immediately shift all their weight to their hind end as soon as you ask them to stop.  It works like a charm.

Answer 6

yes! this is my topic and this is a very good question..first of all is your horse spur trained if so when i was teaching my horse to stop on his butt i woud simply squeeze and of course the squeeze stop still wasn't very good so i would pull back gently lean back put pressure in the stirrups and say woah then i would back him up very fast squeezing i would then try it again he would eventualy figure out that that when i put pressure in the stirrups and leaned back he would slide!....Hope I Helped!

   its definetly about the pressure in the stirrups as the girl below me said to put out your feet, thats what pros do to put enough pressure in the stirrups to get such a big slide..

Answer 7

yayme had some great ideas, but i have one in addition. start at the trot, and trot in a straight line down the middle of the arena. about twenty or so feet from where you want her to stop, take your reins and ask her to give her face, but instead of asking by going straight back with the reins, go up and back. she will raise her neck just a bit and tuck her nose in, and when she does, this will shift her weight from her forehand to the hind. then ask her to stop as soon as she does this. do this repeatedly. when she gets it down, ask her to stop at the same time that you ask her to shift her weight. do this repeatedly until she stops on her butt with you raising your reins a bit. then start to not bring your reins up as much, and she'll eventually get to the point where she stops on her butt automatically. then start over at the canter. and make sure you ask her to stop as her hind feet are leaving the ground, so she can really sit down alot easier. it's all about balance, so work on shifting her weight, not just pulling her head down.

Answer 8

There's a couple good suggestions here, but I thought I might add some points. You want to make it as easy as possible for her to bring those hind legs up underneath her and really shift her weight back.  First make sure that her conformation allows this.  If she's built downhill, her hocks are high, etc., it may be difficult for her to do what you're asking.  You're going to have to be understanding if this is the case and not force it on her as much.

However, if she has no significant flaw in her conformation that would deter her from using her back end, then it's time to put her to work. Really start building her muscles up in her butt so she can perform this task.  A good way to do this is backing her up uphill, or simply just a lot of backing up.  The best way to build these muscles up are LOTS of rollbacks.  Rollbacks are your key to getting her to bring that hind end up underneath her.  Practice those as often as you can until she's perfect at those.  Once she's perfected rollbacks, her stop will have really improved.  

Also, when you ask her to stop, make sure you stay as balanced as possible.  Keep your hands low and keep your eyes straight ahead.  When you ask her to stop from the canter, it really helps if you give your cue to stop right as their back feet are coming off the ground.  You can feel this when you are rocked slightly back. If you cue at this time (and your horse is immediate in her response), she will pretty much have to use her hind end to stop. If you were to cue at any other time and your horse was trying to stop immediately for you, she would have had to lock those front legs in and jar herself to a stop like that. It flows a lot smoother and is much easier for the horse if you time your cues correctly. It takes lots of practice, and it might help to video tape yourself a few times.

Just keep at it, it takes alot of work but it's very rewarding in the end. Good luck!

Answer 9

Try this starting out at a walk then work your way up to a canter when she gets what you want at the walk and trot.

Walk her forward and  stop (have your butt down in the seat and push your feet forward while your asking her to stop) then back her several steps. This isn't something you can teach them in a few days. It will take a while even with daily training.

Be sure to say whoa, and she'll learn to stop for you just with voice command.

Good luck with her.

Answer 10

google it