My horse dont stop!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE HELP?

Question

I have a mare thoroughbred horse and she is really foward but when she starts trotting she wont stop, i pull on her reins so much but it takes a few mins 4 her to slow down. What is the best way to stop her quickly? Thanks x

Answer 1

pull gently on the rains then say stop and if she stops say good girl and give her a pat

Answer 2

you could try a different bit - either a stronger one or one that puts pressure in different areas?? Or maybe get a trainer to help! I had the same problem, bought a slightly different bit and my horse is much better! Good luck

Answer 3

Don't yank on the reins.  When you pull on the reins, always pull towards your bellybutton.  Just lean back, say whoa and give a gentle tug...If she doesn't do it, make tight circles with her.  Practice with her.  When she stops around the time you told her to, give her a pat and say good girl.  When she doesn't, do it again.

Answer 4

Take one rein and pull her head around to your toe. She can't run off! DO NOT GET A BIGGER BIT! That just annoys horses and causes them pain. I had a runaway appy that I didn't ride in a bit for 3 months, we just rode in a rope halter and lead rope. He learned to stop very quickly. Oh, and best to try the bending on the ground first so you don't realize that you have absolutely no brakes when you're on her! Stand next to the saddle and do it that way. :-)

Answer 5

i have had this problem before too and a couple things you could try are turning her into the wall so she isnt going strait, or turning her in a circle (getting smaller each time until she slows) or one thing that may or may not work is running her into the wall. my horse wouldnt stop so my trainer told me to drive him forward and he ran into the wall (not completley head on or anything) but after that he listend.

also when you ask her to slow/stop and she doesnt listen, try doing a quick jerk of the reins instead of a constant pressure...

hope it helped! good luck!

Answer 6

pull her reins sightly, never jerk on them!

when doing that never grip on.

and what you could try is saying Stop ____ ,good girl...! and pull her reins slightly.

Answer 7

you need to use your body, more than your reins. i am assuming you are posting, so once you want her to stop you need to sit deep in the saddle and brace your back and talk to her gently, say "whoa" as you sit and gently - gently- gently squeeze your reins and then release them. you need to practice this at a walk your body is much more pwerful than your hands and she will respnd much more nicely. your hands can be a very dangerous thing though. so stop pulling on her, she keeps going because the rest of your body is telling her to go. try to really critique yourself and see what it is you are doing to make her go. as soon as you feel her slow down you need to reward her and tell her good girl then brace your back again and squeeze and release the reins. your bit could be causing a problem as well. you need a gentle bit on her and she needs lots of patience and ground work woul dbe very benificial. lots of walking and stopping then transistion to trotting and down to a walk. once you get that from her then you can go from a trot to a stop.

Answer 8

You should pull your reins normal at first if she dosen't respond do it a tiny bit harder if she still doesn't respond try and speak to her using words like `Woah` And `Halt` other than that i can't think of anything else but i wish you good luck and hope your horse soon responds x*x.

Answer 9

Try not to pull so much as you don't want to damage your horse's mouth. Also you should try to tell her stop by sitting deeper in the saddle and gently pulling back. If this doesn't work try circling her and gradually making the circles smaller.

Hope this helps and good luck :]

Answer 10

pull her to the side, use both hands on one rein if you must, while doing this you will be turning her into a circle which will help you to get her to slow down.

aswell as/or use a stronger bit might help.

Answer 11

turning in circles will always work, but you cant exactly do this in a show ring...

make sure you sit up straight with your shoulders back when you ask her to stop. and make sure you arent gripping with you legs and squeezing her by accident!

you could try a stronger bit, like a dutch gag or something- i know a girl who's pony is really hard to stop, she calls her dutch gag her "breaks" cuz her pony is impossible to stop without it!

my horse is sometimes like that, i find a tight flash noseband helps a lot, but it has to be tight! if your horse doesnt like it at first (mine didnt!) just let her stand and fight with it until she realises its not coming off!

also practice half halting and halting at the fence around the area you ride in, this way when she sees the fence she will start to slow down.

Answer 12

The easiest way to stop a runaway horse is to turn in a circle and keep making it smaller until she stops. Also, practice your downward transitions - walk and halt over and over until she does that easily, then attempt trot to walk. Have patience and don't go any faster until she learns to stop when asked.

Also, use your voice. A nice calming "whoooooa" works wonders sometimes.

Answer 13

One of the best ways ive found is to pull the horses head around to your toe. it will stop her in her tracks, but then again i have quarter horses, so they dont run quite as fast lol

Good Luck

Answer 14

you could try a half holt untill she does or turn her in a tight circle they cant trot fast on a small circle or you could try a stronger bit ie a pellam but dont go strait to a duch gag...

Answer 15

o.k. so we have established turning circle and changing the bit. what for these are only short term solutions and are not sorting the long term problem. get back teeth and tack checked then get some lessons from an experience instructor and sort the problem correctly don't just mask the problem

Answer 16

If you cant stop her in trot it might be time to get a stronger bit! A dutch gag (Bubble bit) isn't half as nasty as it sounds! And there's 3 levels you can put it to depending on how strong your horse is.

When you're asking her to stop sit back.

You can turn a tight circle too if you're really having problems.

Don't pull hard on her reins suddenly, squeeze.

You can give/take where you squeeze then let go them squeeze the reins again then give etc. It works with my TBX

Goodluck! xx

Answer 17

you're probably accidentally squeezing your legs or leaning forward, or both

if you are, try sitting deep in the saddle, leaning back, stop moving your body, and squeeze the reins... even if this doesnt work perfectly the first time, she's gonna get used to the fact that you're gently asking her to slow down

oh also make sure you arent tensing up

Answer 18

i would go back to basics again and do more ground work. this is after you have her teeth checked and backed checked as this could be pain related.

Ground work i mean by you on the ground with her longlining  / lunging ect and getting her responsive to voice agian, as I find when situation become out of control your voice can be an essential aid of calming things down and if your voice does not sound calm then neither will the horses reaction be calm.

I have just had in  natural horsemanship help to help me with my scatty pony and what she has taught us both over the last few weeks I can now fully understand where i was going wrong before now i have a fully trusting horse. the results were amazing but please note there is no quick fixes when it comes to horses

Answer 19

You need to work on her stopping. just start practicing are stopping by gently pulling back on the reins and if she slows down, even the littlest bit, release the pressure. Horses work on pressure and it is a reward to take the pressure away. If you just keep pulling the reins, she will just start to completely ignore it and you will have a bigger problem. Just take your time with her and start from the beginning.

Use pressure, and reward the slightest try by releasing it.

Answer 20

Was your thoroughbred mare ever raced? Race horses are taught with continuous contact and so have very hard mouths. They are taught to run even though the jockey has a tight pull on the reins. They put their heads up and forward so the bit catches and they hold on and push forward so as not fel the pull of the jockey who is just holding on and steering. I would change from a bit to a well built hackmore. Reinsman sells a beautiful, well constructed hack that won't break like english hack's. Switching from a bit to a hack is very efficeint when the horse is being unresponsive. When you switch from a bit to a hack I would ride her in an enclosed area first where you can work with her and make sure that you have full control before you ride into open areas and even then not alone. Always remember that if you get into trouble and she starts to get away from you, pull her head tightly around bringing your hand to your hip or thigh, if you bring her nose around to low you take the chance of her tripping or you losing your balance by leaning too far to the side. If you are going to work with her still using the bit you might want to ad a tie down to your tack collection. The tie down will stop her from possibly grabbing the bit and running with it and will allow you a little more control. Another technique I use when I get a horse that won't stop when asked is to ride toward a wall. The wall must be solid so they can't see what's on the other side. Just before the wall I ask for the stop and when they don't respond I continue to ask right into the wall. A horse will not purposefully run itself into a wall and will stop if it has no other way to go. Don't let her turn to the right or left. When she does stop at the wall release your reins(but never not let go!) and give her praise for doing what you asked even though she didn't do it knowingly and make her stand there facing the wall for a few seconds before continuing. Repeat this exercise until she stops before the wall when you ask. Then start riding around and when she starts to speed up and doesn't listen to stop turn her to run into the wall again. She will soon learn that it is easier to stop and be praised than to run into the wall. It also helps to put a verbal cue with the exercise (whoa or hoa) when you ask for the halt. I have had this method work countless times for me and hope it helps you.

Answer 21

Don't 'pull on her reins so much'. Remember, the harder you pull, the more your horse is going to fight you. I had this problem once, it turned out that he was just full of energy. If you have lots of time on your hands, just trot her until she is tired of trotting. It could be that she has a lot of energy. If this isn't the case, try pulling, then sitting back. Pulling, sitting back. If this doesn't work, get a trainer to evaluate her. Maybe you just need a new bit. Remember, 99% of the time, it's the rider's fault. Maybe you are cuing her to go with your legs without even knowing. You might be confusing with your aids.

Good luck.

Answer 22

try not to do a solid pull on the reins as this will give her something to lean on and ignore. Instead, give and take, and slow your rising. Put your weight in your heels and try not to lean forward, you may accidently asking her to go!  Turn her in a circle until she slows down and as soon as she does, praise her.

Practise lungeing her with voice commands. Once she learns the voice commands, move them into the saddle.

Make sure her diet is right, bit suits/fits her along with tack.  And make sure her back/teeth are fine etc.etc.

Is this all the time or when she's just in season? If she's in season, try herbal supplements to calm her down eg magicmare

Also, try putting a tablespoon of honey in her feed and see if there's a difference. Honey has a great balancing effect to calm down fast horses and speed up slow ones.

I hope this helps!

Answer 23

What kind of bit do you have on her. If it is a light bit you might want to consider a diffrent bit. Also just working with her on the ground and getting her to halt with you on the ground will help when you ride her. You can even try trotting and than halting her in hand.

Answer 24

Practice.  Walk, stop, back.  Then when you get it perfect at a walk move up to a trot and so on.

Answer 25

English or Western ?

Don't really know if it makes a difference here but learn and practice the half-halt and practice slowing your rising down.

Don't forget to talk to her.

http://www.classicaldressage.co.uk/Half_...

Answer 26

hi

you could try a stronger bit or something, however you could turn circles till she stops.

keep doing transitions, for exampe...walk to trot then back down to walk lots of turns and circles get her listnening to you. keep doin loads of this and she should start listening to you.

x

Answer 27

lean back pull back and say woah or something like that

Answer 28

my horse is quite forward going too!! just a few checks make sure your sat deep in your saddle if you put your weight towards the back of the saddle then this should let your horse know you want to stop so sit deep! before your about to go down in your transition think right im about to stop give and take your reins to make the horse slow down just a short firm pull then give the reins again for a few strides then do the big pull to make your horse change transition, if your horse is going fast it cant slow down and stop straight away so plan ahead!!  your horse may just be strong so try another bit just one that gives you more control look around and ask if your not sure but even a diff type of nose band ect can give you more control of your horse! keep trying until you find the right one.  if your horse still doesnt stop then turn loads and i mean LOADS of tight small circles even if she has slowed down it just teaches her your the boss!!  dont expect her to change over night, it will take time and alot of practise so good luck with it and i hope you get it sorted! :D

Answer 29

iv had the same trouble with my show cob for the last 5 years! he is ridden in a pelham, which gives some brakes, but generaly out hunting etc he is gone and no one will ever be able to stop him! And before anyone says a pelhams cruel, he is schooled @ home in a snaffle! The best way to stop him, is to sit deep in the saddle, keep ur knees tight and lean back slightly, pulling left/right on the reins. Also turning will help, but no at a canter etc bcoz the horse will just fall over. You could try half halting her, and then strange as it sounds, squeeze with your legs and then put pressure on the reins. Taking her back to basics, in an arena, doing transitions will also help

Answer 30

as you're trotting, keep some contact with her mouth and as you go on, if she speeds up do fingertip aand let go.  Trot as you normally would and stop as you normally would also...but when she finally does stop praise her and as if she had just jumped the moon, hopefully she will get the hint and realize what is being asked of her.  With TB's especially OTTB's you need to be very re-assuring and tell her shes a good girl.  

good luck and have fun!!!!

Answer 31

pull her in a tight circle it isnt a long term answer it wont help but it will make her stop most of the time she wont be able to keep running when she has to be going in a tight circle...it worked 4 me