Sliding stops?

Question

What is the best way to teach my horse to do a sliding stop correctly? he is already very responsive to stoping. He slid for me yesterday in a trot but I want to make sure he is sliding on his hind end and not his front end

Answer 1

I'm going to steal some advice from Black Bunny here.  I never achieved a perfect sliding stop in my years of trying...then I read her advice and one thing stood out that I had not been doing in all those years.

She said that right as the slide is happening, she legs the horse forward to get the front legs up off the ground.  Simple, but somehow eluded me and no one told me that before.

BB: Just wanna give credit where credit's due!

Answer 2

I found a site that explains it better then I could... it is hard to teach them this but keep working at it!

tep1

Watch the horse's natural ability to come to a sliding stop with a simple two-foot slide. The horse should be able to stop within one stride at command before working on the sliding stop.

Step2

Give the command "Whoa!" to the horse while walking, and wait for a fraction of a second.

Step3

Relax your body on the horse to give an additional signal that you want to stop.

Step4

Apply pressure to the reins for a second, and then set your hand to allow an inch or two of slack. The horse should immediately stop.

Step5

Repeat the command and rein work at a slow pace. The horse should perform a short slide while stopping quickly.

Step6

Increase your speed gradually. Continue issuing the stop command and setting the reins. When you feel the horse wants to release the stopping action, reset the reins again to inform the horse you want to a sliding stop immediately.

Step7

Work on sliding stops with gradual increases in speed for days or weeks until the horse comes to a sliding stop instinctively without much direction from the reins.

good luck!

Answer 3

I would have answered this question exactly the way Kevin did. What better way to get a horse to stop then to have him be thinking about backing while he's moving forward. It gets him to think ahead of time about getting his rear underneath of him. Make sure he's wearing skid boots and the surface is loose. Sliding on hard packed ground over and over again such as in practicing will cause muscle and tendon damage. Use a loose soil or sand and put those boots on him. They also make shoes that are better suited to sliding stops. Ask your farrier.

Answer 4

Copied and pasted from another question I answered...

For mine...pulling on the reins is going to cause the head to go up and they end up stopping on the front instead of dropping the hindquarters.

I do sit deep in the saddle, but I also put my legs forward. This is dealing with the inertia. [think of an elevator, you get that funny feeling because your body is still going up, but the elevator is stopping.]

Same with stopping...your body weight is still going forward, but you need the legs in front of you to take the force of the forward momentum so you don't end up off balance or leaning over the saddle horn.

Anyways..Once I sit deep and my legs move forward...my horses know the stop is coming. Your horse needs to get his hindquarters under him. One way to get this, is to start at a walk...boring I know, but necessary. Ask him to stop with your body cues. Most likely you will need to use the reins too at this point. As soon as the horse is stopped...ask for a back up. Every single time...every SINGLE TIME.

The horse will begin to anticipate the back up and get his hindquarters under him. Once this is going smoothly...move up to a trot. Do it all over again. Work back and forth between a walk and a trot until the horse does it every single time. Don't rush into a lope and have it done wrong. This makes the training take longer.

During this slow time...start to rely less and less on the reins stopping the horse. The horse will learn that when you sit deep and the legs go forward...it's time to come to a stop. Use the whoa word every time you ask him to stop. And continue to back him when you stop.

Once the stopping and backing has been mastered...then move up to the lope. If he does it wrong...go back to the trot and reinforce the stopping and backing. Then give a few tries at the lope. Remember to praise when he attempts to do it correctly. Don't forget the back up.

You should reach a point where just your body language and the word whoa will stop him. Once all this is going well, then you would learn to urge the horse forward at the same time he is stopping. This is the sliding stop where the front legs are pedaling forward for a long slide. That's more complicated and I personally like the way Al Dunning teaches this.

Sorry so long

It's not stealing gallop!  I'm glad the info helped you...pass it on to whoever it might help...

Also...putting skid boots on is excellent advice that I forgot.  Working on these stops could also cause 'burns' on the back of the fetlocks...causing your horse to NOT want to work on this because it hurts.  And your farrier would put 'sliders' on the back hooves.  You won't get a long slide without these.

**EDIT...haha Kevin! I leave for a few hours and you sass me while I'm gone!

*Hello pot...I'm Kettle*

For questioner...just a couple more thoughts.  When you start attempting the stop at a lope...collect your horse. This will help.  I don't know how to explain riding behind the beat, but collecting your horse is close.  This also helps them to keep their hindquarters under them.

Also...do not stop at the same place every single time...or the horse becomes 'sour' to that spot.  It will anticipate the stop, and that's bad when you expect to keep going.  The horse needs to stop when YOU tell it too...not out of habit in a particular spot.

Answer 5

The best way is to have him back up 5 step every time you stop him. Every time and I mean EVERY TIME, without fail. No matter if your training or pleasure riding, no matter. Just keep doing at a walk, then trot a long time before anything faster. The thing to remember is that at first you can't just haul back on the reins. The best method that I have found is a three step whoa method.

1 Is a verbal que of "ready".

2 Set your feet and get deep in the saddle.

3 Is the "whoa" que and the stop.

This gives the horse a cadence to get used to. Again this will be a long boring process. Eventually work up gradually by eliminating step one(they don't care for that in reining shows). And do no forget to have him back up every time.

Pretty soon after fallowing these simple tactics your boy will be burying his @ss in the dirt. This is pretty much the same method that ropers, (many)cutter, reiner, and I have seen some barrel racing horses with a good whoa.

Hope I helped and was able explain so  that you could understand.

Edit- franmar261 has a good point. I like to start off with what are called baby sliders. They are normal shoes but they are straitened out on the back side of the foot only on the hind legs. It helps the horse get their butt under them, and deffinatly use skidd boots in soft soil. There are many many differnt methods to get the same result. This is the methode that I have found to work on the majority of the horses I have worked on.  The end result is getting a horse with its but down and front feet paddling out in front of the stop. Luck

Edit-BB again you hit the nail on the head. I have that ol' ranch hand habbit of oversimplifying a explination. I work better if I can use myself as example when talking about a training methods. I think BB's detailed example is great. It is pretty much the same method that my grandfather taught Bobby Ingersol, my Dad, and my great uncle Gene Rambo. Naturally its the same thing drilled into me for years and years, and not only from my Pap, but from several other trainers I have worked with in learning to train horses. And I have rarely seen an explination of a sliding stop so well written, and is pretty much the same way that I use when working with my horses. But its not suprising, BB has the Top "addicted to YA" contributer badge longer than I have. HA!