Stopping with your seat?

This is what I do not like seeing but there are quite a few top trainers who stop like this. As you can see his feet are slid all the way home and his toes are down. To me this is what you are talking about in bracing in the stop. However Brent makes it work. Horse is stopping deep and relaxed.

Please excuse me while I drool over your pictures!
Goodness, you've got some LOVELY horses and man, can they STOP!

I was going to reply about putting your feet foward (as this does shift your weight to his hindqarters to get him engage) but you beat me too it.

Where are you located, if I can ask?

Yes!
Stopping does not mean you pause for a second and then get to move off. No. You stand.
There's been sometimes where I have to continulely make a horse stand still - correcting them when they shift or go to move - for close to ten minutes before they actually realise that whoa means WHOA.
Such an extremely important lesson, especially if you plan on showing, be it Reining or WP. You do a stop and your horse takes a few steps forward, you blow that whole class.
It's not okay for that horse to stop and then walk forward when he feels like it; there's a cue for that.
Patience is a virtue and I'll tell you, it's a hard lesson for some horses to learn but it's a very vital one!

bah!! information overload lol. nrhareiner you have been very informative. i get what you are saying. i just wanted to touch on a few things. that first pic of shawn, i think that in comparing this to the other pics you posted that his feet are actually in a nice position but he is bracing against the stirrups(they are slightly infront of the cinch like you said they should be). if he had sunk his weight into his seat and heels then he wouldnt be up out of the saddle. but the second one, i get why the horse is stopping so nicely.

question for you (hijacking thread lol) if you take away all leg contact how do you keep the horse paddling his front legs? i have heard that if you dont have something to remind them to keep their front end going that they will slam the front brakes on as well.

I find this a problem too sometimes especially as a like sporting and eventing. My horse has a hard mouth so the bit i use sometimes helps but no always. There are days were he is just lazy, but otherdays if voicecommand were to work on him it would be great!! i do sit back and sometimes a lil toooo much!! My friend says that is the way i sit in the saddle normally. I have asked my instructor about this and she says that my seat did and has improved. I hope this helps you, and with the seat changing i dont mean change the way you ride all together!!!

It comes down to several things. One and this is what a lot of people for get. These horses are bred to stop like that.

Then the other part is training. They are trained to keep their front end moving. If they brace on the front end then you can do several things to get them to lift of their shoulder and keep their front free and flowing which is a big part of the stop. A lot of times it is not about the distance you get in the stop but the way the stop is done. The fanece of the stop. Same with the turn and rollback.

Here is an example. If you ask a horse to stop and he braces in the front end. Once he comes to a stop turn him one direction then the other. This will let him know that he needs to keep his front end moving. You can also back them up which is the most unusual way that most trainers will do it. It teaches them to sit back over their hocks and get their shoulder up. However that do not work to get their front feet moving. Another way that will work but I do not recommend it at first. Is to stop then back them a step or 2 then collect them up and push them forward at the trot. Again teaches them to keep their front end moving.

In the stop there is a fine line between feet too fare forward and not enough. If they are too fare forward then the rider is most likely leaning too fare back and that really can through the horse off. If they are not fare enough forward you get pushed out of your seat and that will make the horse jam up the front end loose their balance and I will not get into the OUCH factor of a horse jamming up the front end.

As for the horse stopping well when the rider is out of position. The thing is that is not the norm for how the rider is normally positioned in the stop. These horses are so well trained that when the rider gets off just a bit every so often then it dose not affect the horse. However if you keep being out of position then the stop will deteriorate big time.

Double post.

Great explination Zoe, I've found I put more effort into my seat and Chinga will "speed" up but if I have a lazier seat then Chinga will slow down, so that with a little bit of rein contact gets a nice halt that you used your seat for.