how to make a horse STOP!

Hi everyone :) Let me start off by telling you all. I have a 10 year old OTTB mare and she is one of the most stubborn girl ever! I know she was an old racer but she will not stop when I ride her unless she is real tired than she wont even go forward! Lol I havent rode her for about 2 weeks then I was planning on riding her this week but ended up falling off cloud and got hurt pretty bad.

Anyways the point is how can I get my mare to stop? Should I use a different bit? I can tell her woah and she doesnt listen to that. I pull back on the reins and she will pull against it or start flipping her head around.

What kind of work should we due while im not able to ride so she doesnt get green?

Also how can I get her to stand still while trying to mount her? She has so much energy she just never stops moving around. ITS SOO HARD TO GET PICTURES OF HER STANDING STILL! And if I walk away she's up in my face again lol

Thank you all in advance :)

How long has it been since she was on the track?
Was she ever retrained to be a 'normal' horse and not a racer?
Do you usually go for a week or longer without riding her?

Thoroughbred racers are trained to run faster when the reins are pulled. If they aren't trained out of that racing mindset then that's what they'll automatically revert to when ridden. A lot of horses, especially high-energy ones like Thoroughbreds, need to be ridden often or they can be too energetic the next time you get on them, or worse, regress in their training.

I don't know exactly how my trainer does it, but all of her horses (and mine is now learning very well) will halt when they feel you tense your abdominal muscles. If done properly, they need no rein whatsoever to be able to halt. I'm sure at least one person here will recommend you teach her how to one-rein stop (is that correct?).

If it were my horse, I would want to reinforce the 'whoa' (I use 'ho' as it is clearer and more concise) on the ground. We began retraining my OTTB with just leading him around various places (mostly to get him used to things) and practicing halting on command. First it would be pressure to halt accompanied by the word of choice. Now he halts just with the voice command. A good 'ho' halt, to me, means that the horse is not allowed to jig around or fidget and he knows it. He can move his head a little if he isn't required to stand stock still (say for mounting). My horse does well with vocal commands which, for now, is fine. If I was enforcing a horse to halt I would make sure they have a reliable halt on the ground and then transition it to in the saddle.

Build your bond and her development of voice commands with lunging when you can't ride. And when you are in the saddle and she won't stop on regular commands. Do a one rein stop. A thing I learned about OTTBs is when they are on the track. When their jockey pulls back on the reins it means to go faster or all out. So she is just getting the wrong message from you to what she was trained for. Teach her the one rein stop and then gradually move into a regular stop. Teach her to back differently also. Look at the way reining horses do it and that way out can get a response.

As for not standing while mounting. What I personally do is when I try to get on(btw I always suggest a mounting block of some sort because saddles and mounting from the ground can hurt some horses more than others, and it will get tiring after a bit) and she moves jump down and do a short brisk lunging. Whether a small canter or a fast trot. Don't start out with a walk just mover her straight into a trot. Then try again. When she gets it down. Praise lots and a nice relaxes walk.

Up in your face is not ok. She needs to respect your space. So dressage whip poking her away becomes annoying and she will move away. Only allow her in your space if you allow it. Remember consistency is key.
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Haha Reno got to you first.
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From the ground you need to teach her the one rein stop but there's more to it than that. She needs to learn to unlock her poll, that area just behind the ears. When you pull both reins that is the area she locks up which extends all the way down her back to her heels. Using the halter, stand by her shoulder facing it about a foot away. Take your left hand and take hold of the cheek where it joints the noseband. Bring your arm in an arc, with a light touch. She may start to follow then suddenly pull her head back. That's ok. Continue to draw her around in increments until her nose will almost touch your hip. Let go and she will either hold it there for a few seconds or scoot it back. Do this a few more times then switch to the other side. Don't expect her to know what you want as she operating with a different side of her brain and it doesn't know the other side. This off side may be a little more difficult but be patient and it will come. When a horse has learned something new like this I like to give them a few minutes to veg. Out by removing the lead and walking away. If you can't, then turn your back to the horse and think of something that has nothing to do with him. This is why I like to work in a small pen, so I can leave. Another exercise is to stand in front of the horse and take hold of the same place on each side and by bending your knees ask the horse to lower it's head so you both go lower at the same time. This can be relaxing for the horse. Just go a few inches at first then let go and allow the horse to life it's head. Then repeat. Do these exercises as often as you can for a few weeks without riding. Then do them before you ride. Then do them from the saddle at the stand still. If you do this you will notice a big difference when you ride. You will be able to use one rein held so it will make the wide arc and have her soften.

Stop her with a one rein stop or stop her and back her or whatever you want. Just do it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and................................well you get the idea.

It needs to become muscle memory for her that so that she just does it. Doesn't think about it just does it.

I would work in a arena with her, do a passenger lesson, start her off by walking. Does she know how to flex? I would walk her and not go far, then one rein stop her. Keep doing it at a walk until she gets that good and then move onto a trot, do the same thing, don't steer just let her go at a trot wherever she wants, let her go abit, one rein stop her, then go again....keep doing that until she is good at that. Then do at a canter the same thing, shut her down as soon as she goes faster than you want, don't let her make the decision to go at what speed.
As for standing still to mount, we had that problem with one horse that boarded here, I used a stool because I wanted to be able to move quickly with the stool when the horse moved. Every time I stepped onto the stool and put my foot into that stirrup he would walk off right away before I was even on........I grabbed the stool and put it down beside him again, I had to do that alot LOL but he finally caught on I didn't want him to move till I said move. It takes patience but can be done....

Stopping is not done with the reins. REPEAT: Stopping is not done with the reins.

Stopping requires a horse to shift weight to the rear and use the hind quarters to initiate the stop. This means that to slow a horse down, you sit up straight... and give a little half halt (like squeezing a sponge and releasing). When you sit up straight, you also tuck YOUR butt (curling your hips and using your abdominal muscles to do so) and giving the half halt.

This is how you teach a horse to slow and to stop (start at the walk).

If you are in a runaway, then use the one rein stop.
If your horse is not to the point of listening or understanding the half halts and sitting up straight you need to get into an arena (use only half of it or less) and keep changing direction with the horse.. no more than 3 steps in any one direction.. and keep the feet moving until stop becomes a reward (and keeping this to a walk.. keeping the direction changing and so forth keeps the horse focused on YOU). Keep it relaxed.

If you horse is not to the point of being ridden as noted above.. you need to go back to ground work and direction changes and teaching him that stop is a reward (not moving feet = reward, being made to move feet = work).

That's how I used to halt when I was being taught H/J. Now it's completely different with the horses I ride. No tugging, no half-halt, no tucking. Just straight up tummy clench and they're like "Oh, I need to stop now". They are extremely attentive O_O