Sliding Stops

I know many here ride primarily english, but hopefully someone has some tips for me...

I have been teaching reining to my 5 year old stallion, Dez, and he is coming along pretty nicely. His biggest problem is general laziness, but he really seems to understand each maneuver as I teach it to him. The more impulsion/drive I get in each gait, the better (soft & supple) he performs each maneuver - when he is lazy, he gets hard and stiff. What I am struggling with most (other than laziness) at the moment is, getting him to really slide in his stops. About 9 out of 10 stops, be pops. When he does get under with the hind, he is only sliding about a foot at the most. How can I smooth the pop out of his slides (keep those front feet from planting), and encourage a longer slide. I can tell he is trying, he is just not getting it. I will talk to the trainer who has been working with us tonight, but any additional advice/insight is welcome :)

Thanks

Do you have sliders one his back feet?

This is interesting if anyone can help I would be interested too!

He doesn't need sliders to slide no horse needs them it just makes it easer, but they will help, if you do a lot of trail riding you do not want sliders. Sliding is not something they learn over night. My horse doesn't have sliders and he can slide 3 to 8 feet on sand even more when we are on wet grass it is alot of fun.

No, I don't have sliders on his back feet - is that a kind of shoe? Yes, I also do copetitive trail riding, so maybe they would not be a good idea.

I think he just may not be ready to slide from the lope/gallop. When I do it from the trot, he gets into position much better. I can see his hind go under, and him stay up and light on the front. There is just not enough speed. When I add the speed in the lope, he pops because he plants the fronts.

More trot work?

I entered reining at the show this coming weekend, but I am not too worried about if he slides or not because it is a Jr. Horse class (5 and under) - as long as he stops in nice position. I would like him to have it down by next show season though (our season is ending up here).

I wanted to teach my filly to do some riening. How would you introduce the sliding stop though?

He is ready, he pops because he still has to much weight on the front when you go to stop him from a lope make him start going back before he even stops going forward. Yes it is a type of shoe it is wider and a little longer so it has more over a bigger space so it slides, they make a shoe that is a smaller then a slider but bigger then a normal shoe they are so you can slide but still be safe enough to go on the trails.

I think this will help,
http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/reiners/sngrnrs.htm

Thanks for the link. I worked on the stops some more last night, but it feels like it is going to take a bit of practice. I began asking for the back from the lope - problem was that he actually went to the stop first before backing, so I wasn't getting the desired result.

Another new development last night; when I was working on my large fast circles (runs), he had his ears back. I saw that one of the faults listed under stock horse or western riding was "sour ears" - would this be the case? He has not done it with other maneuvers, and I have seen other horses with ears back while running. Does anyone have insight into this? He does not do any negative actions - just the ears.

HorseLover: I could try to explain to you all of the other maneuvers that we have been learning for reining before we worked on slides (bit softening, headset, spins, backs, rollbacks, etc.), but it would be very difficult, and I would probably say it wrong. My best advice is to find a trainer in your area who could walk you through the process. All I know is that we started with bridle work from the ground (even though my boy had been ridden for two full years when we started - and knew all the basics of riding well). The bridle work from the ground, bit softening and suppling was key to all of the following maneuvers for the reining training, but it has also worked wonders for him with trail, western pleasure, dressage, and even our competitive trail riding.

I would therefore start with that (bridlework). Get a trainer to show you how to teach your horse to soften, suppple up, and basically respond to the lightest touch immediately( I still have to remind my boy of that immediate part sometimes). I suggest you observe the trainer before requesting any services so that you know that you agree with their methods and that they know what they are doing. I have been using a loose ring snaffle with 3" rings, but a snaffle that won't pull through the mouth might be better at first. My loose ring pulled through a couple of times in the beginning when he was still a bit more resistant.

I am very excited about when he finally slides consistently (even if only a couple of feet). I am also trying to get more speed in my spins (I think that will just take practice and muscle development, but we'll see).

8) Kool, although a natural sliding stop would be better, sliders are dangerous, I have heard REAL bad stories about them-maybe not a good idea. You stated he was only young? Than maybe just give it time.... Don't rush into things!