Can you ask for sliding/hard stops without sliding plates?

I don't know anything about reining. That's why I'm asking. Just one of those, "I wonder..." questions. I'm an English rider; canter is just my default term. Sorry for my ignorance.


I kind of see what you mean. A sliding stop isn't a "transition." I watched some youtube videos of various western events (reining, calf roping), compared them to English canter-halt, and can sort of kind of see it.

Thank you!

Here is my take, from actually RIDING both english and reining. THis is just MY opinion, and how I see it from doing it.

First, I would caution you from doing any sliding purposely without sliders. All your horse has to do it catch a toe and that alone could cause serious injury. Sure, reiners can catch a toe also, but sliders as well as perfect footing make it much less likely. Even with sliders there are very very few places I will ask my horse to slide. If you insist on doing this, I would suggest you at least have your farrier roll the toe a bit to minimize the chance it may catch. It also takes a lot of time to teach a reiner to stop correctly. THere is more to it than just sliding.

My take on canter vs lope is as follows. When I am on my hunter horse and ask for a canter, I expect his head carriage to be higher, and there is generally a bit more speed than a western lope. I tend to sit lighter in the saddle. When my reiner lopes (and yes he does have different speeds) in general his carriage is lower and there is just a much more....for lack of a better term.....relaxed feel to it. I sit deep and very relaxed. English generally has light contact-Western does not. I have no idea what the book definitions are, those are just what I feel when I ride them, which, IMO, is where the rubber meets the road. So, to me it is NOT "the same damn thing". I would suggest perhaps you need to actually RIDE it.

If it makes a difference, I've ridden horses trained for English and switched to western. Lucky's headset was always the same, for a slower "lope", to a faster canter, to a gallop. She's all western trained, but for games and not for pleasure or reining. A lope is a western pleasure term, to me, if you consider them different. Yet, since there is no definite line to distinguish between a lope and a canter, they are the same by definition, IMO.
But, does that mean that one horse cannot both canter and lope then? Does it depend solely on the horse's head carriage? Or what?
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I am stating MY OPINION. I really could not care less what you call it and refuse to split hairs with you. As I said, I do not know the textbook definitions. I suppose you can wikipedia them if you like. I would call what a barrel horse does a gallop. I CAN tell you that if a reining trainer tells you to go "lope circles" and you correct them, you will be shown the door. At least the ones I know. Certain things I would not say to them. That is one-"Natural horsemanship" is another. THat is one way to be looking for a new trainer in a hurry. Again-just what I see, and MY opinion.

As wearsbear said, canter is english and lope is western, both are a term for third gear.

Sliders are so important for reining horses. As stated before, you can cause serious, possibly permanent damage to your horses hocks if they stop hard barefooted. I wouldn't recommend doing it without sliders, there are many ways to make sure your horse hasn't "forgot" how to stop without pulling them into the ground at a fast lope or canter (which ever term you want to use.) My mare picked up stopping right away and I HAD to put "baby" sliders on her before I could even continue working on her stops. Her hocks are more important to me. Now, she is barefoot and I have to be super careful not to ask her to stop fast. Hope this helps :)

Also, it only takes one time barefooted to seriously hurt your horse. We're not talking about wear and tear of consistent stopping. Please please reconsider making sure your mare hasn't forgot her stops by stopping her hard barefooted. By hard, I mean anything that is going to make her dump her but and slide, even just a few feet. For the sake of your horses hocks. I only say this because I am in a similar boat with my mare, but I know how much damage this can do if done improperly.