Refresher course in sliding stops

Ok, here I am, it's been a while since I did a good slide and thought I'd slide my guy today.....I'm just not getting the whooooa slide I need. He's not scotching it, he's just not getting that butt under. He doesn't feel terribly hard, he's quite soft. I ask when he's nice and straight and we have some forward motion.....I'm asking him wrong, for sure.

Need a refresher here.....I'm sitting on my pockets, bracing my legs, saying whoooooa......and I'm getting this measly little slide.....do I need to be picking him up in the front??? He has sliding plates on and good footing....

Any pointers?

Is he sucking back well? At a trot, extended trot when you just release your legs, does he automatically start running backwards?

Yeah he does if I keep my legs braced and forward (he's trained to stop with the leg brace and if you keep those legs braced and forward he backs up) and he backs up, nice and soft, no rein at all.......he's sound, no prob there......perhaps I'm not asking aggressively enough? Or maybe I need to pick him up a bit as I start to brace, and I mean front end up, not pulling back.....kind of like a bicep curl???

Get after him, and make sure he isn't hallowing out his back, also. .. Of course I only recommend that because he's trained to stop.

If he isn't getting his butt underneath himself that would tell me that he is not not driving up underneath with his hind legs in the rundown, maybe getting strung out behind. The stop is only going to be as good as the gait before.
Then of course your timing for asking for the stop. Without a video it is hard to tell for sure though.

Thanks! Perhaps I should really get after him a bit more (I'm a bit of a softy....I need to stop that!) and really make him round up in all his gaits....probably better to get him loping in a nice collected big circle, then come out of the circle nice and straight and ask.....im going to try this tomorrow, yup I think he's not working hard enough at it! My fault, tooooo nice. Really it's just a lack of feel, he's a new horse and he's very willing, I guess I'm just not putting him in the correct frame.....I will update....perhaps with a pic of my tracks!!! I hope!

Hey everyone, I've been thinking about this while eating my supper, and I've been replaying my cues in my head....this sounds a little novice (haha and that I am!) but I've been doing things in this order:
1. Getting him straight, relaxed and moving forward on a slack rein (perhaps not as 'up' as he should be)
2. Sitting on my pockets
3. Bracing my legs and saying whoa
4. Picking him up in front
5. Secretly praying that it works!


Now steps 2.3. And 4 happen within milliseconds of each other .......

Am I cueing in the right way? I am keeping my hands nice and low.....and I was always told seat and legs before reins......Maybe it's a matter of exaggerating my cues? He has been shown before, haha this isn't his first picnic!

Is this horse trained to 'draw' down into a stop without saying "Whoa?" Do you have way to fence him? Do you have a trainer working with you? Can you talk to the trainer that trained him -- preferably work with him a little? You need eyes on the ground. Can you get someone to video him and post it? Many times a horse is stopping flat or even hollow instead of rounded and the rider does not realize exactly what his frame and shape is.

I think two things would help you if you are working completely on your own, (besides using video to critique you and horse):

First, he must be committed to the 'run-down'. He must be gaining speed before you ask for the stop -- not just galloping down the pen. I get the impression that YOU are not fully committed to a hard, sliding stop.

Second, he must be 'in frame', shoulders up, belly up, back round and absolutely ready to do a good rounded stop. I would get him a lot more ready to start with. I would do fast to slow transitions while going diagonally across a pen until he picks himself up when he transitions to slow.

If you are still having problems after everything else is working well and he is still not getting himself rounded and committed to his stops, I would have a good reining/ cutting Vet take a good look at his hocks and stifles. He may need to be injected because he is not 100% comfortable when he flexes his hocks that deep. This would be one of the things I would want to look at on a video taken from the side. Horses that used to flex their hocks very tightly and stop with them really low that now stop with a flat back and stiff less flexed hocks are usually not comfortable and are trying to 'protect' them.

Thanks Cherie....you know I just went back to basics with him, so I am doing a lot of fast-slow-fast work to get him using his back end a lot more, and today I made progress with my small slow circles, it probably wasnt pretty, but I got it....I haven't worn spurs on him yet (as I have been waiting to regain my leg control a little better) but I do think he is starting to switch on that I don't have any spurs and he's not lifting that big ole barrel of his up when I ask.....

I find that he anticipates stuff a lot and that I have to be firm....for example his lope departures, he's started rushing forward into a trot instead of picking up the correct lead and loping off nice, so I just keep on making him stop and try again, as soon as he starts trotting I pull him up, reset him and ask again....until I get it, I think he gets sick of getting pulled up and then gives it to me.....Am I doing the right thing with this little hiccup? I am opening my inside rein and leg and pushing his hip over to the inside to get the lope....I find if I touch his nose or tilt it that he just gets all scrambled....perhaps I'm jamming him up???

I will be getting a lesson soon.....and a new saddle....I don't like the saddle I have on him now.....
Yes....Cherie I for sure need eyes on the ground....everything is ok....but could be so much nicer and smoother for sure.....

Ok! An update.....haha....after getting my spurs on. And getting after my guy a bit, we've made pretty good progress......

So....today.....I made tracks! Yes full run down, butt in the ground tracks!!!! However, I haven't been able to upload a freaking single photo since I started using the forum here, so I cannot show you my tracks!!! But I did use my phone and took pics and sent them to my pal who is in Oklahoma at the futurity right now!!!!!

I'm stoked!
Oh, yes, Cherie....I got a new saddle too....and the new spurs helped immensely, also had some eyes on the ground and on his back to figure out what's going on.....diagnosis, I'm too nice! LOL!
(just to keep me humble.....tried a lead change also.....good grief, changed in front, but he didn't change in the back!! WTH! Oh well, will be my next challenge....lots of counter-cantering and turning on the fore!!!)