A Sliding Stop

I have a question. I have been learning how to do reining for a year now using many different horses my trainer has. I have ridden mares that do their job and need little help on the stopping aspect of it. Right now I am riding a gelding who won with his previous owner in green as grass and beginner classes. His new owner is an older lady who is starting to learn to do reining but is not asking for the speed or anything.

When I try to fence and stop him he either charges which my trainer has me pulling him to the ground and turning around and going at a trot until he is relaxed then asking for a lope until he is relaxed then building. Problem I am having is he quits before I ask him to. I am told to kick him into the fence so he will stop quiting but my problem is my legs are now around his barrel getting him to keep going forward and when we reach the fence I do not have time to move my legs into postion and end up tipping forward. How do you get a horse who wants to quit to keep going but able to get in position for a proper stop?? If I do not keep my legs after him he will stop, I do not want to just throw my legs out and brace and end up rigid. I need to figure out how to move my legs in less then a stride in a fluid motion. Any tips?

Sorry if this seems a bit jumbled, I have been home recovering from lasik eye surgery for the past 3 weeks and the last lesson I had 3 weeks ago we did fencing and this has been bugging me for 3 weeks now. When I go back to riding next week I will talk to my trainer but figured it doesnt hurt to ask other people in the field.

Are you only running him straight when you are fencing him? My trainer had me do rectangles-they were really helpful. Also gave me a break from the endless circles. You speed up on the long side, slow down and make sure you wait until the last minute to turn......slower on the ends, build speed on the long side....repeat. The long side is always a few feet off the wall, just like you would do your rundown,and sometimes, you actually ask for the stop 3/4 of the way down and roll back to do it the other way.

It sounds to me like this horse is starting to anticipate the stop, and that is the last thing you want with a reiner. You HAVE to keep changing the exercise and keep them guessing.

We do rectangles which we call loops, building on the long side and slowing down to make the turn and doing that. He is fine doing that, its just when we fence and do straight lines but its also when running a pattern its hard to get him back the last pylon before he stops. So I know he is anticipating and we change the exercies all the time that one night we might just work on spins and circles, another night will be bending. So its not like we are working on just spins and stopping. So we have to kick him forward so he is not stopping but running him into the fence when fencing leaves me no time to get into proper position. When we do random lines all around the arena and stop on angles he is fine its just straight lines. Unfortunetly when showing I cannot run him on an angle on the run down so I have to work on getting him to stop anticipating and to keep round, collected and forward without having to keep my spurs on him. I just can't figure out how not to tip forward.

Well, best I can tell you is ride hard all the way down the long side then at the ver last possible minute, sit on your pockets, deep, slow him down (you will probably have to keep your legs on to keep him going at first)and make a square corner. I would not call them loops, like you do, since that would make me think of a rounded corner. You want totally square. It is almost like you are playing chicken. Really ride hard and make him go, but instead of stopping him, turn him. Eventually he should get the idea that you may or may not stop, and he should stop guessing! Sometimes, we rode down the middle, just like this, and turned whichever way we feel like-also to keep them guessing. Try not to repeat the same thing too many times all at once. Do it a few times-then when he gets it, move on. You can come back to it later. I am constantly changing up what we do. I get too bored otherwise, so I know my guy is!

"How do you get a horse who wants to quit to keep going but able to get in position for a proper stop?? If I do not keep my legs after him he will stop, I do not want to just throw my legs out and brace and end up rigid. I need to figure out how to move my legs in less then a stride in a fluid motion."
First- you need to decide if you are working on YOU or if you are working on the horse... if you are training the horse your position really dosnt matter so much because you are doing what needs to be done to teach that horse. Yes, most horses will stop if you don't make them keep going. Do you wear spurs? Regarding being ridgid- this is how I view THE STOP itsself, not the rundown, which it sounds like you may be having problems with and I will adress in a bit
The stop-
Leave your hand where it is, don't pull back first.
At the same time sit deep in your butt and push your weight through your heels, almost pushing your heels down so far you push yourself out of the saddle. At the same time say "whoa" you should now be in a slide. Ideally you don't need to touch your reins. Keep your legs forward and PUSHING down on your heels until the horse is done sliding. This is I supose somewhat "ridgid" of a move but that is how it is suposed to be done- as described as above. My computer is dieing, I hope this helped! I will try and get on and go over the rundown later or you can PM me

Over and under.....allows you to take your legs off so you can square up and brace......my horse has started anticipating lately and his front legs have got sticky......so I lope around and I can feel him anticipating - I squeeze and cluck and if he doesn't move forward I over and under him until he does.......let him know that he can't ignore your speed up cue, whether or not you are fencing.....

I would run him down the long side a few times and each time he feels like he's anticipating and slowing I'd squeeze and cluck, if he doesn't respond I'd over and under him and continue until he is moving forward of your cues and not anticipating on the long side......once he's moving forward, picking up speed, collected and straight on the long side id ask for a stop......then let him rest....this way he learns its easier to move out the first time......

I can only ride him in lessons so therefore when my coach says to fence we fence. We are fine with rectangles and other moves but its the fencing he anticipates and we must do if that's what the coach says we are doing. In group lessons there could be 6 of us and its easier for 6 horses to fence then to go all over the arena. My coach doesnt want me to use reins or a crop as this cannot be used when showing. Other students are using them but he doesnt want me to. Yes I wear spurs and must use them, my horse is on the extreme lazy side that is why I am riding him. I kick his butt because his older owner cannot.

I am training the horse and my hands do not move as he will stop off of voice commands. Its just keeping him engaged on his own that's the problem unless im using my legs every stride he sucks back, problem using my legs every stride is I can't get them in front of me when I need to as im still bumping him to the last second.

I know how to sit the slide on a horse that knows their stuff and will keep the speed or go faster with a simple cluck and sitting deep. But this horse no matter how deep or how much you cluck he wont. I guess I will have to ask my coach what to do. Im tired of being thrown up in the saddle and almost on his neck because my legs are still around his barrel and if I remove any calf pressure he slams on the breaks. My coach has told me he is hard to stop and that is why im on him, if I can figure out how to keep my seat with my legs around him I should be able to stop any horse.

Thanks for the replies everyone!!

I would suggest you do talk to your trainer, since nothing we say seems to be "good enough"......you have many reasons why it is not possible to do, or won't work. So-leave it to the trainer.

Im sorry I come across that nothing that has been suggested doesnt seem good enough. I understand where your coming from but like I said I do not own the horse and therefore can only ride him in lessons and when my trainer says to fence we fence back and forth I cannot change it to rectangles I have to do what is told. I am glad that people have responded on what they will do as I will keep those exercises for other times when one might apply. Right now they don't seem to apply for my current situation.

Once again I am sorry I don't mean to be difficult. I will ask my trainer when I go back to riding next week.

Thanks again.

Maybe I will just have to learn how to sit with only one leg in position. Leaving my outside leg on him keeping him engaged and my inside leg forward a stride early to get ready for the stopping. I wonder if that will work.. hmmm..