A Sliding Stop

I get it-but real training cannot be done is a group setting-for just this reason. The horses all have different personalities and needs. Not sure what your trainer is trying to accomplish, other than saving time. I would be less than happy if that was my horse you were on and the trainer was doing what was best for the group and not my horse. I sure hope the client is not paying for "training". That is not really what they are getting. I have never seen reining horses trained in a group like this-or really any discipline. It is called "group lessons" and the riders pay, not usually the horse owners. Not your fault at all, so not upset with you, don't get me wrong. You are just doing what you are told.

My trainer doesnt do this to save time. The owner is a retired lady who wants to be able to do spins and lead changes but she does not want to do reining. She does not like speed and will not be stopping him.. ever. She is not paying for him to be in training and she knows he is hard to stop but since she isnt stopping him he works for her. She likes to make a horse go fast rather then trying to slow one down.

What works for me is I get to ride different horses and how do deal with different situations to get more experience. If I was showing I most likely would be put on one of the mares who go out there and do their job with minimal help, or get a horse that loves to do reining and is not this hard to stop. So our lessons are not really for training a horse, we are on school horses (or my horse a borders horse) who know what to do its trying to get them to do it that we are learning. If we do it the right way they do what is asked, if we ask them wrong then they don't and we learn to ask the right way. Group lessons work for this as you can see other people riding different horses that have different issues.
But thanks for your replies, I write down alot of difference exercises and training ways so that way when I do get my own horse and I am on my own I can look over my notes to see what might help for that situation.

Try loping him down at a normal lope until you get to the fence, then he won't anticipate the stop and will only be loping, then when you do go down and add speed continue to do this until you feel comfortable that you can go down without him stopping. Also start the first half of your rundown slow, if you start out fast he will slow down, you have to build. As far as the taking of, its not always a good idea to pull them into the ground because it can make your rundown choppy, instead try making a rectangle going from end to end around the arena but staying 20 feet off of the sides, but go all the way down to the end. As you lope this rectangle your horse may think he's running down to a stop, when he speeds up slightly take ahold of his face until he slows down, then give him a loose rein because you have to give him the opportunity to be bad in order to correct it:. Hope.this helps:)

Try loping him down at a normal lope until you get to the fence, then he won't anticipate the stop and will only be loping, then when you do go down and add speed continue to do this until you feel comfortable that you can go down without him stopping. Also start the first half of your rundown slow, if you start out fast he will slow down, you have to build. As far as the taking of, its not always a good idea to pull them into the ground because it can make your rundown choppy, instead try making a rectangle going from end to end around the arena but staying 20 feet off of the sides, but go all the way down to the end. As you lope this rectangle your horse may think he's running down to a stop, when he speeds up slightly take ahold of his face until he slows down, then give him a loose rein because you have to give him the opportunity to be bad in order to correct it:. Hope.this helps:)

Take this for hwat it may be worth... I am not a professional trainer of any sort, particularly reining. I did ride in a few reined cowhorse clinics. The clinician had me do a "run down" at a walk and stop him at the fence when he knew I didn't plan on plowing his face into the fence she had me do it at the trot. Then after numerous times doing that, we did it at a lope. By that time he was comfortable that I had his best interests in mind and he would run all the way to the fence. Training doesn't happen over night and if you start by running before you walk, your horse may not feel confident approaching the fence, not knowing if you plan to stop him before he rams into it, so he takes things into his own hands. Again... just a thought. I can't wait fro NRHAReiner to weigh in on this.

The horse is anticipating. Pulling him into the ground will not change that. All you will end up with is a horse who will start scotching and not wanting to run.

I have a horse who does not so much anticipate but she knows her job and loves it so the min. You put your hat on she knows it is show time and she runs the pattern like she is going for a 74. Which is great for my trainer not so much for me.

Anyway. When you have a horse like this or anticipating really the same problem at the end of the day is keep changing it up. When they speed up change direction. Do a lot of standing and boxing of the horse. If the horse learns that the hat means shows or running the long side of the arena means fencing or stopping then you MUST change things up.

Since this horse is not yours, you are just taking lessons on him from your trainer, there probably is not a whole lot you can do training wise.

However rememeber when fencing and stopping, do not anicipate yourself, your horse will read it. When fencing, look beyond the fence like it is not there and let the fence stop him, not your anticipation of the fence.

If you are getting tipped up when stopping, either your horse is dumping his front end or you are stiff(anticipating getting tipped forward can cause this) and not sitting correctly. Perhaps you could get a video of you stopping and get a look at your position.

Run him down and let the fence stop him.. sit deeper.. you don't need to brace against the stirrups to stay in the saddle. If he tries to slow down, kick the crap out of him.. and circle around and keep going till he commits all the way down. Don't let him drop that shoulder when you circle around if you have to do it more than once.