[Citrus]

I had been using a slow twist snaffle with Citrus because my first ride, he did not really listen to me. I have a plain thin snaffle with large loose o rings that I used today. Now granted, we just walked, practicing hind pivots and lifting his shoulder, but he was a very good boy.

How do I get him to stop right when I say whoa? Or how do you make the whoa cues more intense without pulling on his head? He is a WP type guy.

 

[NittanyEquestrian]

You need to use subtle clues then back it up with your hands and his face. Use whatever cue you want him to know, or combination. I prefer a combination of sit down, legs off and say whoa. Then add pressure on the face and keep intensifying it until they stop. That is pretty much the basic backyard whoa. If you want him to be galloping along and you say whoa and he slams on the brakes then that's gonna take a lot of conditioning. I will caution you though do you want a horse that will sit down and halt or one that will slow and stop? A lot of beginners make the mistake of saying they want a BIG WHOA on their horse. The horse gets trained with a good whoa, they hop on for the first ride after training, they're loping down the rail and they say whoa. The horse plants, the owner goes flying and the trainer gets an angry phone call...so make sure you train for and expect the whoa you want. Not just the whoa you think you want.

 

[Wallaby]

I completely agree with NittanyEquine.

One thing that's helped me get a super "whoa" on Lacey is saying "whoa" (actually "ho" in her case) and backing her up 6-10 steps. She caught on quite quickly that if she stopped when I said "ho," she wouldn't have to back up, but that if I said "ho" and got no response, well I'd be up in her face making her stop AND back up. Haha
And what NittanyEquine described about the huge whoa has actually happened to me. Hahaha I trained Lacey to stop really well but I hadn't cantered her yet with this new knowledge of hers. So we were cantering along and just since "whoa" had been so ingrained in my mind, I said "ho" and boy did I realize the error of my ways! :lol: She planted her feet, scooted her butt under herself, stopped dead, and then jumped forward to keep me in the saddle. It was one of the funniest moments of my life, she turned her head and looked at me like "you are a fool, a certifiable fool" (to make matters worse, we had an "audience" of people who saw me riding and starting grouping around the arena, basically "Hi guyzzz! I iz REEEEAAAALLL good riderz, pleeeze watchez me make a foolz of meselfz?" sorta situation only minus me toting myself as a good rider, heehee).
After that I taught her "easy." To her it means to go slower while staying in a walk/trot and if she's cantering, it means trot. So now, I say "easy" to get a slower gait, and then I say "ho." :lol:

 

[NittanyEquestrian]

*raises right hand* I do solemnly swear I got dumped at a big show while showing a friend's all around mare because I made the mistake of cantering some circles and without realizing it I was like whoa. Because a short whoa to my guys is slow down and WHOAAAAAAA is butt on the ground stop. Well, I said one whoa and she planted and my pride and my butt went sailing right outta the saddle. The judge was coming back from the bathroom, he laughed at me. The owner laughed at me and I had to go change my clothes...After I learned that supposedly unnecessary piece of training on that horse we went on to win all around champs for the day. But the judge at the end of the day said something to me that I will never forget. He said..."Pride goeth before the fall...but when you dust your butt off and get back on and suck that pride up to ride the way you know you should instead of resting on your laurels then good things will happen." He also offered to buy the mare. The fact that she was an amazing little quarter horse machine and congress winner didn't hurt either...HAHA!

 

[RiosDad]

You need to use subtle clues then back it up with your hands and his face. Use whatever cue you want him to know, or combination. I prefer a combination of sit down, legs off and say whoa. Then add pressure on the face and keep intensifying it until they stop. .

I agree with all but the last sentence. I sit back, put my legs out front , pick up the reins but do NOT take the slack out of them and in a clear load voice say HO. If the horse doesn't slam on, stop instantly I back it up with a severe correction with the bit, a hard pull, set him right back.
In one or two tries I have a horse that stops now, not 10 feet down the road, but now with no touching the rein.
To pull slowly until the horse finally stop doesn't teach lightness, it teaches the horse to be lazy. Think about how you learn not to touch something hot. You touch it, it hurts and you don't do it again.
Teach the horse the same way. Cue him, tell him and then make it hurt. He gets the message 100% quicker and becomes more reliable.

 

[RiosDad]

My slow down is EASY and my stop is HO and my really hard stop is BACK

 

[Vidaloco]

I'm with Rio on this one,

I sit back, put my legs out front , pick up the reins but do NOT take the slack out of them and in a clear loud voice say HO. If the horse doesn't slam on, stop instantly I back it up with a severe correction with the bit, a hard pull, set him right back.

I'm probably not as severe on the correction of the bit but the order is right. Most times I don't get as far as using the bit.
We aren't riding WP, just the trails but its still important to get a good stop when nearing busy roads.