[Gutter_Doll]

Basically you balance it out. If the horse is stopping great on his hind end but poor in the front, you jog them foreward and do a lot of transition work. That is:

1) Teach softness in the poll at a standstill. Pickup the reins, wait, when he dips his nose, release. Do it again. This achieves the soft rocked back back-up and light forehand.
2) Teach the stop by (if you'd like) saying woah, and picking up the reins, then holding until he gives a light backup.
3) When that is great, at the jog ask for the same thing. If his front legs jut out, immediately ask for a snappy departure into the jog (loose rein) let him jog out for a second, ask again. If he juts out in the front, do it again. If he's IMPROVED AT ALL let him stand and rest for a while. Then try again.
If he gets good at being light in the forehand, but debalances and the HQ stays strung out, ask him for the backup in the stop. It's just keeping that balance. He could be realy light and nice in the forehand for months on that exercise, then one day string out behind, and you'd need to get him to back after the stop until it improves.

Hope that helps, love to see how he goes. And remember - less is more.
(as for the fires, thankfully we're in NSW, not VIC, so weren't effected except by the awful stories.)

[TimmysMom]

Thanks, GD! You obviously know so much more than I, and I cannot thank you enough for the help!

I printed out your reply so I could read it daily!

Now, to find a saddle that fits . . .

[Gutter_Doll]

The horses... it's basically an ongoing conversation. That's why we get so confused sometimes - when we don't know what to say back. That's when we have to ask questions - I sincerly wish you well and am looking forward to some photos of your progress! Timmy is one handsome boy.

[1ststringfarms]

Gutter nailed it!

[TimmysMom]

Originally Posted by 1ststringfarms

Gutter nailed it!

I know, she was right on and SO helpful with the steps - I have no one here to watch him or video him so when I get this nailed, maybe I can watch him at liberty - he does that really well.

THE SAD PART? MY saddle does not fit. I have to sell it and tried some templates on him yesterday and the DRAFT one just barely fit - what a pork chop!

[Bernardo]

I wanted to add... another thing we do with our reiners when they stop on their front end is

We turn them around themselves a few times (spinning/pivoting) it helps them loosen up.

Another thing we do with my mare who REALLY likes to lock up, which I'm not going to explain well but I'll try.

So we run down, stop, she locks up in the wrong end. SLOWLY I'll take one rein, pick it straight up and pull gently so that her head has to kind of turn 90 degrees and she has to lift her jaw up (sounds meaner then it is because you are doing this slowly and not jerking on her mouth), then you drive her in a circle around your leg so she is moving forward at a walk. Once she softens we put our hands down lope off on a drape, and rundown and stop again without even picking our hand up. What a difference!!! She softens right up and paddles in her front end.
-She had a habit of locking up because of previous training/riders so this really is a helpful tool for us.
-I'm not suggesting you necessarily do this because it may not be something that works on your horse, and I don't think I explained it very well ahha

Getting a horse to stop rounded consistently is hard work and it takes awhile. Keep at it and you'll get it eventually

[Gutter_Doll]

I forgot about that one, Bernado! That's also a good exercise for the older more broke horses as it keep their hocks engaged and their forehand light and moving.