[hemigirl]

What is the most effective way to instill in a horses mind that WHOA! means "Stop and don't move until I ask you to!" My 5 year old is bad about stopping initially but then taking one more step or dancing around with his hind end.

[stdbred88]

My advice is to start from the beginning-go back to square one. Get yourself a leather lead shank w/ a chain. Start with the chain just clipped to the ring at the bottom of the halter. Walk around the paddock with him and every 20 feet or so say "whoa" or whatever your cue will be. If he was trained properly he should stop. If not, pull back on the shank while saying whoa. It is important not to let him drag you around...when you say whoa his feet should stop exactly where they are and remain there until you tell him to walk again. If he isnt respecting you, try putting the chain over his nose and repeating the above. Dont be afraid to jerk on the chain as this may be the only way he will respect you-one or two good jerks and he should get the message. If you find the chain is cutting him, wrap it in vetwrap. Once the horse is at the point where you can say whoa and he stops immediately, try it on the lunge. i like the lunge lines with the chain on the end as well so that you can put it over his nose if he isnt responding. Sometimes they think because you are 15 feet away they dont have to listen to you and the chain helps them to think otherwise. Next try it at a trot. If he isnt respecting you on the lunge then you moved on too quickly-go back to the lead shank. I am 16, almost 5'4" and weigh less than 110lbs, and i can tell you from personal experience that it is a lot easier to "fight" with a thousand pound animal when you are at the end of a lead shank versus being at the end of a lunge line. It is also important to say the "whoa," or whatever your stop cue is, the exact same way each time. When he is obeying you on the ground on the lunge, try him in the saddle. Give him the cue to stop and apply light pressure on the bit. If he doesnt stop, get off immediately and go back to groundwork. Stopping when pressure is applied to the bit will come with time- eventually he will anticipate you saying "whoa" after you pull the reins back and stop before you have to say it. I have also found that a shiftney (SP?) bit helps. This type of bit hooks onto the two rings on either side of the halter and looks like a half circle with 2 rings on the end of the straight segment and one at the top of the round part. The straight edge goes in the mouth, and the side clips get attached to the halter. Then clip the ring on the round part of the bit and the ring on the bottom of the halter onto the lead shank. start walking and when you give the cue to stop pull back on the shank-this pulls the bit much like your hands would. A horse cannot be a good pleasure mount without a good basis in ground work. This process can be extremely frusterating, but just remember that it is okay to go back one step if he's not respecting you. Good luck and email me if you have any questions!

[Shotgun93]

Lots of one rein stops will help. My horse will do this too. When I ask him to stop when we are heading home, he gets antsy and doesn't really want to. I give him one chance to just stop, then if he doesn't stop, or does and takes a step again, I do a one rein stop. Then, don't let him step forward again until you can let the reins loose and he will still stand nicely. If he moves again when you release the reins, then do another stop.
I also do lots of fencing work, which helps teach reiners to slide, but also gets antsy horses to stop. You just start at one of the arena and go towards the other, start out in a trot, eventually progressing to a canter, then before you hit the other end (just before your horse would turn to avoid the fence) ask for a stop. It's essentially running your horse into the fence with out actually running them into the fence, it really helps to get a horse to stop, he can't really step forward and if you do it in a corner, he can't step to one side. It limits his options.

[steeledancer]

Ditto, shotgun. The other way you can utilize the fence (got this out of a reining book, too, can't remember who's... was longtime ago), is to ride parallel to it, trotting, (working up to a canter once they get it), sit down, open up your legs and say "whoa", then turn them into the fence and go the other way. This one is especially good for reiners because it not only teaches them to get back on their butt when you say whoa, but to keep their front feet free, so they don't prop.
I have adapted this excercise to meet my needs, which for now aren't sliding, but stops. If you do this until you say whoa and you feel your horse thinking "stop", then don't turn him, just stop and relax. Just use the fence to get him thinking, then stop. I will also turn away from it sometimes, just to keep them from anticipating, but turning into it is what will get them using their hindquarters better.
To get him chilling out and standing, I recommend lots of visiting hang out and talk to someone, as this tends to have YOU relaxing, and everytime he moves, move him back, eventually, he will quit moving and just relax. A bit of this and he'll learn to stand and relax more.

[horsetrainer]

I'm starting to like Shotgun... again, right on the mark!

Assuming you can put your horse in a trot and they will keep it until you tell them to change then learning to use the fence will yield huge rewards. Put your horse in a small pasture or arena and put them into a trot along a fence. let the reins go loose and as the horse comes off the fence about 4' correct them by steering them back and then let the reins go loose again. let them make the mistake and then correct it. keep the reins loose unless you are steering them back and don't try to use the reins keep them against the fence to keep them from making the mistake. when taught you should be able to drop the reins completely and the horse will trot along the fence close enough you could touch it with your hand if you wanted.

If you want them to stop off a verbal command, then never say that word unless you want them to stop using a verbal command. Don't be in the habbit of saying it when you use your reins or you'll desensitize the horse to it's meaning. trot your horse along the fence and say 'whoa'. the horse will not know what to do. After about 1-2 seconds the horse had enough time to respond and chose not to so you turn them into the fence and make them do about 3 circles (make them hustle a little). turning them into the fence gives them no place to go and shuts them down as you transition to circles. do this over and over the the horse will start to anticipate having to stop to keep from hitting the fence and will not look forward to doing circles. eventually the horse will hesitate when you say 'whoa' and that's when you've almost got it licked. soon after that the horse will stop if you keep doing this exercise. now if that horse took 5 steps to come to a complete stop you let them sit there and rest a few minutes because they did what you wanted. rub and praise them. from that point on the horse will have to stop in that many steps or less. repeat the lesson and do circles anytime the horse does not stop or they do it in more steps than allowed. If they do it in 3 steps then that is the new baseline. after awhile be careful you don't go over the handlbars as the horse shuts it down right now.

This and LOTS of other lessons are found in Clinton Anderson's Riding with Confidence Series 1.

hope this helps.
Dean dean@beldar.com
I sell Clinton Anderson products http://downunderseller.ecrater.com

[Blistering Winds]

Well, in saddle, I'd back the horse up as HARD as you can when the horse refuses to stop moving. Circles and backing. eventually they figure out it is easier to stand still. Backing is MUCH harder on a horse than moving forward.....