Using your seat

[Shizzity]

How do you stop a horse using just your seat?? I've seen people stop their horses right after jumps, using only their seats. Now i know that takes a lot of training, but i would like to get started in the right direction.

Thanks in advance

[Harry Hobbes]

1. Mount your horse in a safe area, such as an arena or round pen.

2. Keeping a loose rein (no contact) begin to walk energetically in the saddle, just as if you were on the ground (swing your arms and legs forward and rearward - but don't squeeze the horse). Keep this up until the horse takes any step forward (the first will be very small so feel for it), then stop moving and pet and praise the horse.

3. Repeat this a couple of times and the horse will walk off whenever you start walking in the saddle. This is your seat cue to move forward.

4. Keep walking in the saddle to encourage the horse to walk on. Do not pick up contact.

5. If you feel the horse start to stop, then immediately stop walking, sit deep in the saddle (toes up), exhale and tighten the muscles below your diaphragm, and wait for the horse to stop. Then relax and pet your horse. This is your cue to stop. Do not pick up contact.

6. If the horse continues to walk, then pick a point to cue it to stop by: Immediately stop walking, sit deep in the saddle (toes up), exhale and tighten the muscles below your diaphragm, and wait for the horse to stop. Then relax and pet your horse. Do not pick up contact.

7. Repeat many, many times. Walk, stop. Walk, stop. Do not pick up contact.

Repeat it enough, and the horse will "come to the position of attention" when it feels your energy rise (your preparation to walk), and will start walking off as it feels just your seat bones walking, and stop when it feels the energy leave your seat. The horse is now responding to the energy in your seat, and you will find that you no longer have to walk in the saddle with your arms and legs: the energy in your seat is all that you need to cue the horse.

8. When the horse gets to the point (via repetition) that it consistently walks off when it feels your energy building, and stops when it feels your energy dying, then you can begin to gradually pick up contact. It will require a couple of hundred repetitions to get to this point.

9. Gradually introduce light contact after the horse starts walking, and hold contact for one second, then drop it. Repeat this until the horse does not slow down at all when you repeatedly pick up and release contact at one second intervals. Do not hold contact during a start or a stop at this point; only introduce contact while the horse is walking.

10. If at any time, the horse begins to stop when you pick up contact, immediately drop the contact and get more energy into your seat (walk faster in the saddle) to keep it going. Then, try again.

11. When the horse does not slow down because you picked up contact, then build the time that you hold contact: get him good with two seconds, then get him good with three seconds, etc.

12. When the horse will hold contact for an extended period of time, such as all the way around the arena without slowing/stopping, then introduce contact in the transitions by holding the contact when you cue it to stop with your seat.

13. Then after the horse consistently stops with light contact, introduce contact at the start by picking up light contact while standing still, and cueing the horse to walk with your seat.

14. If at any time, the horse stops/starts because of contact, discontinue the contact and go back to getting it good with just your seat.

If for any reason you must stop your horse and it does not respond to the seat cue, pick up one rein only and bend the horse in a tight circle, and hold the bend until the feet stop moving. Then release the rein to reward the stop. Do not ever pull back with both reins to get a stop. (You have to go back and re-train the seat stop if you have to one-rein stop the horse.)

This method builds obedience to seat cues into the horse, one step at a time. It requires lots of repetition (and discipline on your part) to get it consistent; but it works well. Teach this one step at a time before moving to the next step, and your horse will get it.

Best regards,
Harry