halting issues

[raggydoll]

Bims breaks have always been pretty reliable but recently they havent been so good! It seems to be coinciding with her having much more energy and being generally raring to go! She will go from canter to trot and trot to walk easily and sometimes will halt with the lightest contact on the reins but if she doesnt feel like it she just wont! She fights against my hands and i just continue to resist and then starts tossing her head about and sort of wander on and the second i relax the contact shes off again. Her teeth are fine as they have just been checked recently and she is in an eggbutt french link snaffle.

Any tips or advice here?

[lisae]

My Haffie mare had the same problem when driving (she wanted to trot on!)so we worked on it under saddle with the one rein stop. If pony wasn't stopping properly, RI had me stablize the outside rein (slightly loose but not thrown away) by grabbing some mane, then she would have me pull the inside rein right back towards my hip and hold it there until Monday stopped circling and gave with her nose too. Mare would go in a circle quite a while but finally realized what we wanted. This was for trotting too fast and we were in the arena under supervision.

Monday also prefers a Liverpool mullen mouth curb style bit although we do ride in an eggbutt snaffle.

[julesandjoy]

Easiest way is to make the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy. Don't think about asking her to 'stop' so much as just work on her back up cues. The easier it is for her to go backward, the easier it will be for her to stop. For the next few weeks always back her at least three steps every time you stop. From now on you'll also need to do this stop/back excercise as a tune-up every so often.

One other thing you could do is to make it hard for her to keep going forward by putting her in a circle.... a tight circle - like Iisae suggested. She will eventually figure out that it's easier to stop moving her feet than to continue around in such a tight circle. Pretty soon she'll circle less and less and soon all it will take to stop her will be to mentally 'put her on a circle' and this can be accomplished by a mere tweak of the rein. Just a small suggestion of the 'circle' and she'll go ahead and stop moving her feet.

Does she know how to give to the bit? If she's tossing her head maybe she needs some refreshing on this part of her training. Have you checked her teeth?

Why does she have all this extra energy? Does she really need it? If you've changed her feed, why? If she's not getting as much exercise, why? Any well-trained horse should be able to stop no matter how much energy they have but it is much easier when they don't have this excess. :) sylvia

[Cheeky]

That sounds just like Missy!! she is ridden in the same bit, but finds halting hard ... or just a pain lol. So I have started the one rein stop with her which she has picked up after 5 turns! It's working great!!

but I have also realised that Idont think she likes the bit ... I know she was comfy in the lose ring snaffle but we changed to see which bit was comfyier for her .. so we will swap back (its been a few months and it's pretty clear)

good luck

[holiday]

I would always try to encourage the halt by not trying to make an issue over it dont, until you have achieved it, keep it for more than a few seconds give him a pat and send him forward, gradually increasing the time he will stand dont spend too much time in one session, do something else, then go back to it!!! Work him in hand or on the lunge with voice commands then once he knows the voice you can use that as well under saddle. Check the fit of her saddle as well she could have changed shape through the winter?

[raggydoll]

julesandjoy - she has more energy cos she is being worked more often and is fittening up and feeling really well now. This is showing under the saddle and when she comes tearing over to me in the field bucking and being a general nutter. She wants to "go" whenever we are riding and it would probably help if i let her but there arent many places out for a agood blast and the field i school in is just too wet and muddy at the mo. Her teeth were recently checked and are fine.

Holiday - she already knows the woah command and will drop down a gear and even halt with that alone sometimes. It does make a huge difference when i use my voice with her generally.

Lisae - i will try the circling i did try that the other day because she was going sideways to aviod my request to halt so i said "if u want circles you get circles" and spun her round really tight a couple of times, thinking back it did work so i'll try that when she wont halt. Knowing her if theres an easier option avaliable she'll take it!

I think shes taking the mick a bit because sometimes just a tweak of the reins and a word from me and she stops dead and other times its a full on battle. I try not to give in until she has halted, however brief so she doesnt realise she can get away with anymore than she already has.

Thanks peeps :)

[Pink's lady]

Sounds a bit hypicrical, but letting them really go often helps with the halting. Is there somewhere you can let her og for a really good gallop until shes tired? Then she'll be much more willing to stop.

Other option is patience. Just keep insisting. Ask for the halt. When she does stop, relax your contact, but don't release the reins fully - you should just go back to the light contact you have when walking or trotting. If she wanders, ask again. And again, and again. Once she fiinally stops properly, count to three and tell her shes a really good girl, then ask her to walk on - when YOU ask. Repetition and insitance is the key ;)

Bridbary also works really well ;)- halt, and once properly stopped, have her bend her neck round to get a carrot. Good bending excerise too. ;)

[KateWooten]

I would advise against maintaining a light contact in this case. Make the difference between pressure and release really obvious for the horse (even if only temporarily until the halting problem is done away with).

Go with loose reins at a walk. Ask for the halt very lightly ... if no response, use one rein only to bend to a halt and immediately throw the reins away and exhale. Get a good five second stand. If she moves off, immediately bend to a halt. Over and over again. Once you've got your five second halt, with lots of praise and rubs and pets, then how about 10-15 minutes cruising at a trot or canter ...just ask for the gait and then sit there, correcting her every time she falls back oput of the gait but not before. Don't control direction, just gait. Then ask for the halt again. Every time you ask for the halt, avoid getting into a pulling match -never use two reins, just one. Bend to a halt and wait til she goes soft, and then throw the reins away.

Obviously when the problem is over, you can start again with the light contact and two-rein halt, if you want to.

Just a little background from someone who's been in both cultures - for western trained horses who are ridden on a loose rein, this kind of problem is rare. It's a peculiarity of the english light-steady-contact methodology. Don't slap me too hard for that - I'm not saying all english riders cause their horses to lean and pull, just that the 'steady-contact' thing is easier to get wrong than the western style which is much more obviously 'pressure-release'.