Quick Fixes

How to sit in a correct position stopping:

The most important thing when stopping your horse is to be able to sit up and stay out of your horses way. I see many people bounce forward in the stops because they change position between the rundown and the stop. I try to get my horse running to the stop with me sitting back in the same position that I want when I’m stopping so that way it is a lot easier during the stop.

  • Get our horse to run off of your voice cues rather than having to kick them every stride
  • Keep your stirrups shorts if you have a problem sitting back. It will help!!

How to get a horse to stand still in the middle of the arena:

After they get shown a few times, many horses don’t like standing still - especially in between spins because they get uptight. What I do is try to practice at home going to the center and starting my spins.  If my horse stands quiet when I stop, I stay put. If they move or look at my leg, I’ll start turning again the opposite of the way they are looking.

What I want my horse to think is that when they move their feet they’ll have to spin, but when they are standing I won’t ask them to do anything. This is opposite of what many people may think, but it has really worked for me.

The worst thing you can do on a horse that wants to move around is get him to stand still and than turn because that is exactly why he started moving in the first place. (Note, you son’t have to spin fast).

Getting a horse to wait in the rundown when turning the corner:

On horses that want to run off when turning the corner, I use a simple exercise that consists of turning the corner and asking the horse to speed up and than breaking them down to a walk. After I walk for a few steps Iwill pick up the lope and speed my horse up to the fence and then I will pick up the lope and repeat again.

Basically, I want my horse to think that after turning the corner and getting some speed he's going to get to walk and relax and not go to a sliding stop. By doing this you should be able to fix the problem of your horse running off around the corner. Remember: a horse runs off just because they are anticipating the next maneuver and sometime just changing what the next maneuver is going to be is just enough to fix the problem.