Nothing Beyond the Basics; Stopping of Forward Motion

In the most recent previous episodes we discussed The Path of Least Resistance, Forward Motion, The Control of Forward Motion and now it's time to discuss The Stopping Forward Motion. Let's face it. There are tons of ways to stop a horse. Heck, there are even different kinds of stops. The thing I focus on first is a true understanding between horse and rider as to WHY your horse is moving. Today we will focus on what I refer to as The 3 Steps To Stopping. First         Quit making him go. Remove your movement/rhythm Second    WHOA Third        Support with your reins As my horse develops, I may actually train them to stop by also using The 3 Steps to Stopping individually. I'll explain. Bottom line is that we must ask ourselves why our horse is going. Our horse must learn from all previous steps of The Basics that they are moving because we've established a working relationship and we are creating rhythm to get the horse to move. When this working relationship is established and practiced first then The 3 Steps to Stopping will be a success.