What do you do to get your horse to slow down?

MDB

MDB

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Forgive me if this is a daft question. I would just like to know what aids you use, or what to you do or say to get your horse to slow down a gear in walk when hacking. You know, when you have a very forward going horse, on their toes a bit, not jogging or napping, but you know they want to break into trot and you just want them to take it a bit easier. Not halt, just slow down the pace.
Thanks all :)
 
Half halt & use my voice, mine are very good about voice commands.

eg, have trained NF that if I use the 'easy up' command, that is the cue to ease back in same gear (such as fast canter to steady canter).
Various other commands to go over, quicken up and also stop - at whatever pace we are doing etc.
I used to do (back, school and the like) childrens ponies when my daughter was young, all were taught voice commands - very necessary with tiny children going off lead, and now v useful for me too particularly out hacking, as have shonky legs these days and core not as good as it should be!
 
Its not a problem I have often with my current horse :) But I would initially just use my core and a voice command, then reinforce with a half halt if he ignores that.

I did use to ride out on a big retired dressage WB and the best way to slow him down in that scenario was a quick tug on his neck strap. It was probably my riding but using my core / half halting etc tended to lead to passage.
 
Been teaching my daughter to ride with her seat instead of her hands on a new very sharp pony which doesn't appreciate the reins being used for anything really. Was really pleased when she told me she can now just think slow down and he does. 7yrs old and riding with her mind. :)
 
Thanks all. My lovely PRE who is sharp at the best of times is very forward going and difficult to slow down at the start of our hacks. When she wants to she will halt with simply a 'Whoa', but she has selective hearing. For the first 20mins of our ride which is mostly downhill she is on her toes and won't respond to voice, seat or reins. Because of her abusive past life it is very difficult to use the slightest of leg aids as she associated any leg with go faster NOW. After getting rid of excess energy she does improve. I live on the side of a hill so nowhere to lunge before riding. For the past couple of hacks we have worked repeatedly on halts from walk, being as consistent as possible with lots of positive reinforcement... In order, Whoa, seat, reins, treat from hand if she halts first time. By the end of our last ride she was really good, and knackered so that helped. She is very good on the ground, good to lead, good to do feet, generally good to hack although spooky and deaf at the start. Not sure what else I can do other than practice, practice, practice.
 
Like most PRE's, she probably needs to relax. My (also rescued) tense, frightened chap responded best to a feel on the neckstrap and a seat/back aid, but then he was absolutely petrified of his mouth. Takes time and consistency.
 
Alf is neckstrap trained. He tends to get a bit onward bound out hacking, and I don't like pulling on his mouth to slow him down. Seat aid means passage to him, so I spent a bit of time this summer teaching him to slow down/stop from a touch on the neck strap. He's good about it 90% of the time, and the other 10% is usually because he's being rude enough that I need to pick up the reins anyway!
 
MDB said:
That is interesting. I may try a neck strap. Never thought of that. Thanks.x
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You'll have to combine it with the rein/seat/back aid at first until she joins it all up, but is a useful "steadier" if you can't/don't want to pull on their mouths.
 
Talk to her generally works. If she's being a bit rude and decides to ignore the subtle aids like breathing out and talking, then i get stronger with my core and pick up a bit of contact, to the point where if she's lost it, then i have to have a really strong core, have quite a strong "give and take" contact to keep her moving forwards but not bogging off.

I used to ride an ex-racer that the only thing you could do to stop him was to turn in circles.
 
My old boy was a bit like this. All I could do to slow him down was chill - everything else sent him forwards, sideways or backwards. It didn't help that he was 14hh and we regularly hacked out with much bigger horses. This gave him small man syndrome so wanted to beat them in every race - even a walking one! Ignoring him, reins on the buckle end breathing really deeply and slowly while thinking about doing everything really slowly and enjoying the scenery. We'd have the very occasional whoa and gentle pull on the reins then immediately releasing when it got too much but any more than once every 2 or 3 minutes would wind him up. Hanging on to him was the worst thing I could do. Singing something nice and calm and slow helped! "Nothing compares to you" by Sinead O'Connor was big at the time and did the job perfectly. Considering I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket I'm surprised he didn't run away from it!
 
Endless mounting with no help or assistance and getting on and remaining still until asked, ground work so they stand and stay at liberty, 'ground tie' etc. Regards to the ridden halting, I used to pop a treat and do neck bends once halted. Coblet stands for ages under the hope of a treat appearing originally, soon twigged seat aids to stop = treat. Eventually just weaned off treats and still stands there for hours, ridden or driven.

Is it only when downhill? Nothing physically wrong that doesn't want to make her sit back and woah? Is she muscled up or a bit weak behind?
 
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Sparkles said:
Endless mounting with no help or assistance and getting on and remaining still until asked, ground work so they stand and stay at liberty, 'ground tie' etc. Regards to the ridden halting, I used to pop a treat and do neck bends once halted. Coblet stands for ages under the hope of a treat appearing originally, soon twigged seat aids to stop = treat. Eventually just weaned off treats and still stands there for hours, ridden or driven.

Is it only when downhill? Nothing physically wrong that doesn't want to make her sit back and woah? Is she muscled up or a bit weak behind?
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She stands still for mounting. She is very good actually. She was a pain in the behind originally and I was unable to get on her without someone else. But I trained her to stand still using treats as a reward. She is a fast learner. It took literally15 minutes from her not even standing still when the step was put beside her, let alone getting on her, to me being able to get on her perfectly and she now waits patiently for her treat and waits again for the signal to go.

I don't believe it is a pain issue, although she is pretty unbalanced and has a tendency to rush downhill. Even if we take a flatter route out of the house she still rushes for the first 20 mins. An hour into the hack she is more settled whatever the terrain.
 
I tell my kids that my sandwiches are under their saddle. If they want the pony to slow down, they need to 'squash my sandwiches' with their bum. :)
Reins loose as soon as pony responds to the seat aid.

If child is struggling, I tell them that singing to the pony helps. It does too - helps the rider to relax, and gives the poor pony it's mouth back.
 
mariew said:
I used to ride an ex-racer that the only thing you could do to stop him was to turn in circles.
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Exactly like my pony. Brakes are bad steering always good! I stop her by not stopping if that makes sense, I just contain the hyper! I try all my other tricks first before resorting to the on the spot spin though. Occasionaly I can slow her just by seat, but only once have I managed a canter back to walk this way. Nice to know it is possible though lol
 
Ugh, as a teen I had a tb jogger and I tried so many things and he never stopped, actually my second pony was exactly the same, think I had a fizzy bum as a kid! I tried so many things, but despite trying I think I was just never properly relaxed enough. The only way it stopped was if I got off. Annoying thing was other people could get on, drop the reins and they'd walk. If I dropped the reins, they'd just head off in trot at a clatter :D

Currently working my 12.3 on the lunge and training him to come in and halt to a whistle (he gets a mint when he gets to me) certainly think voice aids can help.

Safe to say current horse couldn't be further from that, so seems my fizziness has gone. He's half luso, but mostly takes a relaxed outlook
 
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