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How good are your horse's brakes?

This mini course teaches a basic safety lesson that creates reliable brakes without ever pulling back and compressing your horse's spine.

This lesson looks at a very essential question. Do you know how to stop your horse? And do you know how to stop him using a single rein - without pulling back - even when he's upset?

Good questions. The lesson shows you how to create great brakes using the same circle-around-a-cone exercise that I introduced you to in the \"Capture the Saddle\" Mini Course. In that lesson you learned how to steer a horse using single rein/riding techniques. In this lesson you'll be using that same basic pattern - only this time the focus will be on stopping your horse.

Finding Whoa
The lesson features Hannah and her horse Lizzie. When Lizzie came into the arena, she was all wound up, screaming for her stable mate who had also come on the course but was now out of sight back in the barn. We've probably all had this ride. Your horse is tight as a drum, head up, sides vibrating with the force of the screams. Hannah was doing an excellent job staying with Lizzie, but we needed to interrupt the behavior and create, if possible, a change in her emotions.

Hannah was using the tools she had been taught in traditional riding lessons. That meant she had taken a firm hold of the reins. I wanted her to let go. Now that is the complete opposite of what riders want to do in this type of situation. The last thing that feels safe or productive is releasing the reins, but Hannah managed to follow my instructions. It really is quite remarkable to see the change in Lizzie. Literally in the time it has taken for me to type these last couple of sentences, she started to settle.

It was a fun lesson to watch. Hannah did a superb job transitioning into the single-rein riding. And for once I had the video camera running from start to finish. The batteries didn't give out. I didn't run out of tape. We got the whole lesson recorded. And we were able to do a follow-up lesson the next day which was also filmed. The result is a great illustration of this very basic, but oh so important, lesson.
It's a great lesson to watch because so many people find themselves at this same place in their riding. They're used to more traditional rein-handling techniques.

Taking the plunge into single-rein riding can seem at times as though you are jumping off a cliff. It's good to watch this lesson and to see that actually there is a wonderfully soft parachute waiting to catch you. Hannah shows you how doable the transition into single-rein riding really is.

Finding Go
That's the first lesson on the DVD. We build single-rein-riding brakes for Lizzie. Once you've got \"whoa\" it's good to have \"go\". In that same clinic we had another horse, Shiney, who had very little engine. Shiney is a wonderfully pleasant horse, a very appropriate match for his novice rider. If riding Lizzie was like trying to stay on top of a ball bouncing off the walls in a pin ball machine, riding Shiney was the complete opposite. Again, this will be an all too familiar ride for many of you. You know what its like trying to ride a horse who feels as though he's pulling his feet out of molasses with every step that he takes.

Sarah started out carrying a dressage whip as she tried to keep the engine going long enough to get around a circle of cones. I had her set aside the whip and instead give single-rein riding a try. We used the same round-the-cone set up that had worked so well for Hannah and Lizzie, but now the goal was the complete opposite. In Hannah's ride we were looking for halts. In Sarah's ride we wanted energy. The lesson shows how the same set-up can generate both. It's a really fun concept. Your intent - what you are looking for from the turn - determines what you get: whoa or go.

This is actually a really important lesson to consider. If every horse you sit on seems to want to go, go, go without ever wanting to stop, perhaps that is what your energy, your seat is telling them. Do you have a down transition in your body? The lesson Lizzie and Hannah rode will help you find it. And if you have trouble finding the \"keys to the ignition\", riding the turns as Sarah did may help you connect to more energy.

Goals
I had just enough time at the end of the original DVD Lesson to include another great ride I got on tape. Again we were using the cone circle, but this lesson illustrates the importance of managing your goals so they don't take over.

What do I mean by that? The lesson features Leslie and her very green, somewhat reactive mare, Charlotte. The task was to get on and ride over to the cone circle and the central mat. Now what many riders will do in this situation is they will ride a direct path to the mat - no matter what. If their horse over-rotates through a turn, they over correct. They ask for a turn to the right which their horse gives them. But when they get more turn than they need, they block the turn and send the horse back to the left. Then they block on that side as well to stop the drift in that direction. They do indeed get to the mat, and they get there pretty directly, but they end up with a stiff horse. They were riding for the goal (get to the mat), not the underlying reaction patterns that would get them to the mat with a quality ride.

When the horse gave them that first right turn, they didn't tell the horse that was right. They didn't reward that good response. Instead they blocked it because they got more right turn than they needed. The horse doesn't know the object is to get to the mat. He just knows he was asked to turn right which he did. He thought he was giving the correct response, but now that's being blocked and he's being sent back the other way. There's a good chance he may get so confused and frustrated that he shuts down. Or he'll get stiff to protect himself from the blocking actions of leg and rein.

Leslie showed a very different approach. Each correct response was acknowledged and reinforced. She would ask for a right hand turn, and when Charlotte responded, click and treat. Then it was which way do you need to turn to be headed toward the mat? Each correct response was reinforced. They were in no hurry to get to the mat and the result was a very pretty, very relaxed young horse - who got to the mat in good form.

Letting goals take over is so normal. Especially when there is a physical goal in sight, we tend to get grabby. The goal is a reference point. It gives us a way of measuring progress, of drawing us forward so we don't stall out in a rut with our horses, with our lives. But the goal should remain that - a reference point. It should not take over so getting to the goal becomes everything and how we get there is overlooked.

Phew! All that from a simple lesson of riding to a mat. If everything is everything else, nothing is ever as simple as it seems!

The lessons covered in Lesson 16: Whoa! Stop! form a great prep for the next lesson in the series: Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder. The subtitle for that lesson is \"Your Power Tool for Performance Excellence\". That's a great description. Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder is a major safety lesson. It will keep you safe when the world suddenly erupts into chaos and your horse thinks he needs to erupt along with it. It is a major rebalancing tool so it is also a key component for advanced training. You can read more about it in Lesson 17: Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder. This \"Whoa! Stop!\" lesson is a great prep for understanding all the many layers in the hip-shoulder-shoulder lesson.

The original Whoa! Stop! DVD Lesson was first produced in February 2010

Author's Note:
When I produced the original DVD series, it was intention that people would work through them in the order in which they were produced. Each lesson built on the work that preceded them. That is very much the case with this “Whoa! Stop” lesson.
If you have watched “Capture the Saddle”, “Riding on a Triangle”, and “Helen House Horse”, you will understand the details of this lesson. If you have jumped straight into this lesson, it may seem more than a little mysterious, especially if this is your first time watching single-rein riding.

I have not made any attempt within this lesson to fill in those missing gaps for you. Instead, I will direct you to the previous lessons in this series. That’s the best way to fill in any gaps you may have.

All the riding work that I'm presenting is built on a foundation of solid ground work. Solving a riding problem begins there. In fact, if you do a good job with your ground work, many times you'll find the riding problem has resolved without your having to confront it directly.

The ground work sets your horse up to be successful. It shows him how to respond to your cues. By the time you get on, he'll already be in the habit of softening to your rein. He'll know what to do, and he'll be comfortable doing it. Problem averted.
And if something does happen that startles him or sends him scooting off too fast, you'll have the skills in place to handle the situation.

So I encourage people to build their ridden work in conjunction with good ground work. The previous lessons also explain the single-rein/riding on a triangle technique which is used in this lesson. If you jump straight into this lesson without first going through any of the other lessons, my concern would be that the riding will look unfamiliar to you and you won't understand the reasons behind this technique.

The basic lesson that is used in this \"Whoa! Stop!\" mini course is very much related to the lesson that was presented in \"Lesson 11: Capture the Saddle\". In \"Capture the Saddle\" I show you how to use the cone circle to build a solid steering wheel. In \"Whoa!, Stop!\" I'm using the same cone pattern, but I'm shifting the focus to create great brakes. Both of these lessons are key components for safe riding.

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Alexandra Kurland has been working since the early 1990s to bring clicker training into the horse world.

Her area of particular interest is the development of a horse's balance: physical and emotional. Helping horses stay sound throughout a long lifetime is the goal. The result are beautiful horses that feel like heaven to ride. Her work can be applied to any breed, discipline, and age.

In 1998 Alexandra launched the rapidly growing field of clicker training for horses with the publication of her first book, “Clicker Training for Your Horse”.
She has also written “The Click That Teaches: A Step–By–Step Guide in Pictures” and “The Click That Teaches: Riding with the Clicker”. She has also produced The Click That Teaches DVD lesson series, plus an on-line training course, and an extensive library of articles in her blog: theclickercenterblog.com. She also produces the weekly Equiosity podcast - an exploration of all things equine with a special emphasis on the horse-human bond.

Alexandra teaches clicker training geared to any horse need or sport—including developing a gentle and companionable riding horse, working with foals and weanlings, training advanced performance horses, and helping difficult to handle horses.

Prior to the pandemic, Alexandra traveled widely giving clicker training clinics and presenting at conferences in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. She has been on the faculty of The Clicker Expo since it’s beginning almost twenty years ago.
Her clinic teaching has now shifted on-line so wherever you are in the world, you and your horse can learn directly from Alexandra.

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