The snow is piled up outside so I thought I’d take some time to put pen to paper on what is probably the most important thing a horse can learn for it’s polo career. The stop.
The stop plays into most of the things we do in polo, and in training the young horse it is the prelude to roll backs. A good stop need not be a fight and when done well gives all confidence.
So how does the stop start?
I like to start on the ground using a head collar or bosal with a large loose fitting nose piece. At this point it is integral that your horse has been taught to lead with you walking at the neck or shoulder. That is to say that the horse will lead while you follow. You should be able to direct the horse’s head by holding up a hand to turn the horse away from you and you should be able to do this on either side. I try to avoid pulling the horse toward me in this exercise since I think it confuses the message. You’ll see why later.
I do this in the arena with the horse nearest the fence to keep him straight. Obviously I walk to the inside of the horse and let the fence turn the horse in the corners. As the horse progresses I come off the outside fence and turn the horse toward the fence using my hand. I hold my hand up to the horses eye and cause him to move away without touching him. This makes for a voluntary bend in the horse’s neck and through his body. If you push the head away then you begin to build resistance similar to if you pull the head around. Pulling will create the same resistance.
Line up by the horse’s shoulder or neck and take the rope of your head collar with loose nose band in the hand nearest the horse just under the chin. You need to be able to lift the loose nose band off the bridge of the horse’s nose so the nose band should be fairly stiff.
Ask the horse to move on with a brisk “walk on!” After a few strides of walk and in the same rhythm as the horse’s stride say “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” if the horse does not stop on “whoa” then on the fourth stride lift the hand on the lead rope and tap the nose band on the horse’s nose, and stand still. Reassure and praise the horse when he stands still. Compose yourself and start again. Repeat until the horse stops after the first “whoa” without you having to tap his nose. NB: You might be doing this for more then one session or for as little as two minutes. Some horses take weeks.
Now get on and do the same thing with a bridle in his mouth or using a bosal. Repeat in the all the gaits and don’t be in a rush to get to the canter. Each gait must be have the horse coming willingly to the halt. Try and stay light in the saddle and let the horse move under you. There is a large amount of curvature in the spine, collection, of the horse as he stops and you don’t want to send him the message that he should not collect by being heavy on his back. Get that weight down through your legs and into the stirrups. Do not hang on the mouth. The inputs to the bit or over the nose via the bosal should be in a give and take motion with the stride of the horse, but if you have really taught the horse to stop on a voice cue then all logic says you won’t need the reins!
Eventually the voice cue will precede any move as a call to attention whereupon you will give the aids for whatever you do next so you will need to work rein action into your sessions. The voice cue in turn is replaced by the half halt as a call to attention prior to action. This is how to begin getting a quick response from the horse when it is cued to stop.
With understanding of the voice command I begin to put aids in between the whoas.
So it breaks down like this:
Weight down through the stirrups and back a bit, tight seat,
“whoa!” Take up contact, horse checks, collects and begins to stop, give the contact without throwing it away entirely
“whoa.” Take up contact, horse checks harder collects. Give in the contact.
“whoa.”Take up contact, horse checks collects and stops. Give, stand still.
Eventually you should feel the horse ready itself for action as soon as you take a tight seat. If you think about it it makes complete sense that this should be so because you will take, and need, a tight seat for everything from stopping to hitting, and each time you ready yourself the horse will know to do the same. Many might agree that this is a “half halt” and indeed the half halt is as subtle as this if not as simple, and indeed it is a call to action, in this case a call to come to a full halt when followed by the above aids.