# New to riding racehorses-need help stopping!



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

With a race horse, they brace themselves on your pressure as they run, using you as a third leg. The tighter you hold the reins, the fast they go.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

The signal for a racehorse to slow down is to drop the contact and sit down. The more of a hold you take on both reins, the faster the horse will go. It IS basically backwards from the way most people are taught.

What did the trainer tell you after your ride?


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## bobbie96 (Jan 14, 2017)

Thanks for the reply! Okay so I'd probably be better gradually asking him to slow back down when he goes? I can't just sit there and hope he doesn't run on past the lot ?


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## bobbie96 (Jan 14, 2017)

Thanks phantomhorse makes sense just have to go against my instincts or retrain my instincts!
She said if I'd have said whoa he would've stopped but I was whoaing him along the way and didn't seem to relax him but of course my reins were probably telling him otherwise!


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Odds are that the horse is 'safe' but it is his party piece and they wanted to see how you fared! (The Irish have a great sense of humour!) 

It is almost the reverse of normal riding and racehorses, especially jumpers, know the routine and will pull up where they normally stop. 

The art so that as soon as they finish their work you relax the reins and sit down, voice aids help to a certain extent but don't rely on them. 

Once they have slowed to a walk usually they are given a long rein to walk and stretch. You have to be ready if they do decide to go faster and then, using one rein and bringing their head around usually is signal enough for them to slow. 

You aren't the first, nor will you be the last to get hooked off with, no shame in it at all. 

This works with the older horses, two year olds just staring out is another matter!


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

You need to really practice your seat, sit back, don't lean forward.
Do not 'pull back' on the reins as that will mean 'GO!' believe it or not. I don't think just saying 'woah' is going to make a huge difference just yet.
Lean back & just 'blob' it.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I worked for a renowned woman Jump trainer some years ago. 

One horse had been off work with a cough and I had the pleasure (?) of riding him out on his own walking. He was a nappy so so and so which made life interesting. A couple of weeks went by and he was going forward freely. He hadn't coughed in a couple of days so I started trotting him, then when he still wasn't coughing cantering him along the tracks. 

I told the missus he hadn't coughed even after hack cantering him so she said he could go on the gallops the next day. Much to my surprise I was to ride him. He was renowned for hooking off even with the most experienced of lads.

Now, at the same time a big grey horse had returned to training and was also to have his first canter on the gallops. Our orders were to canter them from the start and straight up the hill. 

The grey horse had even more of a reputation for going than mine and as the lad was riding him for the first time we were all told to 'lay back' (give him plenty of room) 

We set off fine but within 500 yards I was loosing what little control I ever had and I could see this big white butt not far ahead. I knew that if I drew alongside we would both be going flat out. I pulled my horse to the side where often we would stop before doing longer work around the bowl. He pulled up quite happily thinking that was what was going to happen. (Fooled him!) I let the rest of the string go on and then went to join in at the rear.

Ha ha, my horse was exceedingly narked he had been fooled and wouldn't go faster than a walk. I pulled off the work area and rode him up the side so I wasn't in anyone's way. When I got to the top th Missus asked why I wasn't with the others I told her that he had started to cough so I pulled him up. I was praised for this and took it gratefully. The lads were all laughing knowing it wasn't true. 

My reward was to ride him on the roads and tracks for another week. When it came to riding him on the gallops I went back to techniques I had learned on mad ponies, swinging them off stride if they started to go. Once I had ridden him like this on the gallops we came to an agreement that we would call it a truce and not fight each other.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

PoptartShop said:


> You need to really practice your seat, sit back, don't lean forward.
> Do not 'pull back' on the reins as that will mean 'GO!' believe it or not. I don't think just saying 'woah' is going to make a huge difference just yet.
> Lean back & just 'blob' it.


Not so easy to sit back when your stirrup irons are six + holes shorter than normal, in a race exercise saddle you might end up sitting in the horse's loins.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

It's been a long time since I rode a race horse but I remember kind of standing in the stirrups when I wanted him to slow (and loosening the reins)


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Foxhunter said:


> Not so easy to sit back when your stirrup irons are six + holes shorter than normal, in a race exercise saddle you might end up sitting in the horse's loins.


LOL never been in a racing saddle so I can't relate only from experience. What I meant was, if you lean forward a ton the horse is obviously going to go faster.
But Redz is an OTTB and sometimes he 'GOES' and I definitely have to make sure I don't lean forward even a little bit. :lol:


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

There is a BIG difference with racehorses that are fit and ready to race. 

I assume that the OP is working at a steeplechase yard, these are older horses that know the routine inside out and generally have a lot of 'character' to them


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Of course there is @Foxhunter.  I was just putting in my two cents. No worries.
My OTTB definitely has a lot of 'racehorse' in him. It's hard to slow him down at times, that's why I have to 'blob it', using my seat more than my reins, and not let him get away. :lol:


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Op are you learning to ride trackwork or such? If not, dont understand why youd want to ride with jockey length stirrups for starters?? And putting you on an x racehorse who hasnt been trained to yield to pressure, with a trainer who didnt bother to explain... tend to agree with the person who said they did that just to see how you dealt with it.

Interesting that so many racehorses seem to be taught to brace against pressure - when i rode trackwork i remember them having very 'soft' mouths.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Only rode one horse that had been on the track. She was a running App X TB cross, thus not a broad view, and her issues could have been because of who trained her.

Certainly not a soft mouth, and far as I know, not un expected, as race hroses run on the bit and on the forehand, as that is the best way to cover a lot of ground fast
In her case, I had to go back to basics, far as making a riding horse out of a race horse, and a big part of that, was getting a whoa. Even so, she never completely forgot her racing, and if ahrose came up on her,from behind, with speed, she was back in starting gate mode. Any attempt to hold her back, would result in her going up. (she came with a rearing and going over backwards issue, plus halter pulling ) Just my experience, with one ex race horse, sp take it with a grain of salt!


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

loosie said:


> Op are you learning to ride trackwork or such? If not, dont understand why youd want to ride with jockey length stirrups for starters?? And putting you on an x racehorse who hasnt been trained to yield to pressure, with a trainer who didnt bother to explain... tend to agree with the person who said they did that just to see how you dealt with it.
> 
> Interesting that so many racehorses seem to be taught to brace against pressure - when i rode trackwork i remember them having very 'soft' mouths.


The OP is working for a racehorse trainer therefore, when you take horses on the gallops you ride with much shorter stirrups.

Secondly many horses, especially the jumpers (steeplechasers) have quirky characters. They know the routine backwards and generally stop where they are meant to stop. 

As for brCing against pressure, they usually balance against the rider's hands, doesn't mean that they are pulling, or have a hard mouth, just it is the way they are kept at a certain speed. A racehorse doesn't just have to gallop flat out from A to B, especially the jumpers that are distance horses, but to relax into a 'canter' which in racing terms is a steady gallop. 
This is going against their instincts when they really want to go.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Foxhunter said:


> The OP is working for a racehorse trainer therefore,.


That makes sense then. ;-)



> As for brCing against pressure, they usually balance against the rider's hands, doesn't mean that they are pulling, or have a hard mouth, just it is the way they are kept at a certain speed.


Yeah, understand that. We used to 'hold them in pace' too. Just that op said more she pulled, faster he went & others said that was common.


> A racehorse doesn't just have to gallop flat out from A to B


Yeah, I didn't get to gallop that often, as a lowly trackworker, most was cantering, conditioning work.:icon_rolleyes:


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

We had a racehorse come in to be kept in light work. He had been broken as a 2 yr old went into training but was growing so was sent back to us. He was gelded as he was so darn big. Anyone couldmrode him as he was basically energyless! 

He went back into training as a 3 yr old and did well above expectation, he came back to us fprmthe winter and had totally changed. He was a big strong powerhouse and dropped many of the younger workers just fooling around so I was the one to work him each day. Mostly I rode him on his own and when I worked him I worked him like a dressage horse. I had to keep his mind active as he loved to show off especially if passing other horses. 

He went back into training and later ran in the Japan Cup, coming second. The winner was an announced pacemaker which was supposed to not make the distance but he kept going! 

Bedtime returned after that trip. He was exhausted with the travel took him a good couple of weeks to feel good. He was even stronger to rode, not in pulling against me but just in himself, he could have won showing. I actually took him to some minor dressage competitions, that was a laugh as they were in an indoor arena and he kept spooking at himself in the mirrors.

The trainer broke his neck and was in hospital somBedtime stayed with us through the spring. I had to ride him in his faster work on am all weather up hill gallop. Ha ha, here was a horse that was going as light as a fairy, on the bit and collected. On the gallops he was a tank. Took a real hold of the bit and just wanted to go. 

It took all my strength to hold him, hands fixed down, reins short, bracing in my all to short stirrups. My arms ached within four furlongs, my legs were on fire, eyes and nose streaming and I was greatly short on wind! 

Different horse entirely!


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