# One Rein Stop?!



## Feets (Sep 15, 2010)

One rein stop is basically where your horse goes out of control (bucking, rearing, bolting, etc) and you pull one rein to your side to disengage the horse's movement. It's a logical fix, but I don't particularly like it. I only use it when a horse rears on me (to keep it from going to high). My question for trainers that use it is this: when the horse stops bucking, then what? My tactic is to keep the horse moving forward once it's started to buck. This will give it something to do, and something ELSE to focus all that energy on. Although one rein stops are good emergency breaks, they are not useful for training... in my opinion


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## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

Once the horse stops bucking, you collect yourself and then move forward. If he starts bucking again, you one rein again. Repeat until he learns that bucking only gets his nose smashed against your leg. 

I like the 'pulley rein' that someone on here explained to me. Stopped my friends 2600# Percheron in full flight in her tracks.

Its basically a one rein stop with pulls from the opposite side. Heres how I did it.

Horse bolts. One rein stopping on a full out running horse can be pretty dangerous. They aren't much concerned with your safety at that point and can fall if you pull to hard. So when said horse bolts, tighten your right rein enough to pull the horses face around. Place that hand and the rein on the neck. With the opposite hand, pop-pop-pop with the other rein. 

Sounds difficult, its not. It sure did stop Rosie in less that 10 strides.


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

I teach my horses one rein stops as an emergency brake.

The ORS is safest and most useful if you teach the horse how to respond to the cue (Sit deep, run one hand halfway down length of one rein, and smoothly pull that grip to your hip-bone). If the horse is flat out booking, he won't stop on a dime - a spiral-down is the better and safer bet (a hard ORS at speed has the potential to flip the horse), but the ORS at lower gaits will prepare him to respond to that as well.

I teach lateral flexion at a standstill, getting the horse softly yielding to the bit side to side off of one rein at a time. If he walks away while I'm asking, I just keep him bent and wait his feet out - he gets his head back when his feet are planted. At the walk, I'll say "Whoooo" in a low pitch, sit deep (normal seat aids for a downward transition) and flex his head, holding until his feet stop and he puts a little slack in the rein, then flex the other direction for balance's sake. Once he has that down to a science I'll do the same at a jog to working trot speed. 

By the time we get to a canter, the horse generally has a clue that my seat aids are meaning stop and does so (or at least drops to trot) without a flex. If he doesn't, I'll pick up the one rein and spiral him to a working trot and stop him from there. 

Most horses pick up the idea pretty easily and quickly. Once he understands I drop it and move on, maybe testing the brakes a couple of times a year to make sure that he doesn't need a tune-up. 

ORS is just a tool, not a cure-all as some clinicians try to bill it. 

@Feets: I'm no trainer except in the sense that I train my own horses for my personal use, and I've never had to deal with a hardcore bucker, but my tactic to fix it if I encountered it would be the same as yours - move those feet in a controlled way, on my terms. I would use the ORS to regain control, and then start riding forward and purposefully through some fairly demanding figure - small figure 8's, serpentines, etc. - to get the horse thinking and responding again. In such a situation I might not even worry about getting the feet totally stopped, just get a flex and get the horse's attention, and down to working trot, then release the rein and drive forward.


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## SarahRicoh (Jun 23, 2010)

Thanks guys!! I dont think i'd think about it in time to make much difference if my horse bolted etc as iv never done it but I suppose if its incorporated into training as some of you do it could be useful


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## Arksly (Mar 13, 2010)

The One rein stop can also be called a double-up circle, that is the term I learned anyway.


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## SarahRicoh (Jun 23, 2010)

Oo thanks.. Still havent heard of it! Maybe im dumb. =/
Would people suggest it being taught to a greenie or if iv never used it and dont intend to is that fine?


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## upnover (Jan 17, 2008)

I think the one rein stop can be a fabulous training aid. I teach every horse I get on how to do it. It's nice to be able to have an emergency brake! But there are a lot of other things you can do with it. 1) When I'm teaching the one rein stop (from a walk) I hold them in that position until they stop and THEN give to the pressure. They have to actually turn their nose in even more to release the pressure before I let go. Sometimes this takes a while for some horses.  But giving to pressure is very important for horses to learn. And it's a great foundation to lay before you teach your horse how to soften and eventually go on the bit. 2) After they learn how to stop and give to the pressure you can also incorporate your inside leg. Put them in a one rein stop, bring your inside leg back and apply pressure, when they step over with their inside leg you let go. It's natural for them to want to swing their haunch over to straighten out so it makes teaching the turn on the forehand very simple. 

I could go on and on. but those are the 2 biggest things i do with it.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

No secret that I love the one rein stop. My horse is so tuned into it, he barely bends his neck before coming to a stop. As soon as he feels me drop one rein and start to bring up the other, he's done moving.


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## Feets (Sep 15, 2010)

I feel that some people abuse the ORS though - I.E., yanking their head around aggressively and giving them a hard heel in the side to turn them ... I've seen that so much, I hate it. Also, horses that really don't want to stop will keep running forward, even with their nose pinned to their side! I saw someone plow into an arena fence like that. A 'fun show' barrel racer couldn't get her horse turned around the second barrel, and the horse just ran blindly into the fence at a hand gallop.

FLEXION however is a great thing to have. If you don't practice flexion with your horse, the ORS may strain them a bit too much if done too quickly ...


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## SarahRicoh (Jun 23, 2010)

Thanks guys.. Il give it a go. Never heard of it being done in UK. Learning lots of useful things.


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## DubyaS6 (Aug 30, 2010)

I always taught my horses a reining stop for several reasons.

First of all, while the ORS may work in a lot of situations, you are ultimately relying on the fact that you are going to out-muscle an animal that is stronger than you several times over.

A reigning stop is when the horse stops using their hind end instead of their front end. You ask for the stop by placing your fist or hand on their withers, not by pulling on the reins. This is very useful for a lot of reasons. If anything ever goes wrong, all you have to do is lightly press on their withers to get an instant stop.

Its also very good for children since they are obviously not as strong and its great for the horse because you are not pulling on their mouth.

The way that you start teaching and implementing this stop is by first asking for the stop verbally (i.e. "Whoa") in a low tone while pressing on the withers and sitting deep in the saddle (almost over-do it initially, make it a big sudden sit). The horse will hear and feel you, but obviously probably not stop completely as they may not be familiar with "whoa" and definitely not with the pressing on the withers. Follow these actions up with gently pulling the reins and backing the horse with a good 3-4 steps.

Backing the horse gets them on their hind end and the horse will eventually start associating backing up when you ask for "whoa".

As your horse learns the cue, ease off of pulling the reins more and more. At first, even if it takes a couple of steps for them to completely stop, its better to not pull the reins if you can help it. Just be sure to always reinforce with the steps backward.

Eventually you will not have to have them backup everytime unless you are looking for a REAL reining stop where the horse sits and slides.


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## Feets (Sep 15, 2010)

DubyaS6 said:


> I always taught my horses a reining stop for several reasons.
> 
> First of all, while the ORS may work in a lot of situations, you are ultimately relying on the fact that you are going to out-muscle an animal that is stronger than you several times over.


YES. Agree 100%. There have been a few times where older, more matured (and muscled) horses have taken off in a frenzy and pulling their head around was not an option. I was actually pulled out of the saddle trying to one-rein-stop a 16 hand TWH gelding that had started to duck his head down and do these pop-rear/buck things (difficult to explain ... my boyfriend who is not a horse person saw it, and he pretty much explained it like that). The horse's neck power was so strong that he pulled me up onto his shoulder using leverage from the reins I was clinging to. Getting his head to my side didn't work... at all.


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

The one-rein stop as I learned it was not just for emergencies. A slight lift of one rein and slowly closing the fingers one at a time, stopping as soon as response is felt, all the while holding the other rein steady but not pulling to prevent lateral flexion and/or the hip swinging to the outside (ie keeping the horse straight).


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## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

Feets said:


> YES. Agree 100%. There have been a few times where older, more matured (and muscled) horses have taken off in a frenzy and pulling their head around was not an option. I was actually pulled out of the saddle trying to one-rein-stop a 16 hand TWH gelding that had started to duck his head down and do these pop-rear/buck things (difficult to explain ... my boyfriend who is not a horse person saw it, and he pretty much explained it like that). The horse's neck power was so strong that he pulled me up onto his shoulder using leverage from the reins I was clinging to. Getting his head to my side didn't work... at all.


 
I usually start with the ORS and then move on to the pulley rein if the ORS is either not working or getting dangerous. If the pulley rein stopped Rosie...it could stop any horse! LOL


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