I’ve never heard of this before. Please say what it is and how do you (and the horse) do it? Thanks in advance!
I was guessing a one rein stop.
1 Like
It depends on the reference. For dressage, one way to gain impulsion and get the horse to use the hind end is to leg yield into the downward transition, maintaining a strong outside rein and leg. It makes it easier to maintain the collection, thus teaching the horse and the rider.
1 Like
You stop a horse using one rein instead of two. You just pick up the rein and ask the horse to turn in a small circle until he stops. The horse does not learn to raise his head and brace against you and hollow his back because he can’t do that if he is following his nose in a circle.
You already have a groundwork foundation where the horse can yield the hindquarters.
Ok, that’s also known as a one rein stop. Very useful emergency tool. Unless someone is trying to pass you on the inside 
Though not so useful when the problem isn’t bolting per se but just the feeling the horse is going too fast and rushy.
You can do it without actually spinning/stopping the horse. I had an event trainer work with me on this, because mine could get a little rushy XC; you just plant one hand and lift up with the other, sort of a half-halt rather than a full stop 
It’s a useful tool to have in the toolbox, for sure, along with a full one-rein stop.
2 Likes
Agreed, though I think the “one rein stop” label give people the impression you reach down and haul the horse around to a stop, whereas “bend to a stop” infers a softer, quieter maneuver. But yes, they are the same thing.
And it is very useful if the horse is going too fast and rushy - you just need to use it before the horse really gets going. You also need to figure out why the horse is getting fast and rushy and address the cause. Is he nervous? Is he heading back towards the gate/barn?
2 Likes
The reason it’s called “bending to a stop” instead of “one rein stop” is that the one rein stop has some inherent dangers if you do it too fast. The bend to a stop, as Palm Beach explains, is intended to be a slower process without risk of having the horse fall down. It’s also meant to be practiced a lot in non-emergency circumstances.
Thanks, everybody. I thought it must be another term for the one rein stop.
Exactly - harshly/quickly pulling a horse’s head around while they are going fast can cause more problems. A one rein stop is NOT the same as a pulley rein.
Both the one rein stop and bending to a stop are maneuvers that are built upon a good groundwork foundation. Because you’ve done good groundwork, you are sitting on a horse that is pretty confident and not spooky, and is listening to you. The horse is not going to bolt or do anything ridiculous like that.
HAHAHAAAAA … don’t tell my arab mare this. She’s confident as all get out, 20 years old, been with me since 2 and STILL gets ridiculous at least a couple times a year requiring me to remind her that a one rein stop is a thing.
Funny – I love conversations that let you see the differences in vocab from one person to the next.
In my experience, bending to a stop is fairly low-pressure, not grabby at all. You use one opening rein and keep asking with that one rein until the horse…bends to a stop, disengaging the hindquarters. You don’t increase or decrease the ask until you get what you want. I use it on my horse as a training tool as needed and find it can create some relaxation in him.
Meanwhile, in my little corner of the world, the term “one-rein stop” has always been used as another phrase for the pulley rein, which is very different in my view. (Bracing your outside hand & rein on the withers and pulling back/up with the other hand/rein, thus giving you more leverage on an out-of-control horse.) Not so much a training tool as an “omg the brakes went out, I feel I’m about to die, and wish to prevent that outcome at all costs” tool. :lol: Or, I was also taught to use it to a lesser degree in the same way JenEM describes above.
But yeah, I guess ultimately it’s all stopping with one rein, just with different levels of urgency.
2 Likes
Here’s my voice: A bolt is different from getting rushy, IMHO. The first time I ever rode a bolter was when I took my new qh out in the pasture. I didn’t know he was scared of dogs. My Australian shepherd came up behind us and he sprinted from a walk- zero to sixty in about 3 second. My DS was walking on the path in front of him. I screamed, “Jump!” and I flung my myself backwards, put my feet on the dashboard, sawing the reins to get the horse’s attention, and pulled back with all my strength. I was able to stop him in about five strides, even with a snaffle. That was scary but it worked. I’m not saying it will work for everybody or replace any other technique, but it worked for me and saved my DS from being run over, thank God. Whew!
1 Like
Bolt for me equals:-
I rode a horse that was not mine, a tb had been lent to us for my 50yo mother to ride on an endurance ride.
Thank God she was not on him.
I had ridden him at home and in the forest. There was always a bend.
I rode him to ponyclub. Curbed reins knotted on his neck. I had the snaffle reins.
When we turned into Rochedale Road he could see the road straight out in front of him. There was no spook, there was no startle. I could have the reins picked up before a shy I was so quick.
He went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. I sat back. I see sawed. Nothing. He pulled out onto the road. I picked up the curb rein and pulled. Nothing. I got forward and tried talking to him nothing.
By the time we reached the traffic lights at the Rochedale School I was exhausted. Thankfully the light was green. A car tried to gently slow us down. He pulled onto the other side of the road. I did manage to get him back on the correct side of the road. There was no circling him or pulling one rein. This was way too fast.
He kept going and going. He did not slow.
We reached the hill down to the Rochedale Bakery. I measured it later. Ican’t remember how many klms but it was quite a few. I was in 2 point position and balanced. I was now beyond the point of exhaustion and I was an eventer that could ride 3 horses in a one day event.
It was when we started to go down hill he got the first inkling that he could not go down the hill at that speed. He tried to stop he skated. He kept going for less than a second and then he put on all 4 brakes …and we skated down that hill. It was lucky that I was in a balanced position.
The sound of the shoes skating on that road was a screech. I did look down at one point. There were orange sparks. There were blue flames. There was smoke.
He had been going so fast that we skated the whole way down that hill. At the end we came to a stop and he just fell over which is when I dismounted.
From the noise of the screeching. People arrived from everywhere. I threw the reins at the nearest person and went in to call Mum. No mobile phones then.
He came in and said your horse got up. He was afraid of horses which he did not know and let the reins go.
I went outside. His new shoes were now paper thin. He must have gone from sliding on the shoes to his hooves knuckling over and there were holes burned into both front fetlocks on the hind legs. The curbed reins had melted.
Mum sent a farrier who was at home. That horse cantered and he did not need to canter he could have walked the whole way home being led from the car.
I have been told that the only way to cure this kind of bolter, I have never done it, is to have them bolt in a ploughed field. Dont try to stop them. Let them go. When they try to stop, like he did, you keep them going. Until the point that you are flogging them with whip and spur and they can no longer go.
The next time they bolt you start flogging them and they stop.
SuzieQNutter:
Wow! What a terrible experience! I’m so glad you both weren’t killed. Had the TB been raced? I think some racehorses are trained to go faster when you take hold of their mouths. How do you suppose the reins melted? Again, thank God you survived?
At,a guess the reins must have touched the road while we were skating. I was no longer holding the 2nd pair. Not the whole lot melted, just a patch.
It turned out the owner was a pathological liar. There is nothing more dangerous but that is a different story.
I was told he was an ex race horse and evented by a 15 year old. I was also told he was related to Gundsynd (Sp?) A famous race horse. He was not a young horse.
I owned Monition Boy. He raced in NZ until he was 11. He was an extremely fast horse. With that horse your eyes cried in streams from the speed and the wind.
So this horse was fast. Funny but I dont remember his name. But he wasn’t as fast as Moby.
He could have been evented. As I said I had ridden him with no red flags at home and to and from and in the State Forest. But there had always been a bend. Or a fence or whatever.
It was the straight road that he went for.
Mum made me go straight out and get on Pepper.
He had thick reins. I never rode with thin reins for ages after that.
I started a job as a trail ride guide. A co worker was amazed when we went to a lesson and she saw I could ride. She had figured I could not ride as I always chose to ride Beauty.
Yes Beauty was slow!
OP- I’m glad you are still enjoying riding even if a much more relaxed variety. Your mum was very wise.
