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In my experience, pain is usually the cause. The best way to ride them is to not ride them until you find and fix the pain.
There can be many reasons. Pain is a big one. Improper training resulting in the horse lacking confidence. Some horses are sensitive to the rider looking down.
From experience, pain is the most common cause. If the horse is cautious and not ridden by a confident rider. Badly fitting tack, again - pain.
Over jumping, poor riding, some times the rider drops their hand at the point of take off.
By definition, a “dirty” stop is the horse’s fault–it comes with no warning, and it’s not traceable to any cause like pain or rider error. The horse just wants to stop and does, quickly and at the last second.
The safest way to ride a dirty stopper is defensively. A bold, strong rider can often succeed with a dirty stopper.
I would rule out any kind of soreness/pain before I would attempt to jump. Once there’s pain, it can become a behaviour issue if not addressed.
Horses are brilliant and will protect themselves when they can, we just have to ‘listen’ to them.
Good Luck!
There is no way to SAFELY ride a true dirty stopper.
Lots of sometime stoppers or those who have had bad training/riding can be, more or less, safely ridden by advanced riders with deep seat, strong leg and shoulder back. But once a horse learns it does not have to go over, it’s never completely going to go away. Certainly will pop up at any hint of a weak or novice rider and when stressed, like at shows with rider nerves.
Unsuitable as these are for most riders, it’s not the same as a true dirty stopper who does not care if they hurt themselves sliding full speed into jumps. That’s my definition-most horses with a stop don’t want to crash into the jump, they may slam on the brakes but not at the base as they lift off. Dirty stopper does that with no fear of pain from hitting the jump head first with neck out and low or bellying into it. Horse may inadvertently end up doing either of these once, like slipping or loosing balance for some reason. But they will never do it again because it hurts, dirty stopper will.
[QUOTE=rexlen;7762240]
Why/how does a horse become a dirty stopper? Whats the safest way to ride them?[/QUOTE]
Usually pain and or fear. Ride with a deep seat, shoulders back, leg contact and wider direct contact with the mouth. Try not to see the big, gappy distances
[QUOTE=rexlen;7762240]
Why/how does a horse become a dirty stopper? Whats the safest way to ride them?[/QUOTE]
The safest way to ride a horse with a dirty stop is not to ride one with a dirty stop and you are not going to hurt. That may sound flippant, but I’ve seen enough of this kind of thing to say that. This is not meant at all to be offensive but for your safety being paramount.
As the others have said, the stop could have multiple causes. The horse could be overfaced, the rider could be overmounted. The horse could have pain in its joints, the saddle may not fit, the rider may be unable to see a distance, be leaning up the neck, etc. You would need to get the horse checked out for pain first and you need a good trainer to evaluate the problem and work with you consistently.
Then if it is not pain, you need a very good experienced trainer who can diagnose the problem and recognize if you are advanced enough yourself to help the horse get through the issue. Good luck and stay safe.
Ride enough different horses with good trainers to where you feel the beginnings of the stop6 or 10 strides out and correct it then, whether it is a striding or a timing issue or a lack of forward or an unbalanced rider.
I think a horse in pain will either run out or let you know several strides before the fence that he is not planning to go over. A dirty stopper intends to make you think he is going to jump, then slides to a stop right at the base.
A dirty stop is a calculated attempt to ditch the rider. I think it’s rarely a reaction to pain or a horse’s lack of confidence. I am also of the opinion that there is no actual “safe” way to ride horses like that. It’s a little bit like rearing or bolting in that once they learn it, you never know when they might try it again. I think jumping is already dangerous enough as it is without factoring in a horse that may or may not go over.
In college we had a super cute pony who was a dirty stopper, and as mentioned it was fully intended to get rid of the rider. Once she discovered a rider could stay on, she would go over anything that rider pointed her at.
She was also super fancy and so was sold to a show home despite dumping the rider who demonstrated her three times when the buyers were there to see her… :lol:
I think a horse in pain will either run out or let you know several strides before the fence that he is not planning to go over. A dirty stopper intends to make you think he is going to jump, then slides to a stop right at the base.
I agree with this, but would add on to a ‘regular’ stopper they can also be well schooled horses that just don’t jump if they aren’t given the right ride. I have one of those, pulling down to a jump makes him run out. He will do it as long as the rider pulls, as soon as they leave him alone he jumps like he never ran out.
I agree about a dirty stopper, you just can’t ever trust them. I’ve ridden/seen a few that were just nasty about it. I only was put on them (as a teen) being the guinea pig to see if it was the horse or rider. I was so happy to get back on my horses after!
A horse that stops because I’m riding horribly and they stop/run out because my bad ride is putting us in a iffy situation I’m completely fine with, I event and would rather have a stop than something else happen. BUT those nasty stoppers that stop at the base just to stop I don’t think should jump.
[QUOTE=North Dakota;7763485]
I agree with this, but would add on to a ‘regular’ stopper they can also be well schooled horses that just don’t jump if they aren’t given the right ride. I have one of those, pulling down to a jump makes him run out. He will do it as long as the rider pulls, as soon as they leave him alone he jumps like he never ran out.
I agree about a dirty stopper, you just can’t ever trust them. I’ve ridden/seen a few that were just nasty about it. I only was put on them (as a teen) being the guinea pig to see if it was the horse or rider. I was so happy to get back on my horses after!
A horse that stops because I’m riding horribly and they stop/run out because my bad ride is putting us in a iffy situation I’m completely fine with, I event and would rather have a stop than something else happen. BUT those nasty stoppers that stop at the base just to stop I don’t think should jump.[/QUOTE]
Definitely well schooled horses stop if given a bad ride. Some horses are quirky about how they like to be ridden to a fence, and will stop if they don’t have that. Still, I consider that “normal” stopping which is 99% of the time rider error or unfamiliarity with the horse.
Dirty stoppers are truly something I equate to those that rear or bolt. Once they figure out how to do it and it works once or twice it’s a trick they have up their sleeve, and you can never be sure if they will use it again or not. Off topic, but that is why it’s so important to have someone extremely experienced start horses over fences.
I will take the blame for a stop every day of the week and twice on Sundays. But dirty stopping is a different beast. I don’t think they should jump either, but that’s just my opinion. I think riders should only jump horses who truly love to jump, otherwise you can never really be confident.
[QUOTE=tinah;7763281]
Ride enough different horses with good trainers to where you feel the beginnings of the stop6 or 10 strides out and correct it then, whether it is a striding or a timing issue or a lack of forward or an unbalanced rider.[/QUOTE]
I disagree with this. My definition of a “dirty” stopper includes no warning.
My children’s hunter was a dirty stopper, and I honestly think it was fun for him- I swear that horse had a wicked sense of humor. We could go in the ring and win 2 classes in a row then have a stop third time around. No rhyme or reason, that was just his thing. We sold him to a BNT and he went on to win at some really big shows. He would still throw in a stop from time to time, even with the BNT!!
It seems to me that most dirty stoppers are smart jerks that have figured out how to get their riders off.
My children’s hunter wasn’t a dirty stopper, but she was a dirty bucker. Luckily she didn’t do it too often, but she had this one buck in her bag of tricks that she could throw that would get me off 99% of the time.
I think pain can contribute to stopping problems, but I think more than not its bad riding and horse losing his confidence by being put in too many bad difficult distances. They learn to say no!
I have a friend who is a trainer. She told me you see people buy nice horses and win alot. Then 2 years later horse is stopping and suddenly is gone with a new one to replace the old has been horse.then the cycle starts again.
Too many people want to ride and show above their skill level. Eventually the horse learns to quit!
[QUOTE=tinah;7763281]
Ride enough different horses with good trainers to where you feel the beginnings of the stop6 or 10 strides out and correct it then, whether it is a striding or a timing issue or a lack of forward or an unbalanced rider.[/QUOTE]
That means the “dirty stopper” is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, does the rider have enough feel and experience to feel the horse start to say “No, not going to leave the ground” several strides out?
Speaking of the strict definition of the dirty stopper-- where the horse endeavors to give no warning (or doesn’t have the intention but does appear to change his mind suddenly), I’d say the causes are pain and also some qualities of the horse’s mind/experience. IME, a horse who has been trained well and “taught to accept correction” will be very honest. The dirty stopper is, by definition, trying to be dishonest as part of a strategy of self-preservation. It takes intelligence and trauma to make an animal do that.
A true dirty stopper just doesn’t want to do the job.
Many horses stop due to undiagnosed pain, or poor riding. Some of them are labeled dirty stoppers.
Recently at a horse show we were watching the higher classes, and one horse was throwing in stops here and there. My trainer was, quietly, pointing out to me what the rider was doing several strides out that was causing the horse to stop. Watching the rider and her trainer between classes, it seemed they considered the horse to be a stopping out of nowhere.
Watching the trainer ride the horse, she gave him pretty much the same ride to each fence and he jumped consistently. The owner would start getting aggressive coming around the corner to a diagonal line. It was subtle, but she would clamp her leg and tighten her body, then the horse would start backing off a little more each stride until he just slammed on the brakes at the jump.
It looked like the owner was maybe getting nervous and overriding, and the horse needed a softer ride. My trainer saw it in the first stop, it took me a couple of rounds to see what she was saying but once I saw it then it looked obvious. My trainer’s guess was that the trainer of that horse was a good enough rider that she got the horse around well, but wasn’t experienced enough to see what the owner was doing, or to understand why her softer ride went better for the horse. The trainer never felt the horse setting up to stop, since he didn’t do that until the owner clamped down, so she could not tell what the problem was.
I say “clamped down” but it was very subtle, just a little tightening and leg pressure.
Again with semantics. There are stoppers and there are dirty stoppers, they are not the same.
For one thing, you are not going to have repeated stops in a class with a dirty stopper, one will end the day. You won’t walk away so easy and the horse frequently injures itself going thru or into the jump.
Regular stoppers, even bad ones, will still avoid hurting themselves. Dirty stopper doesn’t care. It’s like the rearer or bolter that slam into things trying to get rid of the rider, contrary to basic self preservation instincts. The only safe way to ride a dirty stopper is not to jump it.
