11/09/2026
🟩𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩: 𝟕 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐭🟩
🔴𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙏𝙤 𝘿𝙤 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙢🔴
💥1. Head Up, Bracing Hard, Popping up
If the horse wants to evade pressure in the stop by popping up in the front at all, two hand the bridle, drop your hands to your knees, hold firm and push the horse into a circle via spurs. Do not release your reins. Use your spurs firmly and consistently on the horse’s sides to push them into the bridle. The idea is to get them rounded through the back and into the neck/poll.
When horses pop up in a stop, they effectively give themselves a release while their front end comes back down. And many amateurs will pull harder, pop the horse, or backup. The thing is, that doesn't fix anything and often makes it worse. The real fix is to show the horse that they won’t evade the bridle, in fact, they’ll be pushed into it harder than they would have before, if they just stopped nice.
Think of what's happening. You pull, they pop up, they feel a release as their head is up and coming down again, then you pull again. That is stupid. Push them into the bridle and make it more work than just stopping nice.
💥2. Dumping Weight on the Shoulders
If the horse wants to dump weight on their shoulders in the stop, reach down, take the reins away from you, or otherwise just plop down in the front end- move their shoulders and do it fast. Say you’re loping and say whoa and the horse doesn’t feel like they’re committed, in the middle of the stop, pull their head around and double them back the way they came. Lope out and try it again. Most horses stop the next time significantly more elevated in the shoulder and deeper in the hind. They don’t want their shoulders to bear any weight because last time that happened they were pulled around hard.
For horses who are further along and just being knotheads, spin them once or twice each way. And don't just spin around- actually demand a fast turnaround…something you can be proud of.
I have spun 3 or 4 times waiting for my horses to finally loosen their shoulders and shift their weight back.
💥3. Lazy Stop, Poor Footwork
Backup counter bent circles. When a horse stops really lazily and doesn’t have good footwork, my go-to is to backup counterbent circles and figure 8s. The reason is because of the lateral softening (which will help them soften their poll), the shoulder mobilization (will help peddling and softening the stop), the elevation of the back (any good backup does this), and the shifting of weight onto the haunches (produces the slide, duh). Its a way to work on everything all at once. Furthermore, backing circles has little chance of making them rear since most horses prioritize balance over fighting their rider…arcing them throws the horse off balance.
💥4. Bad Peddling, Not Loose in the Shoulder
Some horses don’t really want to be loose in the shoulder and pedal. For those, i prioritize running straight and fencing. The way I fence my horses is usually pretty slow at a walk/trot first, then at a collected lope. Usually the horse will get a feel for spacing and timing without being so finicky or reliant on you for it. In short, they become accountable for their stop.
I also like fencing over a pole, especially with certain higher strung horses. For this, lay down a pole and trot up to it, at the last second say WHOA but dont pull. ONLY if the horse crosses the pole (which is highly likely if you stop right up on it) do you have a license to back him up over the pole for 10 feet or so. Then walk up to the pole and manually stop the horse. Sit there for a few minutes. The first part of this establishes respect, the second part removes fear. After this, run at the pole and sit and say WHOA but DO NOT pull UNLESS the horse crosses the pole. What should happen is that the horse learns to be accountable for their stop and aren’t thinking about their face being pulled. In my experience this creates a soft, easy stop where the horse is loose in their shoulder and happy to stop.
💥5. Doesn’t Like Pressure in the Face
Spur stop. I know it's controversial, but it works on horses who really do not like their face being handled or have been hardened to the point of being untrainable. If nothing else, spur stops can desensitize a quick horse to the rider’s leg. Remember if you decide to spur stop, its not a weapon.
💥6. Doesn’t Want to Stop
Some horses don't want to stop- this can manifest in fights, ignoring the stop cue, or seeming to be surprised by the stop. When a horse wants to stop, they look for every opportunity and when you finally cue it- they slide nice and easy! Start in a circle at a trot with your legs on the horse’s sides. Sit back and take your legs off him, quit riding but do not pull. If the horse does not slow down, sit back up and wrap your legs around him, two hand the bridle and bring his nose in, push him via legs harder into the circle. You’re essentially balling him up as much as possible. After a few circles, sit back and quit riding. If the horse slows down to a walk, sit back up and let him walk around. Then repeat at a walk, when the horse stops or slowly stops, sit back up and chill with him. If the horse does not slow down or stop, do not force him to slowdown, make him work harder at that gait. The goal of this is the stop, but do not make that the only thing the horse is rewarded for. Rewarding downward transitions helps the horse to LIKE slowing down and eventually makes stopping easier.
💥7. Isn’t Paying Attention to the Stop
One way I've found to get horses to pay attention to the stop is isolating my cues. Usually there is one the horse doesn’t mind. Trot along a fenceline and sit deep, does he stop? Try stopping with a WHOA and nothing else, does he stop? Try picking up on the reins at a long trot, does he soften his poll and stop?
Another way to help the horse pay attention to the stop is to soften their transitions and workout any brace along the way. Go through a slow walk, then a walk, then a fast walk, then a slow trot, then a trot, then an extended trot, tranter, canter, lope, gallop…then back down through every gait. If there is a spot where the horse is bracing, pickup the bridle, squeeze your legs on the horse and push them into the bridle. Do this in a circle at whatever speed they braced until they soften, then continue up/down the transition. This gets the horse thinking of being soft and malleable and usually lends to a good stop.
𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠
The first piece of advice people give for slide stops is almost always to backup. Its not always that simple though. I hope these suggestions help, thank you for reading and have a good ride.
𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔? 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑. 𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒖𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔.
𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 🤠
-Johnny Flores
WRHA Judge and World Champion
AQHA Pro Horseman
Acton, CA
818-939-1338
𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴
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