Stop Fix #3: Correct 'Break and Run' Rundown

The problem: Instead of gradually building speed in the rundown to the stop, the horse goes from collected lope to flat out run in a couple of strides.

Why does this problem happen? This sudden burst of speed into the stop may be caused by one of two things:

1. The rider initiates the sudden acceleration.

2. The horse, because he knows he will be running hard to the stop, ‘breaks and runs’ on his own.

How to correct this problem:

1. If it is a rider problem: If the horse’s burst of speed is only in response to the rider asking that way, it will be easier to correct but the rider must first be “aware” of how he asks his horse to run to the stop. He may be thinking too much about running hard instead of gradually building speed. Running too fast doesn’t necessarily make for a great stop anyway. It’s more about the quality of the speed than the speed itself. The judge wants to see a controlled rundown with a gradual increase in speed, which in fact will lead to a nice stop and will earn a nice score.

When I round the corner for a stop in the show pen, I think first about two things – straightening my horse for the rundown and checking that he is soft in the bridle. (If I schooled him well, my horse will readily comply.) With that established, I ask for a little more speed every two or three strides (not all at once!) to the stop. If I slow lope until the center then ask for a big burst of speed to the stop, I have lost control of the rundown. He may flatten out because he is no longer building speed and the stop is not good. Worse than that, I will have created a problem for my horse who will now think that it’s the way it’s done.

2. If the horse has learned to break and run: This can be a difficult habit to correct and the work starts at home with lots and lots of schooling on the problem.

Any time my horse feels like he’s making the decisions in a rundown, I correct. If he speeds up and I haven’t asked him to, I bring him back down to a walk. I don’t jerk him or scare him in any way. I just ask him to give to the rein pressure and as soon as he does, I release the pressure and try again. If he does not give to the bridle at a walk, I keep the pressure on (changing my body aids) until he backs up and gives. A variation of this exercise is half-passing to a walk when I feel that burst of energy by slowly increasing rein contact and leg pressure into a half-pass position (head and hindquarters yielding the same way) until he walks. When he walks and relaxes into the half-pass, I release hand and leg aids. Then I ask for a lope and a rundown again, repeating the correction if necessary. This exercise works very well but the rider must be able to execute the half-pass to be effective.

Sometimes I might lope slow all the way down and not stop, sometimes I might build speed and not stop, sometimes I lope slow and stop, sometimes I build speed and stop. It’s important to vary to keep my horses guessing and avoid anticipation.

If ‘breaking and running’ is a show pen problem only, I take him to schooling shows and school or blow a class to correct him in competition. It’s very important to get the control back in the rider’s court.

This is an example of a horse running to the stop under control and building speed, not ‘breaking and running’ to the stop.

Stop Fix #2: Stay Soft in the Bridle in Rundown

The problem: Horse raises his head and pulls on the bit in the rundown to the stop or when the rider applies rein pressure for control in the rundown.

Why does this problem happen? There are two reasons a horse raises his head running down to the stop:

1. The rider has not asked him to collect and give to the bridle.

2. The horse is not accepting aids for collection.

A rundown should begin with a horse in a collected, balanced, straight frame in complete control and stay that way when the rider asks for speed and to the stop. That speed should be initiated by the rider, not the horse! In order to do that, the horse needs to be soft and giving in the bridle from the beginning of the rundown to the stop. If his head is too high, his back will be hollow and he will not be able to use his hind quarters effectively for either the rundown or the stop. If he resists rein pressure when the rider asks for collection, the problem gets worse.

How to correct this problem: A horse must stay soft in the bridle in a rundown to achieve a nice sliding stop even though the rider may not be applying rein pressure. In other words, even though there is no rein contact with the horse’s mouth, the horse stays soft as if there is. I check often when schooling – Is my horse there for me? Is he listening? Is he soft? I know it's all correct when my horse is light in my hands and between the reins (straight). Then there's nothing left to do but drive him forward with my legs to the stop.


If my horse raises his head into the bridle in a rundown, I know the next step is a runaway. If, when I ask him to come back (give to rein aid) to me, he pulls on my hands and doesn’t give to the pressure, I know I have to go back to basics, especially vertical flexion and collection. I go back to circles until he consistently collects at a lope and then incorporate straight lines into the program as in Stop Fix #1: Straighten the Rundown.  Finally, I go back to rundowns into stops. If I have done my homework, my horse will have learned to stay soft in the bridle as he runs to the stops.

Stop Fix #1: Straighten the Rundown

The problem: Horse does not run straight to the stop (rundown).

Why does this problem happen? If a horse is not staying straight running to his stops, he has not learned to align his body or the rider is not sending him down straight.

How to correct this problem: If my horse is weaving down the arena when I’m asking him to run straight, I don’t do much stopping until I fix that because stops are all about the rundown. Straight rundown, straight stop. Crooked rundown, crooked stop.

First I want to be confident that my horse is well schooled in basics – give to the reins, give to the legs – so I know I can correct his mistakes. If he is responsive to leg and rein aids, I can fix the rundown.

Exercise 1: I lope straight down one side of the arena (off the rail), around the end, straight down the other side of the arena (off the rail), around the end, etc several times, collecting around the ends and encouraging my horse to run straight lines down the sides. I will probably have two hands on the reins at first with my hands low, wide and in front of the saddle to run the straight lines. If he veers right or left, I correct him like this: When I feel him pushing a shoulder and/or rib out, I lift (not pull) the rein on that side and back it up with leg pressure (or a bump) on the same side until he aligns again. Then I put my hand down. Every time he lets his body drift to one side or the other, I correct but I don’t hold him in line. I want him to be between my reins while I push him forward with my legs and seat.

Note: I would not do this exercise loping around the ends of the arena with a horse that anticipates a stop every time he lopes around the end. Instead, I use the next exercise, correcting alignment mistakes as above.

Exercise 2: Fencing! There is probably no better exercise for straightening the rundown than fencing but the exercise and its purpose is often misunderstood. Read on…

What is fencing? "Fencing" is an exercise whereby the rider lopes his horse in a straight line from one end fence of the arena to the other end fence of the arena.

Why fence a reining horse? I fence my reining horses to improve the rundown – for straightness, gradual acceleration and to teach them to wait for cues.

How I "fence" a reining horse: I stand my horse at the fence on one end of the arena with his hindquarters at the fence. He should be absolutely straight and I should be looking straight down the arena at a point the same distance from the wall on the other end that I am on this end. If he is not relaxed, I stay there until he is. Next, I ask him to lower his neck, depart at a lope in the lead of my choice (another topic) and lope in a straight line all the way to the other end, at all times staying aware of his body alignment. If he veers right or left, I correct him as in the previous exercise.  I want to have all the correcting done by the time I near the fence so I can lower my hand to his neck, sit down for the stop and let the fence stop him. I don't wait until my horse is right at the fence to ask for the stop but I don't want to be too far away either (a mistake that many new reiners make). If I am a long way back from the fence, I have partially defeated the purpose of the exercise – to run all the way to the fence!

I do not usually say "whoa" at the fence – I want the fence to stop him. (The exception to that is if I have added a lot of speed to the rundown and therefore ask for the stop earlier.) If my horse stops crooked at the fence, I straighten him (with legs and/or hands) and then let him rest a few seconds or longer facing the fence. If he stops straight, I rest him. Then I turn him around, straighten him if needed, collect him and lope off (in the lead of my choice again…) to the fence at the other end.

My horse should never crash into the fence – that is not good fencing!

Note: If my horse has not been fenced before, I start the fencing exercise at a trot until he is comfortable with the fence stopping him at that gait. At a lope, his rundown may be quite crooked the first times, especially as I near the fence. I understand – he is a little confused – so I might allow him to break down to a trot. I still try to keep him straight but I don't want to scare him. It doesn't take long at all until he is comfortable loping to the fence if I don't force the issue at first and let him find out that there is a rest (reward) at the fence.

After my horse has learned to lope a straight line fence to fence, I add speed to the rundown. The added speed may magnify little problems, like crookedness or anticipation, so I can correct. I also switch it up lots – sometimes I lope to the fence, sometimes I build speed to the fence, sometimes I pull him down to a walk and walk to the fence and sometimes I just walk the entire line. It's important, too, to alternate leads in the rundown.

Note: I don't overdo fencing or any stopping exercise for that matter. Although my reining horses need to stop enough to build up their muscles, repeatedly stopping often results in the horse making mistakes. I quit on a nice stop (for the level of training) and go back to the barn with a happy horse.

Exercise 3: If the horse is persistent about running crooked, I try this: When his shoulder bulges (causing him to be out of alignment), I steer him in the opposite direction with both reins and outside leg. Example: If he is veering right, I steer him to the left with both reins to the left and right leg pressure – an exaggeration of the correction.

Any time I feel my horse running crooked to a stop in a schooling session, I fix it, even if I have planned a big stop! If I fix the crooked rundown problem, the stop will improve a whole bunch – just because the rundown did!

The goal of a good rundown is a good stop and the best stops are those where the horse’s body is perfectly aligned and in balance; therefore his body must be aligned and balanced in the rundown. A sliding stop is only as good as the rundown to the stop.

Note: When a horse can stay straight, he is better in all maneuvers! A straight horse is a balanced horse!

How Basic Exercises Relate to Reining Maneuvers

I’ve been talking a lot about basics – simple exercises to warm up your horse for more difficult ones. I’ve explained why I do basic exercises and how they train a young horse. I’ve also said that giving to rein and leg pressure (what basic exercises are) is the “whole program”. That may seem too simple, but it’s true. Of course, my horse must learn to “give” with refinement and at different gaits (which increases the degree of difficulty) and in combinations, but if I keep it simple in my mind – asking my horse to give to my hands and my legs – then he has the best chance to learn and execute anything I ask. And (I’ve said this before but it bears repeating!), if there is a problem at a higher level, it can and should be fixed at the basic level. Those basic exercises are closely related to the reining maneuvers.

Circles: Circles are an integral part of a reining training program from the first rides to the finished reining horse – and I want very correct circles. I use basics to position my horse in the correct frame to lope a circle – forward motion, give to the rein, give to the leg – and I use basics to keep him on the circle. For example, if my horse collapses into the circle, I apply inside leg to leg yield him back on the circle; if he bows out of the circle, I apply outside leg to leg yield him back on the circle. In a reining pattern, circles are performed at a lope but, if my horse is very resistant, I will drop back to a trot, jog or even a walk to correct.

Rundowns: As in circles, I use basics are to position my horse until he understands how to keep his body straight. A lot of times, training is about exaggerating the correction, so if he fades towards the wall, I might leg yield him well off the track. For example, if I am loping in the left lead in a straight line twenty feet away from the fence and my horse starts to fade over to the right toward the wall (he will be pushing into the right rein as well), I can leg yield him left off of my right leg well into the arena (farther than twenty feet!), then allow him to go straight again.

Lead changes: I cannot teach my horse to change leads if he does not give to pressure from reins and legs. That, along with forward motion executes a lead change. If I am loping in the left lead and want to change leads, I will collect my horse (give to the reins), move him off of the right leg a bit, then switch to move him off of my left leg for the change.

Spins: Spins are a series of half-turns on the haunches and a half-turn on the haunches uses all the basic exercises – forward motion and giving to reins and leg. For example, for a half turn to the left: With the left leg off the horse, I ask my horse to turn with my right (indirect or neck) rein, apply left rein in a give-and-take motion to keep nose turned (give to the reins), bump with the right leg (give to the leg). This is for a horse just learning a half-turn. For a trained reining horse, with one hand (give to the reins), I ask him to turn to the left and use my leg only if he needs it (give to the leg).

Stops: Stops are taught, and then executed, using all the basics. I ask for a sliding stop exactly as in the exercise:  vertical flexion, which is about response to my weight, voice and hands. That is, I change my weight (behind center of balance), say “whoa”, and then lift hand only if I need to.

Rollbacks: Rollbacks are merely putting two maneuvers together – a stop and a half-turn on the haunches – along with forward motion. Perfect rollbacks are the result of a good stop, correct response to the reins and timing (the rider’s responsibility!).

Back-ups: My horse learns to back up at a basic level (Basic Exercise: Vertical Flexion) and the maneuver is refined with training, using basics of giving to the reins, legs and weight. The basic exercise in vertical flexion is not really a back-up exercise (it is more about giving to both reins) but it does begin my horse’s understanding of the maneuver. Later, I want him to respond to the motion of my hands and the change of my weight for a pretty back-up.

This is a summary of how basic exercises relate to reining maneuvers. I will deal with each of the maneuvers specifically in later posts.