One Rein Stop

With so much talk about flexing the neck (which is something we practice most days), some of you may wonder what the benefits of this are.  One of course is keeping Starbuck supple and flexible, another is so that she practices giving in without resistance to pressure on her face (at the moment with the halter but eventually with the bit).  However there is a technique which is one of the first I'll be teaching her from the saddle which is called the One Rein Stop (or Emergency Brake) which effectively disengages the hindquarters (this is just fancy horseman jargon for crossing one back leg over the other and thus moving sideways), thus putting the horse in a position where they no longer have the power to keep moving forward in a straight line.

At any rate I think it's a useful technique to teach any horse, since anyone who's had a horse buck, rear or run away with them on top or even just get a little out of control at the canter will agree that an "Off" button would have been really appreciated at that moment.  So here's a video explaining how to teach your horse the One Rein Stop and then another with some practical examples which I hope you'll find interesting: