I have ridden a few spur-stop trained horses before and was wondering how I would train this to my own WP (Western Pleasure) horses. I mainly train reining horses, but have a few WP horses that I would see benefit from this. Now, the cues I was told for the horses I rode was:
squeeze both your calves to stop and then back up
press with one calve for your lead change (opposite leg; right leg =left leg)
bump both legs to jog
%26quot;roll%26quot; your calves to collect the horse and lower their head
Are these the %26quot;traditional%26quot; training cues for the spur-training?
And what does it mean to %26quot;roll%26quot; your calf?
How would you train the horse to lower their head in response to rolling your calves along with collect them?
Please be detailed and if you have links to articles or videos, please send them. I know it is controversial to %26quot;ride the brake%26quot; but these horses are for clients and I am interested in knowing how to do this. I have an idea of how to go about training this, I just want to make sure that I have enough information to do it correctly. And no they do not want to send their horse to another trainer as they like what I do with the horses. I get results. I have not found much information on this and all my friends/mentors are all reiners and cutters so they have no clue on this.Training For The Spur-Stop?Those cues are what I use on my spur broke and spur stop horses. I call them spur broke and spur stop because spur broke is where they won't stop if you squeeze them, they just slow the gait they are in and put their heads down. Spur stop is where they will stop if you squeeze.
I think what they mean by rolling the calves for collecting is instead of keeping your spurs still in his side while going, you roll your spurs into his side to keep him going- though if you have a spur stop horse that will only result in them stopping quickly and backing up. It depends on the level of intensity you want your horse to have with the spur stop. It they aren't especially spur broke, you use it to just slow down their gait that they're in and put their head down. In that case, you could roll both spurs into their sides(or keep the inside one still in their sie and the outside is rolling) to get a better quality lope or a slower jog. If they're very broke with the spurs, only roll one spur into their side at the canter and leave the other one off and very, very lightly squeeze both legs for them to slow down a tad.
If you want them to put their head down with squeezing, first start at a stop. You have to slowly pull the reins (If its one handed it's to your chest if it's two its to your hip bones) and squeeze. Keep pulling and squeezing until they are going backwards and their neck breaks/bends/drops at the withers and they give to the bit. After that, stop squeezing and slowly release the reins. Once they get the idea, you can start trying it at a walk. If you want them completely spur broke, when you squeeze at a normal strength they should stop and/or start going backwards, depending on how long you squeeze for. A less spur broke horse will only slow down the gait that they are in. If they don't slow down when you squeeze, back them up with the reins and your legs. If they don't put their heads down, pick up the reins and make them do it while you are squeezing. Don't be afraid to use the reins. I've seen a lot of spur broke horses rear or get nervous when you touch the bit because they aren't used to you messing with their mouths.
