As a kid I always thought I would want a calf horse and that they would be easy and love how they slide to a stop.  well 30 yeats later I got one! lol  He been running barrels a couple years with my friend and now I have him.

I think the calf roper sold him bc of his stop being so hard.

If you say whoa he stops instantly!  if you pull back on reins to stop after a run he stops so bouncy! and hard bounces! 

My friend forgot to tell me this and the first time I breezed him and said whoa and pulled reins a little I was expecting him to slide or come to a stop gradual not instantly and bout went over his head!

I figured out to not say whoa or touch reins just to sit down and he stops nice.  He goes wherever you look and very sensitive to body movement.

Since I've never rode a calf roping horse before is this normal?  Ive never paid much attention but Im pretty sure I see calf ropers pull on the reins after they catch calf.

Asking a horse to stop like a calf horse after a barrel racing run is pretty tough on them... a calf horse knows to prepare himself to stop when he is tracking a calf and your body language and rope tell him. Just running him wide open and then expecting him to do a sliding stop when you decide to stop isn't going to prepare him in any way for it. I would be worried about injuring him. Yes, calf ropers pull them into their stop sometimes but the horse is waiting for the cue. Anticipating it usually. If the horse is prepared to stop then his hind end is driving up underneath of himself and he is in timing with his stride. If the horse is just running and all of a sudden you say whoa or pull he is just trying to get stopped in any means he has possible, even though his body wasn't prepared to do it correctly.

I love my calf horses' stops but I only ask for it when I am roping on them. It can be pretty hard on them to make them stop hard like that all the time. 

Please ask him to slow down gradually coming out of a run, trying to get a horse to do a sliding stop after a hard run is so unfair to them and you will end up crippling this poor horse. Like the other poster said a calf horse is perpared to stop once that rope is thrown. 

I did not word right  and sorry  i dont ask for a sliding stop.  Im just saying when you go to stop him.  My other horse stops on his rear and I can just sit down, or say whoa or pull on reins.  I just surprised this horse doesnt stop like that being that he was a calf roping horse first for several years.  but I havent seen him roped off of and I heard the reason they sold him was because he stops too hard. 

I like it when I can ease into a run and ease into a stop.  On this horse you cant say whoa or pull on reins its instant no matter how fast you go..I just sit down and leave him alone.  Sometimes I forget and say whoa and im almost overboard or its a bounce hard stop!  at first I thought it was hocks but its not  thanks!

i shoudl have said that I expected his butt to go under him not slide to a stop.  and I thought he would stop gradual with his butt under him    the only way he does stop with his butt under him is not to say whoa or touch the reins  just sit down. 

Sorry but I am gonna ask my horses to stop.  and I know how to do it with him  I was just wondering is this was normal for calf roping horse  

I will be watching calf ropers more lol   and I didn't know this but I use a lunge line and in the calf roping world thats a no no.

I know in each event there is different cues  so thats why I was asking.

thanks again!

If you wanted a horse that crawls to a stop, you should have bought a reiner. Some tie down horses do stop too hard so they can’t be used because of the jerk down rule. So if he’s been roping for awhile, that might have been the problem. Tie down horses bury up when they stop. They rarely crawl.

Gotcha.  I wasnt really looking for him he kinda fell into my lap!  I love him and his personality is huge!  I am adapting to him.  He definitely is different than what I have rode before.    Thanks

What is the jerk down rule? 

It’s when a calf is roped, hits the end of the rope , and is jerked streight over backwards to the ground. Rule was put in to appease animal rights activists. Horses that stop really hard and you don’t hold your slack this can happen. The drag rule was put into place at same time. Your horse is only allowed to drag a calf so far before a DQ. Back in my days of calf roping , before the rule , if we had fresh big calves at a rodeo we TRIED to jerk them streight over and hope to get our hands on them before they got their senses back. Lol 

thank you.  I never paid attention to the rules in the other events. 

Most roping horses calf, team, steer roping horses when you say whoa - they  park it.... they is what they are suppose to do.

Especially steer roping horses - when you say that word. that better park and not move....

I suggest you find a different word to say than whoa - perhaps easy or something.

My barrel horse is also my husband tripping horse and when you say whoa  he whoas... so when running barrels.  I say easy.....

It is all in how you ask for the stop on ones like that. I have had my fair share (now) of working with those type of stoppers.

I usually try very hard on the hard stoppers to never actually ask for the stop.  Try to free them up a little.  There is very little use for a "calf roping" stop while running barrels.  I can think of 3 times in 8 years I have actually used that button between 4 different horses.

It took me dang near 6 months to "free up" the one that I run now. Most of my horses you can breakaway on, but they only have that big stop when the ropoing saddle is on.