39935
Using the [hiragana
practice](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.he.LessonJapanese)
and [katakana
paractice](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ketaikakaku.katakana)
Google Play apps as a reference,

why is the stroke order of the cross in あ、お、か、き、け、さ、す、せ、た、な、は、ほ、ま、む、や、よ、ら、を is
first horizontal, then vertical, (like in the Chinese 十 (shi2) (ten)), whereas
in ね、も、れ、わ it is vertical and then horizontal?
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kana stroke-order
Stroke order of cross in kana
Stroke orders of hiragana are ultimately based on the stroke orders of kanji
from which they derived. Unfortunately, each kanji has its own history, and
it's hard to generalize how the stroke order of each kanji was determined.
Similar-looking kanji can have different stroke orders (see
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/204/5010) for example), and these
are basically something you have to memorize via practicing.

What's worse, the stroke order of a single kanji may be different between
[草書](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive_script_\(East_Asia\)) (cursive
script, which hiragana are based on) and
[楷書](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script) (regular script), and
average native speakers of Japanese (including myself) do not know how to
write with 草書 today. Only trained calligraphers and researchers understand the
essence of 草書.

So it would take you years to truly understand "why". I would recommend you
learn hiragana without thinking about the origin too much, just as elementary
school kids do in Japan.
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Firstly, for ね、れ、わ, the second stroke isn't really just a horizontal stroke,
so it's unfair to compare it to あ. The second stroke of ね、れ、わ goes on to
change direction and curl later on. Try doing the second stroke first then
aiming the vertical stroke. Your mileage may vary.

Then for も, in its katakana form モ has the horizontal stroke first. I refer
you to this question: [Why is the stroke order of も
peculiar?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4149/why-is-the-
stroke-order-of-%E3%82%82-peculiar)
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