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Discussion on Rearing | |
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Posted on Friday, Apr 16, 1999 - 6:08 pm: I currently am riding a mare who is 5 years old for a friend. This mare has been allowed to get away with a lot of things with her previous rider, not accepting the bit, rushing, cutting corners. Now when i ask this very forward mare to obey me she rears and gets very excited. She understands my cues clearly because some days she is an angel. Rearing is very dangerous and this horse needs help learning that, any help would be appreciated. |
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 17, 1999 - 6:05 pm: Certainly evidence of physical pain needs to be ruled out prior to further training but many times the problem with young horses rearing is simple improper training. When you handle newborn foals you quickly learn that rearing is one of the first and most natural reactions for avoidance and escape. If corrected early, this reflexive behavior all but disappears quickly from a horses repertoire of avoidance behaviors, when left uncorrected the colt can turn into a chronically rearing adult.There are a number of theories on correcting this behavior but my preferences are picked by two overriding thoughts: Safety of the rider Horses misbehave because they missed an earlier lesson With such a basic problem as this, the horse needs to be taken back to step 1 of training after all this lesson should be learned by the first week of life. Step one for any horse is learning to stand tied quietly and lead with manners. This is the absolute foundation for all future training. Once a horse is performing these basic behaviors correctly, you need to begin lunging lessons. Halt, walk trot, canter, and transitions are built slowly one step at a time and not progressing forward until the gait is performed correctly and the downward transition learned: 1) halt 2) controlled walk 3) the downward transition: "walk to halt", 4) controlled trot 5) the downward transition: "trot to walk", 5) the controlled "canter", 6) and the downward transition of "canter to trot". The order on the above list is the same order with which I would approach these lessons and I would not move onto the next lesson until the former lesson is learned. The particulars of the lunging equipment will be determined by your skills and the intelligence and personality of the pony. I highly recommend a 20 meter diameter round pen. You will find you have a lot more control when not worrying about staying on the horses back. Once the horse is behaving correctly under lunge or long lines with some weight on the back you can begin riding again. DrO |
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 13, 2000 - 1:28 pm: I have a friend whose horse rears only when she tries to ride him away from the group (especially my horse because they are pasture buddies). He has been trained correctly in dressage and has a good understanding of what she is asking. He is an appaloosa and 8 yr old. She has tried spinning but the lesson is short lived. The result being that he rears high enough to be almost vertical.Any further advice????? |
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 13, 2000 - 4:56 pm: Your friend's horse sounds a lot like one of mine. Vary frustrating! It seems to be a form of herd-sour. When other horses, [in a trail ride for example] move out and if I try to hold my horse back --- he will rear and crow hop. The only thing I know to do is turn him around facing away from the others and help him calm down and find something else of interest for him to focus on. And then we can continue on with the ride. I am hoping with time he will get the idea that I am not going to let him have his way. Those instinct habits seem to be the hardest to overcome. Is there any good horse trainers around that you could ask? |
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 13, 2000 - 5:34 pm: A rearing horse is no fun....the App sounds close to going over backwards which is very dangerous to rider and horse. I would work slowly with the horse leaving another horse...especially yours. Let him see that the boogie man isn't going to get him if you are ahead just a little bit. Start with a small distance that the horse is comfortable with (even if it's just a few feet)and slowly work on getting further and further away....without stressing the horse. This will take time and patience. Try not to put the horse in a situation where he will rear..but if he does do an opening rein (one rein out to the side) and get him back on all fours. I wouldn't "spin"....just get his feet back to earth. I hope the rider is wearing a hard hat.Good luck.... |
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 13, 2000 - 11:02 pm: I recall an article by John Lyons that addressed the herd mentality problem and it followed the advise given by Barbara as to correcting it. You might try locating that article, it was approx. l to 2 years ago. As far as a rearing, a horse has to put his head up to rear. If this is becoming a chronic problem you might consider a tie down or using draw reins for a period. I prefer the draw reins as I can still control the horse with my hands rather than the tie down. Most of the time the horse will abandon the rearing once he finds out he can't get any relief from it. I've also found that most of the time the rearing is from what I am doing with my hands and the correction is how I am using my hands. |
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Posted on Friday, Jul 14, 2000 - 1:29 pm: The first point to remember about rearing that it nearly always starts off as a very mild condition. It is nearly always linked to nappiness. Correcting nappiness is purely a question of patience and determination. If you have a horse who naps and won’t go out of the gate, but half rears and refuses to budge at all, there are two things you can do. One is to sit on his back until he eventually goes forward the way to want; the other is to turn him round, back him four or five strides in the direction you want him to go, and then turn him again and see if he will go forward. If he doesn’t, you can make him go back again.After a very few lessons, he should get the idea that if he doesn’t go forwards in the direction that you want him to go, he’s got to go backwards in that direction. It is extremely unusual for a horse to rear unless pressure is applied to the bit. So if you have your horse on a reasonably slack rein, and his head is free, he is most unlikely to rear. A lot of nappy cases can also be attributed to wrong bitting. I am going through all this with my rescued chap, Bellini, who is still very nappy. Because I know he rears if his mouth is touched, I just sit there, talk to him, let him walk backwards, and eventually off we go forwards again because he gets bored just standing there with a rider who just sits there! In its more extreme form, nappiness becomes serious rearing. It is then advisable to start by working him with another horse because [a] if he is following another horse, he is less likely to be nappy, and [b] it is then quite simple to make the work enjoyable. As in the case of curing all vices, when he has done what he has been told to do, you must go out of your way to make the work that he’s doing enjoyable. Put a soft bit in his mouth, and then never let him stand still; keep him walking, walking, walking; ride away from the other horses with another horse, then ride back, then ride round in a circle, etc. etc. Then you go first, with your accompanying horse behind you, then back again, and round the horses again, and by degrees, you will be able to ride away alone, without the napping and resultant rearing. Long steady walking is the best thing for a horse who wants to rear. Hope at least one sentence is useful. |
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Posted on Friday, Jul 14, 2000 - 3:50 pm: Hi Priscilla,Great advice here already. I agree especially with the suggestions of Barbara and Alexa. Rearing, IMO, isn't really the problem--it's merely a symptom; that being said, I'm not trying to imply in the least that rearing isn't dangerous or significant. What has been helpful to me over the years, when confronted with a problem, is to ask Why rather than How... in other words, "why is he rearing?" rather than "how can I make him stop?" Then frequently, a logical course of action will present itself. This sounds as though he lacks confidence, and that's why I really appreciate some of the suggestions already made. A key point that both people have already stressed is that you are increasing his comfort zone little by little, and *always* returning the point of comfort *before* he becomes nappy or worried. Another note is that I might suggest your friend avoid correcting him with spins or other manuevers which shift his weight to the rear. That has the effect of making it much easier and more natural for him to respond by rearing. I watched a lady at a show once, who was trying to "correct" her horse for rearing by making him spin, but with his weight rocked back, it was even easier for him to rear, which made her try to spin him more, and pretty soon, he had completely substituted rearing for spinning, (and I thought I was going to be able to buy him cheaply :-P). You want to be riding a "rearer" very loose, free, and forward as you enter situations in which you think he might rear. In this situation, it's actually to her benefit to leave him on his forehand. One last thought: I'd personally be wary of putting a tiedown etc on him, as, given enough incentive, he can still go over backwards with any of that stuff on, and it might well be another thing that would worry him. Just my opinion. Good luck and be careful. |
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 19, 2000 - 6:30 am: This thread has been very reassuring to me. I just got back from a two-week vacation during which we went on some fabulous trail rides, so I took my mare out yesterday with my daughter determined to master the local trails. All went well till we got sort of lost and had to find our way back past an unfamiliar pasture full of goats. My mare started acting up and I corrected her with a smack of the crop and went into my "death grip" mode on the reins (I wasn't aware I had done this; my daughter pointed it out later). Next thing I knew the mare went straight up in the air and I was on the ground. Fortunately I wasn't hurt and managed to hang onto the reins. I walked her by the goats, talked to her, did some ground exercises till she calmed down enough for me to remount. She was fidgety but all right on the way home. I was calm during the "incident" but later got shaky and upset, worried about her tendencies as a "rearer" and the "dangerous behaviour." But on reflection I'm inclined to believe (and hope!) that it was my pressure on the reins, combined with her anxiety and distress at being smacked with the crop (which I almost never do; I don't even usually carry one) that led to her rearing. She has gone up a little once before with me when I was schooling her in a lesson and was upset and also had a "death grip." So hopefully I just have to learn to let go when she's upset--she has tended to bolt in the past, so it's psychologically difficult for me to relax my hands! Any other advice on how to get round this before it becomes a habit would be welcome! |
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 19, 2000 - 1:21 pm: Hi Zoe,You actually know the answer already!! She is not dangerous or a rearer - she just hated you smacking her and then you went into your "death grip" mode which was the final straw! And if she has thought about rearing before, when you also had your death grip, it is obvious that your hands are hurting her mouth so she is trying to get away from your hands. How about putting a neck strap on her which you can hold if you're a bit uptight, rather than the reins? Another good trick is attaching the lower part of the flash noseband to the d-rings of the saddle, and that makes a good safety handle. [Far better there than round the horse's nose - but that's another conversation!] As I'm sure you know, holding a horse tightly in the mouth is not going to stop it bolting if it really wants to - you have to learn to hold the horse with your seat and back, and your voice. Perhaps that means lunge lessons with no reins from a good instructor? Is that possible? To get you to relax with no hands, just using seat/back/weight aids, etc. And to get her to relax with you.........the circle has to be closed. |
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 19, 2000 - 4:40 pm: Bless you, Alexa. You always say exactly the right thing. ;) I've decided that from now on on the trails I will ride her with my old Western bridle with the rope reins, which I am far less likely to hang onto like death. It's just a bad instinct I have to get rid of--in the ring I have no problem using my seat and weight to get her to stop. She is VERY sensitive in the mouth, and the woman I bought her from always rode her on a very loose rein. So I have learned a lesson the hard way. I am bruised more psychologically than physically. But it's a lesson I won't forget.Thanks for your kind words about Molly. They are a great help. |
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Posted on Sunday, Jul 23, 2000 - 5:54 pm: Alexa--you'll be happy to hear that I took Molly out on the trails this afternoon, again with my daughter & her horse (Molly's good buddy, and one of Mark Rashid's passive leaders if there ever was one!) without untoward incident. We searched out the goats and stopped and looked at them for a while, circled around, then back, looked for a while longer. Molly was anxious but not disobedient; I had her in her old Western bridle, no noseband (let alone flash) and kept her on a totally loose rein as much as possible. She tried to walk away in a hurry once or twice, but I just circled her around till we were facing the critters once again. There was even a stray kid cavorting in the pasture WE were standing in (the others were on the far side of their paddock fence.) We never got too close; I didn't want to push her envelope too much. We only spend about a total of ten minutes watching the goats, then went on our way. She seemed wary but willing most of the time, and on the way home relaxed much more, sometimes lowering her head almost to the ground. My ten-foot-long rope reins were a big help there.I've signed up to take her to one of Mark Rashid's 4-day clinics in October. I'm so looking forward to it, even though it will totally break the family budget! |
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Posted on Monday, Jul 24, 2000 - 3:55 am: That is super news, Zoe, and I'm so pleased it is all working out between you and Molly. And I am madly envious that you are going to one of Mark Rashid's clinics! Books are marvellous and websites are useful, but they are not like a clinic. I'll be so interested to know your thoughts on it afterwards.Cheers, Alexa |
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 3, 2001 - 7:47 pm: Hi Janet, sounds like the guy that was riding her wanted to flip her over if that is not what you want to do I would advise not to pull back on a rearing horse. That said I am not a trainer but just went thru this balking with my young horse. He would rear or back or something evil when he didn't want to go. I will tell you what I did to him to stop the rearing and he quit within 2 days and has never done it again. You can usually tell when your horse is going to rear and the thing to do is stop them BEFORE it happens, what I did was every time he would stop and I knew a rear was going to follow I would pull his head to my knee even when they are in a rear this works it disengages the rear and they are pretty much helpless. The best thing to do if you are not capable get a good trainer and take lessons to teach your horse leg means forward and you better darn well go forward when you tell her. Well that has been my experience with balking, my horse and I did overcome it but it took awhile with ALOT of persistence and some lessons with a good trainer. I also must add that you are the one who has to do it cuz' my trainer could get my horse to go but I couldn't cuz' he knew who was on him and forget the tom thumb bit, the bit isn't the problem. Hope this helps some. |
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 3, 2001 - 8:49 pm: Ditto, to Diane's reply. It is exactly what I have used with great success with rearing horses. Examples: One mare would fly backwards and rear when she saw anything that she was afraid of. The other mare would stop and rear straight up whenever asked to move away from home from her buddy. Both rearing problems were taken care of with consistent work doing what Diane describes. Keeping forward movement is very important. I recommend a full-cheek snaffle with very long extensions so you will have more control and less problem with jaw soreness. A shank bit will tip in the horse's mouth when you hold him to the side and a ring snaffle can pull through the mouth.Holly |
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