!HELP! rearing!!!

[Flo_n_red]

please help me!

my horse has now got into a habit of rearing! we have had his back,teeth and saddle checked and everything is fine! he doesnt do it when hes scared or anything. i mean i can ride him for an hour or so, whether its schooling jumping hacking or on the beach but he will sometime start rearing for no apparent reason! a friend has ridden him aswell and he has done it with her! i dont no what to do! please help! thanks!

[naria]

Do you have any good teachers nearby? I know he may not do it in a lesson but even so they may notice something that is causing him to rear - horses don't tend to do things for no reason, it's just their reasons may not be obvious or sensible to us! They would then hopefully be able to help you sort the problem out.

Please get some help quickly because rearing can be very dangerous.

[Bay Mare]

Why not get an RA out to have a look? My mare reared when I first got her (a lot!) and I got Sarah Dent out to take a look at her. She picked up the problem within a few minutes, found the solution and we haven't looked back since then

[Flo_n_red]

we are planning to star having lesson and take him to some clinics this year!! i mean the other day i rode him for an hour with a mixture of jumping and flat work and when i went to ride back to the yard he reared full hight and spun around! he is also a 4yr old chestnut tb andf did race a few times. i mean people have just said to me "hes young he will grow out of it" or "give him a wack and he wont do it again"! well being young isnt rele an excuse and i wont give him a WACK for it!

[Flo_n_red]

bay mare what is an "RA" ??

[scaredycat]

RA stands for Recommended Associate - they are people who have completed the training courses run by Kelly Marks and have put in a lot of work in order to become an RA. I believe that it is hard work and requires a lot of dedication, knowledge and understanding.

They have been approved by Kelly to work with horses and owners who have problems - from minor issues to more major things like rearing.

I'm getting Adam Goodfellow out to help my gelding overcome his napping problem. If you go to the home page www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk and click on the link Horse Help you can find a list of RA's. It's well worth getting in touch with one to see if they can help.

[jill]

There is a technique which I have used successfully on a rearer but it needs you to be fully committed to it and the timing to be right.
When my beloved Jessica was 5, she refused to go anywhere/do anything, in company or alone, and her immediate response to pressure was to rear, straight up - she was a very athletic mare. Someone bought me a book in which it described the "mill" - a very very tight turn, which is really difficult for any horse and the more so if you do it to their stiffer side (every horse has one). It must be so tight that their nose is almost touching your boot (if it isn't it can be very dangerous because they can still rear but lose their balance), take two or three complete turns and it must be immediately they offer to rear. I used it so successfully that after about 5 times, (she had been doing it for best part of 6 months) one slight lightening of her front end with a refusal to go forward met with a turn and straight away she chose the option to go forward.
It isn't cruel - every time they have the choice to not rear and not therefore have the discomfort. For ever after Jess was a real star - go anywhere do anything, in complete contrast to the pain in the bum she had been as long as she could get away with it.
The reason it worked with her was that she was being nappy and not respecting what I asked her to do, rather than scared or in pain. It was about 15 years before NH became popular.

[Bay Mare]

sexy01 said:

bay mare what is an "RA" ??

Whoops, sorry, didn't see that but Rennie has already answered you so that's ok

I do think that you need to try and find the cause of the rearing, though, rather than just dealing with the immediate problem (the rear). I'm not sure what would have happened if we hadn't found out why my girl was rearing. She would maybe still be doing it today and I would just have had to deal with it ....

With mine (though obviously every horse has a different reason) she had probably been ridden quite heavily in the hand, kept on a tight rein and booted up to the bit in an attempt to get her into an outline (she was only 5 when I got her!). This resulted in her backing off from even the lightest of contacts and the only way was up.

We *feature* in Perfect Partners in the rearing section so I won't bore you with the details Anyway ... Sarah Dent took the bridle off, put the dually on and attached the reins to the dually. I thought that she was nuts and got Sarah to ride her, there was NO WAY that I was getting on her. The difference, however, was instantaneous and she lengthened, relaxed, overtracked and just chilled. She's back in a bit now (a Sprenger KK Conrad Ultra) and though she gets stressed and strops sometimes when we try something new she's a lot better and comes back on side a lot quicker than she ever did before.

[gem]

I have also used the same technique as Jill with my mare who had behavioral issues and it worked a treat, she would strop go sideways 3/4 strides and rear vertically, whilst plunging off the ground (probably attempting to be a lippizana but she isn't!) When she would start to go sideways we would whip around in these tiny circles and she would then be happy to go forwards.

She then tried going backwards and I have yet to work out a cure for this!

[Persianhorse]

If this is a habit or going to be a habit its dangerous therefore you have to put on him a Goggles.
What is a Goggles? It is like a hat ears going true it and it comes on the face and around the eyes on the racing you have seen it but in racing the sides of the Goggles is closed so the horse attention will be in to his front.
For rearing and bucking the bottom half of each eye must be closed and the top half of the Goggles must be open this must be used only for schooling and walk only for some time it is a good peace of equipment for your horse problem.
Wish you the best.

[emmab]

does he tend to rear after working for an hour or so? or is it purely random time-wise?
an hours schooling, jumping etc is quite hard work mentally, if not physically for a 4 year old and he may be trying to tell you he's done enough in the only way he knows how (i.e rearing).
would second others and say that getting an RA out would be the best way to go.
good luck

[Persianhorse]

This is the third time I am posting this there is some problem.
We have a tool called Goggles which you have seen it in horse racing it covers the hed and the sides of each eye is closed so the horse attention is straight forward.
For Rearing and Bucking you can use the Goggles but the different is instead of the sides the BOTTOM of each eye on the Goggles is closed but the schooling must be on walk only and it is better to start with long reining on the ground first after some time you can ride with the same Goggles on and also walk only remember walk only and I guarantee you will over come the problem easily.
I wish you the best.

[Persianhorse]

persianhorse said:

If this is a habit or going to be a habbit its dangerous therefore you have to put on him a Goggles.
What is a Goggles? It is like a hat ears going true it and it comes on the face and around the eyes on the racing you have seen it but in racing the sides of the Goggles is closed so the horse attention will be in to his front.
For Rearing and Bucking the bottom half of each eye must be closed and the top half of the Goggles must be open this must be used only for schooling and walk only for some time it is a good peace of equipment for your horse problem.
Wish you the best.

[Flo_n_red]

umm....... i have tried turning him but he wont move!!! i dont do much schooling or jumping he does a mixture of hacking roads fields and beaches jumping in fields schooling in fields but he doesnt rear all the time!!

[kas]

The point of doing the turns is to disengage his hindquarters. If his legs are crossing under him he can't spread them apart to support his weight for the rear. So you need to practise a hindquarter yield before the rearing starts. Practise on the ground first. Hold the head turned lightly towards you, not bent right round, and put your fingers where your leg would be to get him to step under. A step sideways isn't it, the hind leg nearest you has to cross under.
On his back yes, get the head round quick, put leg on to ask for the disengage, and if you don't get it and you are confident hold the rein to bend his head in your outside hand (possibly crossed in front of your body) and reach back to tap, (or slap if needed) his hindquarters and feel the disengage.
If you aren't confident don't deal with this at all - get help.
The other thing I'd add to the excellent stuff above is that the release is important. When you are turning him you will feel him relax and give to you. (Don't stop until he does as he will probably go up). You have to reward that or what's in it for him? So as soon as you feel him relax, soften your bending rein and send him gently forward into a really relaxed walk. Steering not particularly important, he needs to feel that calm walking is a much nicer thing to do.