Pony rears with ground training

[marge]

I bought my grandson a black and white paint pony who is really a great guy. I bought him at an auction, so don't know that much about his background except that I saw three young boys riding him around the auction and being very rough with him and he didn't respond to this in a mean way, he just ignored them. He is 14 hands and I am able to ride him. He is a great ride and behaves.

I really like the way the Down Under Trainer on TV works with his horses and makes them respect his space. Our pony does very well with this as to moving away when asked, until I stand in front of him and wiggle the lead rope and ask him to back. At first he came AT me! Then I got a small whip and held it in front of me and wiggled the lead and asked him to back away and he reared up in the air. Ir wasn't a mean type rear, he didn't try to hurt me. It seemed as if someone has actually trained him to do this. It seemed a very controlled rear to me.

How should I get him to understand what I want him to do? Marge

[galadriel]

If he dopesn'ty seem aggressive, just confused, then you must convince him that what you want him to do is to back up, yes?

Try telling him to "back" while pushing on his chest; this will give him a clear idea of what exactly you want. Since it sounds like he's being respectful in other ways, once he catches on he'll be much happier and able to do what you're asking, rather than respond in confusion.

If he develops a habit of rearing when he is very confused, you should probably be very careful in riding to be VERY explicit in your commands, and move very slowly with his training. By doing so you can keep him from getting confused to the point of frustration (and so no rearing while mounted!)

[Danae]

When Galadriel says on his chest, there is an actual nerve that when you press it, the horse is more responsive to backing up. I will try to find a picture of a horse to show you where the nerve is, as it is hard to explain. I will post in a few minutes...

[Danae]

Ofcourse it would have been better if I could get a front picture, but we'll work with what we have :D. I've put a red box on this picture, and in the vecinity of that box is the nerve. I usually take my index finger and almost poke it and walk towards the horse usually that helps, ofcourse with a verbal command "B-ack" and then eventually I can take the verbal command and poking out and just positioning myself in the same way the horse will back. Ofcourse the Clint Anderson (thats his name right??) way is way infront rather than at the horses shoulder, but you can eventually go in the way that he teaches. Hope that makes sense, it's late here and I just finished doctoring Hopi's hoof..excuse the babbling :rolleyes:

[jed lewis]

hi there ,when using the rope method to ask a pony to back out of your space, see that you are standing slightly sideways on ,the rope needs to be at least 6/8 ft ,square up to the pony with eye contact ,make your self tall,snake the rope only enough to annoy the pony as the head collar moves about the head ,which is more annoying than uncomfortable but as soon as the pony attemps to move back stop the rope ,many people think that to snake the rope untill the pony moves back this is not so ,if he comes at you move the rope with such vigor he will back off to release the swinging of the rope ,if he rears then let him as long as he does not rear to wards you if so keep the rope going untill he moves back even a little .the rearing is a challenge to you and if he succeeds the lesson is not learnt ,so if you snake the rope a little
and he even just leans back ,stop the rope step
into his space and reward ,not *** bits .
then wiggle rope if he moves back just a step stop the rope step in to his space and reward .
but if he gets angry swing the rope like skipping so it really feels uncomfortable to stop him coming at you ,but when he stands and moves back stop the rope this sounds confusing
but it is not you may have to be a bit tougher
with the swinging and snaking to get your message across .hope this helps jed lewis.

[Waikato Valuta]

Maybe your horse was taught to rear on comand this dose sound like a rearing command to me. But i have never had it explaned to me before. If your horse was taught this why unteach him just find another command and get him to asociate with that.

But he may be being naughty. If so step back and start again using the presher points and leave the rope swinging for latter. All horses start someware even the ones on T.V.

GOOD LUCK

[FreedomStar]

Danae, here is a picture I just found for your purpose. Try locating the nerve spot here. http://community.webshots.com/rs2/3/37/64/40733764FAImEG_ph.jpg