rearing horse......any help?

[kellym]

I wonder if anyone can help me or has experienced similar situations.

My horse has in the last few months started to mainly in over exuberience rear and he is becoming quite a perfectionist at it.I am a 5ft 3 rider and he is 16.3hh horse and being perfectly honest it is terrifiying at any level or expertiese you have. He is rising nearly nine years and it first happened at a cross country ride a month and a half ago, we were half way around the courseand i stopped to check which direction the next set of jumps where in as it was a go as you please and he lept up on his end. i ignored it and rode him through it and he went perfectly,

the next incident came in my paddock jumping when he refused a fence i rode him forward he began to hesitate, about one foot away from the paddock railing and i anticipated he was going to lift i rode him towards the paddock railing so that he couldnt get a full lift and he frightened himself as he was too close ot it and backed off.


Last nite i took him out on my laneway, and like a napping he lifted right up i kicked him on but....

in the last two months he has teeth checked
Back checked
full vet check with no bother


On my fault which in these situations u must do to an extent his workload has not been continuous due to my work committments in the last six months and horses being creatures of habit pick up on things like that and possibly this is his annoyance at the low work load when it should be continuous? previously he has been 6 days per week ridden now he is down to 3 days.

His feed has not changed he gets a 10% mix and hi fi lite and is actually turned out all day and in at nite!

previously he was kept in all day in full livery

I would appreciate any advice on this good or bad if possible from someone who has exprienced similiar i wouldnt call it a napping with my horse as he isnt prone to this but it could become it. ive heard of people smaking horses over the head with whips as they rise up but hes a pretty highly strung animal anyway and hates whips and this could only make matters alot worse. strapping the head down too is debateable


thanks kelly :)

[Mehitabel]

the first thing i would do is cut his hard feed down - if he was doing well on it having 6 days work a week, then he is going to have a lot of extra energy o nthe same food but only working 3 days. was the change sudden, or gradual? if he was fit, then suddenly only doing half the work, then that would give him more pent-up energy as well, and the energy has to go somewhere.

ideally, when decreasing workload you should do it gradually so his fitness slackens off and he adjusts to it.

i wouldn't call it 'annoyance' at the lower workload, just that he has all the energy he used to use up being ridden every day, and now it has nowhere to go so his brain is blowing a bit. similar to a child who has spent all summer holidays racing round outside and then has to sit stil and behave at school.

[kellym]

thanks for the help, his workload did decrease gradually however his feed didnt! hes still fed the same amount .....so yes pent up energy is a factor ....ok ill take your advice and see how we go with that gradually reducing feed now. :)

[Mehitabel]

you might find that will be enough. sometimes if they are fit and full of beans they just can't contain themselves.

whewn he naps, make extra sure that the energy you are creating with your legs has somewhere to go, so check that you are not restricting with your hands. it sounds as if he is doing it when he is excited but can't/won't go forwards - starting when he was having fun at the xc and just couldn't stand still.

but the napping and the hesitation at the jumping are slightly different - in those cases he didn't want ot go forward, so went up instead. this could be the start of disobedience, so i'd be inclined to tell him off when you feel him hesitating (assuming it's not fear about something, which it doesn't sound like) and again make sure that the energy can go forward.

[Loopslou]

when you say you had his back checked can I assume you had his saddle checked for fit as well?

If not it may be worthwhile especially if he hasn't been worked as much but you didn't decrease his feed then he has maybe put on weight and changed shape a little so it may be pinching.

If you do think all is ok physically and with his saddle then are you able to lunge him before you hop on? 10 mins may just take a bit of steam off him. Its not a cop out but for your own safety perhaps some lunging and then getting on him will settle him enough to be safe for you to ride.

Good luck!

[Sassafras]

I had a similar problem with Sassy not long ago. She had six weeks off work, no riding at all, during the winter when I was giving my sore neck a rest. When I resumed riding, first few times out she was fine. Then she started to rear every time we'd begin cantering. Since I'm a beginner, this got me more nervous each time we rode, and of course she could sense it which only made matters worse. Between my trainer and I we came up with a plan to get her out of this bad habit. For one, my legs were weak from not having ridden, so I started riding some of their easier school horses to build up muscle again - and confidence! For Sassy, we lunged her before riding to get rid of pent up energy, then my trainer and other more experienced riders rode her, keeping leg on if she made a bid to misbehave. It took a couple of weeks, but now I have my horse back! She's completely herself again, not even a hint of rearing, so now we don't need to lunge her or anything. I'm riding her every day again now that I'm stronger, so she's back to her usual workload. Since you say that your horse has a lighter workload now, I'd try lunging him now and then to work it out, it should help. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Jessey]

Definatly try reducing his feed first but if he still rears don't try the slapping on the head thing, it rarely works, do ride forward positively and never pull on the reins. If you use a gag bit (you didn't mention) I would be inclined not to. A couple of tricks for rearers are 1. crack an egg on his head or top of neck (not sure how anyone manages this :D ) as it is meant to feel like blood and make them think they have hurt themselves, 2. slap on the belly, not too hard but enough so they feel it, apparently the belly is the bit a horse has to protect in the wild so if some thing goes under there it can make them feel very vunrable, I was told to use a lead rope and just swing it under there as they rear. I have to say neither of these worked with my guy, getting his feed sorted and consistant riding (forward) when he reared did the trick.

J

[dcp]

I too have a horse who is prone to rearing. The main reasons I believe he is doing this is because a) I have only had him 7 weeks and he is napping b) I had him on too much feed and not enough exercise. On Sunday there I hadn't ridden him since Tuesday and I couldn't even get on him! He just kept spinning round and rearing up so I lunged him for a couple of minutes and boy did this help. Even if I don't have much time I lunge him as much as I can before riding and any other time even if its just 5 minutes. It's scary business rearing and I used to tense up as soon as I knew what was coming and whilst I was trying to kick him on I had too much of a contact with his mouth. I'm a bit better now though but its still scary. I hope you get it sorted soon.

[Cheeky]

Yep .. smaller feed is a good start :)
When he does go up, do you sit back as if to slide off, or sit forward? I only mention this so that you do lean into him. If you lean back, you may pull on the reins causing you both a nasty fall. But if you lean into him, you can pull your hands down to his shoulders, directing his head down. This will give you power over him, and will also put the weight up top, helping you both get to the ground a lot safer, and teaching him even though he can rear, you are still incontrol.

I think that he may be flexing his muscles a bit, jst to see if your still in control. Well done for riding on!! Very very good news to hear :)

If he keeps going up, lean forward, get his head on the ground, and keep riding a little more. Eg, if you were trotting and he went up, get him down, make him canter a lap or two, then go back to trot ... jst so he knows extra work is there if he doesnt agree ... :) good luck