Help!! Rearing!!!!!

[Barrelracer428]

i am working with a little mare that had not been rode for about a year and a half because the owner only has horses for breeding. before he bought her she was a congress horse that went on to do trail riding before he bought her. he told me i can work with her because i have had nothing to ride since i retired my cantankerous old man:) well we finally got to the step of getting on her. i got on and sat there for a while so she could get used to all of my weight. after awhile i asked her to move forward at the walk. well she reared instead of going forward. she wont go forward, backward, sideways just up. i have never had to deal with a rearing horse before and i was wondering how i can stop this bad habit? please help!!!

[jUmPingIsLifE]

firsst you need to figure out WHY she is rearing. does her tack all fit? what bit is she in? she might not like it. then look at how you are asking her to do things?

rearing usually is from either pain or to harsh a bit, confusion or fright of something. horses dont usually rear just to be bad, and they usually dont rear out of exitment (sometimes they might buck from exitment but usually rearing is associated with something that is bothering the horse).

does she lead or lounge well? how is her ground work? before you ride make sure that her groundwork is up to par, maybe look into parelli's seven games. and when riding if you can scence that she is rearing either get her going foward, or spin her in a tight circle. a horse cant rear while going foward or with their spin bent so a tight circle will keep her from at least rearing. keep asking her to go foward though, spin in a circle and when she is pointed in the direction you want to go release and ask her if she is ready to move foward again and if the answer is 'no' then continue your circle.

goodluck

[Barrelracer428]

i am going to talk to her owner the next time i see him and ask him if anything has happened to her that would cause her to rear. i have been putting a d ring snaffle in her mouth and i have been told by another forum that i am on that i should try her in a hackamore since i have one. i got my mom and my sister to check the saddle so i could have somebody elses opinion and they both said it was good (they have been doing more of the training stuff than i have). thanx for the advice!!!

[Bay Mare]

I would get outside help. You also need to get teeth, mouth, tack and back checked properly. She could, of course, be confused at what you're asking if she's not been well educated.

I got an RA (Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associate) in to help with Saffy's rearing. She has reared only twice since, once on the same day when she was in a scary situation and it wasn't a 'proper' rear it was only her 'spin' on her back legs (it's easier than moving herself round with four legs on the ground :rolleyes: ) and once in my last lesson when she was being stroppy (and yes she was, my lesson time was changed and she wanted to go into the field and was telling me in no uncertain terms that she WASN'T impressed). Once she got a dig in the ribs she realised that I wasn't going to back off and went back to sticking her nose up in the air :rolleyes: Mares ... who'd have 'em? :p

[wildponies]

Just rebreak her. Start from scratch, sounds like she's just panicing and that it's all too much too soon. Start by lunging or long reining and using voice commands. 'walk on' etc. when you do eventually get on, get on and off a few times for a few sessions. Only once she is 100% with this do you start any moving. To begin with get someone to lead you from the ground whilst saying 'walk on' or just asking her to take a step forward with a bit of pressure on the end of the leadrope. once she's comfortable with this then you can start asking her to walk on from onboard. I would suggest using voice only for now. once this has been established, use voice aids and a 'squeeze' simultaneously until eventually voice aids can be taken away. once she will happilly walk on and stand etc, take away the lead rope. The leader could perhaps just walk along side for now until any problems arise. Once it is clear that she is ready to go solo, get rid of leader altogether. Treat this horse as though it has never been ridden before and you are more likely to see results. Good luck :)

[Barrelracer428]

thank you!! i was just talking to my mom and we both came up with the same plan and she said she will help!! this is the first time i have ever started with a horse from the very basics of breaking them. at least i wont be bored anymore! :)

[Just.Jump]

The cure for alot of problems with horses is going back to step one. In this case, that means the roundpen with the horse at liberty (no tack or halters or anything, a naked horse)

This will elimainate the rider from the equation, as well as any tack she may be objecting to. Your goal for now should be to see if she moves forward when nobody is on her back. She should, and this will teach her to respond to commands much better. She may be objecting to doing work because she's been being a horse for a year and a half, and to be honest, I'm sure having a saddle, bridle, and rider thrown onto a horse isnt always appealing.

Then move on to the tack and if she rears from there, try bareback in a quiet bit (snaffle or something). Some horses don't like saddles in the least bit, so even if the saddle is fine, that could be the problem. But do go to the roundpen, because it sound slike she needs to figure out that you mean business!

[curiou_mare]

I'm not sure if this actually works, but if you tie the horses tail to the girth they won't rear. Actually they can't beacuse there tail is like a dogs they use it for balance. Hope that helps.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

I'm not sure if this actually works, but if you tie the horses tail to the girth they won't rear. Actually they can't beacuse there tail is like a dogs they use it for balance. Hope that helps.

well you are right i believe that would stop a horse from rearing....to tie the tail to the girl i believe that would put the horse on a bend therefor it wouldn't be able to rear...however it would succed in having a horse flip out and flop over and possible hurt both himself and handler badly. i wouldn't try it :rolleyes:

[Barrelracer428]

thanx for all of the advice. and i would never tie my horses tail to the girth! thats dangerous! i have a nice roundpen at the barn i'll try it out.