Advice on a horse that rears

Hmmm. I had a horse that was that way inclined- did not go over backwards, but napped like hell whenever you asked questions/asked more. It was scoped, but no ulcers there.

If no heath issues Would try slippery elm, mint just to sooth any stomach issues that may be there ( cos they can have digestive issues even if no gastric ulcers) and lots of long reining.

Then if someone does get back on it, then it should have a person following it on the ground with a huge branch with lots of leaves on it, to give it a good smack below the hocks with every time it did start to rear. Or/and throw a bucket of water at its backend. Both give such a shock that the horse sometimes does snap out of it and thinks' oh [****]' and shoots forwards and stops the nap.

Understand that the above may be controversial, but sometimes it is just pure bloody mindness on the horse;s part, and the above does work. Sometimes!

Well, that is just an idea that you could tell the owner. Would reccomend that you walk away from this one tho! Yes, the problem could be fixed, but it doesnt have to be you doing the fixing!
 
I have heard of a method that is supposed to stop a rearer and that is to carry a rope, when the horse goes up, give it a whack with the rope on its belly and it will think something (i.e. a snake or something) is attacking it from the ground and come back down. Have no idea whether it actually works but the theory sounds good! I'm not sure that it would work on an established rearer though, especially if he is known to throw himself over.
 
Thanks - I will pass on all suggestions, but I think Ive have enough, want to have a fun summer with my pony
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I think you either have a horse with an un-diagnosed medical problem or a horse with a temperament which makes it dangerous to ride. Since it is not even your horse you are entirely right to give up on it.

If you want to give him another chance try putting him on paikillers for 3-4 weeks and see if there is an improvement. If there is, at least the owner will know that there is an underlying problem and can decide whether it is worth trying to find out what it is and whether it can be treated.

If there is no improvement then I think you are entirely wise to give up on this horse before he injures you.
 
If you really aren't happy about riding him then give up on him. I know from experience that once they start to worry you then you get on board with a feeling of dread and don't ride as forward as you prob normally would. You also spend the whole time anticipating the naughtiness. Not fun.
I have had my fair share of naughty ones.
 
Sorry I can't not giggle at the image of you trying to whack this horse on the belly with rope whilst simultaniously decanting a carten of 6 free range eggs over its head! Please take a pic if this becomes a reality!
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I do agree with Charlie76, to a point some can be brought back to being non rearers. My own horse was a violent rearer would go over. Had been pulled over on lines by a trainer who i thought knew better. He would also go vertical on the Lines or when being lunged he was deemed as totally un-ridable & was told to shoot or put him in a field & forget about him.

I was at my lowest eb with this horse, i decided to call Richard Maxwell in to have a look one morning. He was convinced the horse had just learned he was bigger & stronger & very confused & un-confident even though he seemed bold, so i used RM methods to convice him otherwise. I had to be totally dedicated to it though. I also did Clicker Training with him when he was able to go back under saddle. Which really helped to un-lock his backward thinking brain. Used to just play games of cantering from one side to the other as fast as possible from a stand still then he would be clicked.

Said horse has just Qualified for BD regionals for the 3rd time & yes does get narky sometimes as he does like to let his feeling be known on subjects. He hardly ever rears now if he does there very small, but we go straight back to making him believe that im the stronger party for a few days by that using the methods i was shown, without any whips as whips did not help my horse it made him worse as he would go straight into a full blown fight & he would win.

It did take a year though of working 6 months on the ground & then transfering the ground to the saddle. But i have a very different horse who i would say is a safe as any other horse now & im very proud of him.
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Doesnt always work for every horse though.
 
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Sorry I can't not giggle at the image of you trying to whack this horse on the belly with rope whilst simultaniously decanting a carten of 6 free range eggs over its head! Please take a pic if this becomes a reality!
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I think that would result in me ending up in a hospital bed
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I have heard that tying their tail up along their belly will prevent them from rearing as without that to balance they won't dare go up. I would imagine you attach it to the girth somehow? I know one person who did it and it worked a treat on theirs, although maybe not the best idea if the behaviour is pain related
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Other than that you are very brave, my old horse used to rear, although thankfully never went over with me. He did go over with the guy I sent him to for schooling, and his antics did calm down after that. My horse was incredibly well balanced though and on more than one occasion would straighten his front legs and 'clap' his toes together. His favourite rearing places were wamr-ups and lorry parks, anywhere tricky to manourvere him really - little get!
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I forgot to say, if this horse is Irish and came from the sales then I would be suspecting that the horse had done it before. We went a couple of years ago to buy a horse but decided against it as the riders on board were VERY good at riding and VERY good at sensing an issue before it happened.
There were some horses that we def very tricky but being made to look easy, not something everyone can do but the dealer riders did with ease.
 
I also had a mare that reared. When she had been broken in they had got fed up with her when she started stropping and had put her in draw reins which started her trying to rear. I always liked the mare and ended up with her. After I bought her I got her checked over by a vet as I was convinced that she had something physical wrong with her. Turned out she had a really enlarged ovary that was causing her pain. Anyway to cut a long sotry short had lots of vet treatment - ovary removed etc, plenty of time to recuperate and tlc then slowly into correct work. However she never forgot how to rear. She went over three times, twice while being lunged with no rider and once with me on. Never again. I am an experienced rider who can sit a rear but I had her put down. My health was too valuable to me and I could never have sold her on knowing that she might do that with someone else and hurt them. If you have given her every health check under the sun and nothing shows up - then either send her to a pro (however most of them value their health too much as well) or don't ride her again would be my advice - life's too short!
 
With J, as you said, it was a one off, this has already proved it wasnt...I had a rearer but he never went over, and I got him out of it by teaching him that if he got me on the ground, he would work twice as hard! He reared me off, and straight away was put on the lunge and lunged solidly for over an hour...he never did it again, but his was an evasion, not nasty, whereas throwing itself backwards isnt great...
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I haven't read any other replies but in my opinion this is not a horse to perservere with. If a horse rears and goes over that is bad news. If a horse that has gone over backwards before continues to do so then perhaps the best thing is that it is PTS - it clearly has no self preservation whatsoever. You don't get second chances in this lifetime and this horse could kill you. It's not about being wimpy or chicken it's about being bright and making the best decision for you and anyone else that might come into contact with this horse in the future
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If it has been over more than once then it has no sense of self-preservation and is therefore not safe. Your life is fasr, far too valuable to risk on a horse which couldnt give a damn.
A friend of mine was killed when her horse came down on her. It happens too easily.
 
I'm with the camp that as it has gone over more than once you need to be saying goodbye to it.

Fleur was a chronic rearer as a youngster but she never actually went over (too blooming well balanced!) and that includes someone very experienced we trusted spending over an hour trying to pull her over (long reined) in order to scare her out of it, but they just couldn't pull her over.

In the end I used tight circles (i could pre-empt her rears and had enough time to spin her) every time I felt her about to try and go up for a long long time till she just tried less and less. It was purely napping with her not pain. If you asked her too much of a question she said no and went up.

She is and will always be a rearer but I can number her actual rears in the last 3 years on one hand and even those have been only a small bounce off floor in comparison.

With her it was training her that rearing got her no where other than going in an uncomfortably small circle. But as I say she never properly went over so always had an aspect of self preservation in her...
 
try smashing a raw egg on the horses head they will think they have hit their head on something and the feeling of the egg running down their face will feel like blood theyll be to scared to do it again.It should work
 
Think i'd give it a couple of months off or hacking only. At 5 they can all be pretty awkward. I agree that a rearer without self preservation is dangerous but maybe this horse can't cope with the questions currently being asked. I certainly wouldn't rush into having it PTS at 5 without exploring options. I have also heard the RM rope trick - definitely worth a go. Does said horse ever rear when doing groundwork?
 
tbh, madhector..... I think you will show yourself up to being the complete professional by reporting back to the ownerswith your findings. Saying Thanks but .. No Thanks... Let them pay for any remedial/vet treatment they deem necessary and walk away. I am sure this is what any professional rider would do.
I can't bare to read a post where you have got hurt, after all you've been through.
 
Hehe this sounds like my TB ex racer who used to rear, i rode her bareback and she reared vertical and was going over backwards so i pulled her down hard (Not so as to hurt her) and shes never done that again :P Hopped straight back on when she got up and she was like i wont do that again and hasnt
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doesnt work!! (well didnt make a diff with ours). Had an ex pointer, all pain issues were checked, checked and checked again, he simply used to booger off on his own to point without jockey often completing race on his own, got in the habit and just an absolute nightmare under pressure. I wasnt about to kill myself (dont do fall over rearing) so tried him as a happy hacker, he was sold on to someone who i made trial him from our yard for 6 months and who (in writing) promised nothing else but XC and hacking for him.

She still has him and he has never been up. Show him a school and he will go up within minutes, any pressure, doesnt want to know and deep down i knew it wasnt a pain issue.

However, ulcers is a common one, hind legs pain in different joints and obviously back pain, but some horses just learn that they dont want to do it, no matter what.

Personally, take the pressure off and find another job, if its your own horse, as you say this one will be up to the owner.
 
Hi! Am actually making my first post here as I happened to see your qu and felt moved to do so...because I had a horse just like this...
Bought as a 5 year old, was ok for about the first 2 days, then started low grade spooking, then napping, then eventually used to rear whenever pressure was put on be it in school, out hacking, xc. We really tried everything...all vets stuff, scopes, stronger, bossier riders, sent her for a seasons hunting with a (warned!) pro but none of it made any difference. Eventually she went over backwards through a fence with said pro riding her. In the end she went as a brood mare to a warned stud yard - tho tbh we should probably have shot her becuase i dread to think what the foals will be like!
Anyway, so in short my advicw would be please please don't waste anymore time or safety on this horse, if u've done everything to reach the bottom of it, even if it does improve chances are the danger will remerge when things get tough.
Gd luck whatever you do!
 
Is he ok hacking with other horses , would he hunt because I have a friend that had the nappiest horse around but was a great hunter. Some people only want a horse to hunt and he may suit that type of person
 
Being a 'pro' and breaking both my hips when a horse went over backwards and trapped me under it, i would say send it back to the owner. 6 weeks of bed rest is no fun but i got away lightly compared with others.
 
I know of someone who had a Horse like this. Put it out its comfort zone and it would nap, then rear. It also went over backwards more than once. After numerous investigations the Horse turned out to have a brain tumour and was destroyed. I would be really concerned because he's gone over more than once. Usually once is enough and teaches them not to do it again. I know two people who have been seriously injured this way. One is an eventer (has evented at 4*) who smashed her pelvis and the other a very experienced SJ groom who broke her leg in 4 places. Rearing is just horrible. Bad enough falling off without the risk of being squashed as well.
 
My advice to YOU, personally, is to sit down with the people, have a straight talk, and walk away. As you yourself say, it's not worth it to get hurt. There are lots of nice horses in the world which can use your help, don't get schmucked by this one.

I KNOW how hard that is. Trust me, I, of all people, know. I can actually tell you the moment I got some sense. I was riding a stallion for some people I worked for. The horse was from a line known for obnoxious behaviour (the owner, who had also owned the sire, used to tell horror stories about the stallion and the line is notorious in racing circles), had been handled and kept in ways I disagreed with, and, quite frankly, the owner was not-so-secretly pleased the horse was a bad a**. One of his tricks was to run backwards at full tilt into the arena wall and then rear. The harder you hit/kicked, the faster and harder he went. If you tried to turn he'd run through the shoulder and still try to stand up. He knew all the tricks. (He also grabbed me by the back of the neck one day, but that's another story.) Good people told me to walk away, including friends of the owner but I was too proud and stupid. (Not brave.
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) One day we were doing the "get behind him" approach, which was kinda, sorta working (although I'm pretty sure the horse would have figured out no person behind him = do what you want pretty quickly). The horse went up, I got ready for the owner to hit him . . . and nothing happened. I turned around and he was half way down the school, leaning on the fence, chatting to someone!!! When the horse came down I got off, dragged the unpleasant animal back to the owner, handed him the rains and said, very calmly, "You know what? I don't need this s**t," and walked out. A pivotal moment in my career.

Only YOU can keep yourself safe. YOU'RE the professional, you're the one that says how things are going to go. I'm sure in this case the people are lovely but let's face it, they're standing on the ground. And it's almost inevitable, if the horse isn't already damaged in some way, that if this goes on eventually he will be. Horses are not meant to lay on their backs.

Btw, the horse above - a big, strong, very rough guy took the ride after me. They did get the horse to a show eventually (it could jump, I'll give it that) and we were treated to the scene of it getting over the first two jumps, rearing, spinning, running sideways, decamping through the gate (string still up) and setting off across the showground out of sight. Last I heard the horse had literally not left his stall in years except to go to the arena, he was so dangerous to handle. Poor bu**er. The owner contacted me because he was trying to give him away. . . .

Listen to your "little voice".

On the subject of this horse, I differentiate between "rearers" and "flippers". Yes, rearers can lose their balance/misjudge and fall over but that's not their intention. Flippers are a different breed all together. Of the ones I've had to ride I would say MOST have been in some sort of pain, albeit not necessarily obvious. (One had been severely electrocuted - I don't think that would have shown on a vetting.) But at least two were still with their breeders and quite frankly, they were bonkers. They came from families that occasionally produce not so sane horses and they were the "perfect storm" of sharp, backward thinking and completely lacking in self preservation. One nearly killed the girl who rode it after me at which point it was sold as a broodmare! One other used to rear in its stall and leap to hang from the top of the wall, actually drawing blood on its fetlocks and pasterns. (She also had two crazy siblings out of the same mare . . .hmm.) Bonkers.
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I would hardly ever say this is the case, that a horse is just "wrong". We're talking a few out of hundreds, maybe thousands of horses. But it happens. Not to mention that even if the problem is "nurture" - pain, handling etc. - that doesn't mean it's fixable.

It's unfortunate that these people own this horse. But at the end of the day it's THEIR problem, not yours. Give them the benefit of your advice and if you can't see a way to progress SAFELY then walk away. While you still can.
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