Advice PLS - horse reared n fell over backwards on me...

[KatB]

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Sorry, ive said this before on this forum, a horse that goes over backwards has no self preservation, and tbh that is the only thing that is keeping us alive on these animals in many cases!!! If he is quite happy doing it, I would get rid. I had a rearer which I sorted out, but if he had gone over backwards repeatedly, he would have been gone

If he does it repeatedly then I would agree with you but so far he's done it once. Although he didn't seem to be bothered when he got up that doesn't mean he's done it before and doesn't mean he's got no self preservation! I'd still stick with him and see how he goes

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Yes I agree with you m_m, sorry I obviously didnt make myself clear. By the way the OP was posting, it sounded like he had done it before. Sometimes going over once can "cure" it and stop it doing it again. But by the sounds of things this horse knew what it was doing. IF however it was due to a loss of balance, misjudgement, then yes it maybe a breakable habit and worth persevering. However, horses dont normally go from no rear to flipping over straight out in my experience unless it is a lack of balance etc....... I knew one which decided rearing was a good trick to play, did it and meant it, and then did it and the person handling it pulled it over backwards (on a surface on teh lunge, so no damage done to it or handler) it never tried it again.....that sort of horse is worth persevering with.....if you want to take the risk that it ISNT a learnt behaviour and it wont do it again....

 

[AmyMay]

Teath and back checked????? I know it's pretty obvious - but it's the first thing I'd look at, and also the fit of the saddle.

I wonder why he is reluctant to go forward in trot? Was he 5 stage vetted?

 

[Hollyhorse]

Wow I'm not sure what to think now. Thanks for all your comments! Just to clarify a few points n answer a few questions:

1) he's ridden in a french link hanging snaffle (may try a straight bar happy mouth as has been suggested but he's actually quite strong)
2) he's very clever, quite amazingly how quickly he picks things up, and is quite sharp
3) he's really talented and could upgrade to novice then intermediate eventing really quickly due to his bold careful jump and being a bit of a XC machine, so I would consider him worth sticking with - WITHIN REASON

Whether he reared, lost balance and fell over or purposefully flipped over - it's hard to say really. I've had him about 6 weeks and he has NOT reared with me before. He once stopped abruptly when I was clearly using too much hand in the early days and it occured to me that he might consider rearing but his feet did NOT leave the ground n we continued n I've used much lighter hands and less pressure every since. Yesterday he stuck his head up in trot twice, halted and did two little rears - 45 degree angle I would guess - but then went forward. The third time he stuck his head up in trot, stopped n then it felt like he went straight up n over backwards - it happened very 'fluidly', i didnt feel he was stumbling about on his hind legs n then fell backwards...however i've been researching and apparently 99% of horses that fall over backwards are pulled back by the rider so it could easily be that i was taken so much by surprise that my body fell back n the weight pulled him back.

If he'd done this many times then I would probably get rid straight away but this was the first time - in my schooling session in the pouring rain, the first time ridden after a XC fun ride. So i think I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, assume that his mind was a bit all over the place - he's only ever thrown his head up when I've been schooling him and I associate this behaviour with him being about to rear, and he's not even done that very often so could well be because he's sharp and I was putting too much pressure on him... he does give me warning in the respect he throws his head up n halts so if i quickly spin him in circles n make him go forwards when he does this then that might be enough to avoid the rear in the first place. To be honest I'm not sure what else I can do - i dont want to jump the gun and get rid of him when he's only done it once n it could have been me pulling him over n he may never do it again if i'm smarter, but then i dont want to risk my life for a horse, even if he could jump the moon. Watch this space. Thanks for ALL your advice, much appreciated