Anyone use a pressure halter under a bridle for a rearer?

Saxon_Jasmine

Saxon_Jasmine

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Hi,

I'm thinking of more ways to stop my mare rearing. Her back, teeth, saddle, etc are fine. I'm unsure whether it's a habit, or genuine fear, but it needs to be stopped. I've tried the nicely, nicely approach, the very clear and determined approach, and various different instructors.

She only does it when going XC (jumping coffins or steps) or opening gates on a hack, so I am trying to find a training aid I can use for these situations.

Has anyone used a pressure halter (dually, parelli halter, kemp controller, etc) under a bridle? I would ride as normal, but then use the aid when needed.

Any comments or experiance on this?

Thanks.
 
I'm not sure, we have a rearer and he does it if he feels restricted, and was much worse in a pressure halter. He's better in a basic caverson bridle and loose ring snaffle/soft leather headcollar for him. With him it's fear, I think he possible got tangled in a fence or perhaps hauled around by his mouth at some point, so we just reassure him and he comes back to earth, he's doing it less as he gains confidence in us.

I had a friend whose pony reared, with him it was evasion, and a NH person told her to keep a long soft weighted rope with her, and when he reared smack him on the belly with it. It worked very well! But I imagine if it was rearing caused by fear or anxiety (like our boy, who is simply sharp and over sensitive) it could make the problem worse.

Does she still do it if someone gives you a lead over the offending fences?
 
No personal experience with this, but was at a show once and there was a person with a bridle on and the horse was pratting about/rearing etc. and then she put the dually on and IMO this just made the whole thing 10x worse, horse just got more and more wound up. BUT as I say, no personal experience just an observation
 
Hmmm.. that's interesting, thank you. I think I'm going to have to find out if she's doing it because of fear or as an evasion by trial and error. I'm also contemplating taking her XC in hand to 'play'.

If only horses were easy!!
 
I think I am confused:rolleyes: How do you use the pressure halter whilst riding? - or am I being stupid? I can see how it would work from the ground but I read your post as using it from the saddle.
 
I would say with rearing it is generally better to leave their head alone, it does seem to wind them up more.

It sounds as if fear/nervousness of the jump is causing the refusal, and then the rearing is evasive, like you said, basically saying 'no', and avoiding going forwards. I'm thinking this just because she does it under very specific circumstances, and refusing to jump down steps or go forwards into a coffin complex shows almost a fear of being penned in, which is understandable in a horse!

The obvious answer is simply to do more of them and overcome her fear, but it all becomes more difficult if her no means no!! Horses never make things easy for us do they? :rolleyes: It's a pity it's jumps you can't really replicate in the arena as well!

I think your idea of doing some inhand XC is a good one, if she was mine I would use a lungeline so that you can keep out her way (and not loose her if she scoots off!) and have two helpers, one on a horse to give her a lead, and one on foot to go behind her with a lunge whip and encourage her forwards. Find a tiny little step and just do it over and over again till she goes down it without and fuss, and eventually without the leader and encourager. Don't get stressed or angry with her, and if she gets scared let her stand at the top of the step until she's calm again, but don't let her turn around or go backwards. Go there expecting it to take a long time, and perhaps several sessions :p

To be honest with a rearer, they will always have that tendency to be light on the front feet, and if they learn it gets them off doing stuff they get a lot worse. Not letting it scare you, being relaxed but stern, and a lot of time and patience is the only way to lessen the habit, but I know 'rearers' that haven't reared for years, so it can be almost completely eradicated!
 
vallin said:
No personal experience with this, but was at a show once and there was a person with a bridle on and the horse was pratting about/rearing etc. and then she put the dually on and IMO this just made the whole thing 10x worse, horse just got more and more wound up. BUT as I say, no personal experience just an observation
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That is because people buy these things, watch the video and think they know what they are doing, when they don't ;)
I was very dismissive of them but that was because I'd only seen them used by muppets and clearly having now been shown how to use one correctly by an RA, these people couldn't use them. Don't worry I'm not a tree hugging, button pusher lol.

Can't see how a pressure halter would be used in your situation, if you want to go down that route, please get an RA out to help you, don't just buy one and go for it you could end up hurting yourself and your horse.

I'm inclined to agree with the people who have said it seems to be fear or evasion. Have you thought of getting someone to help you. If you are worrying about the rears then maybe you are giving off signals that means she knows that she does the rear and you back off?
 
Monty Roberts recommends Australian Pacifiers (as often used on race horses), with the top half of the eye orbs taped over so the horse can't see up. A horse doesn't move where it can't see. It was an ID mare I saw him do it on, and she changed her behaviour and he could tell from this shift in behaviour that rearing was a form of fear rather than bad behaviour. It's not a cure by any means as it treats the symptom and not the cause, but in the right hands it seems to be a useful tool.
 
misst said:
I think I am confused:rolleyes: How do you use the pressure halter whilst riding? - or am I being stupid? I can see how it would work from the ground but I read your post as using it from the saddle.
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I was thinking I could use a halter under her bridle with the lead rope secured somewhere safe. Then I could pull down on the lead rope from the saddle if she reared, or dismount and use it from the floor.
 
Charliepony said:
I would say with rearing it is generally better to leave their head alone, it does seem to wind them up more.

It sounds as if fear/nervousness of the jump is causing the refusal

I think your idea of doing some inhand XC is a good one

Not letting it scare you, being relaxed but stern
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I'm going to try a pressure halter on her, as she reacted well to having the leadrope around her nose when she was being difficult a few weeks ago. If she hates it, I'll know not to try it again.

I'm not sure it is fear, she does seem to know what she's doing!

Yes, I think I will definatly have a go in hand, and yes, definatly on a lunge line. I was planning on going XC as much as poss over the next few months, so have got lots of time to work with her.

Nope, it doesn't scare me. I find that if I sit there and laugh at her she stops quicker.
 
blakesmum said:
Can't see how a pressure halter would be used in your situation, if you want to go down that route, please get an RA out to help you, don't just buy one and go for it you could end up hurting yourself and your horse.

If you are worrying about the rears then maybe you are giving off signals that means she knows that she does the rear and you back off?
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I would use it to give a stronger 'no' signal. I'm not going to damage my horse, don't worry. I feel I have the experiance to deal with this, and if I was unsure I have a lot of supportive and knowlagble friends to help out.

Nope, her rearing doesn't worry me. She knows that I can sit them, and won't give up untill she listens to me.
 
Vixen Van Debz said:
Monty Roberts recommends Australian Pacifiers (as often used on race horses), with the top half of the eye orbs taped over so the horse can't see up. A horse doesn't move where it can't see. It was an ID mare I saw him do it on, and she changed her behaviour and he could tell from this shift in behaviour that rearing was a form of fear rather than bad behaviour. It's not a cure by any means as it treats the symptom and not the cause, but in the right hands it seems to be a useful tool.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, thank you.
 
I have got the Richard Maxwell halter for my daughter's mare who rears! It has worked wonders with loading her and she will try rearing once and then goes straight on! There was an article in Your Horse where he used one in hand to get a horse over a ditch x country! It is also in his book Maximize horsemanship and he uses it over a bridle. I am def going to try this as our mare is not great with ditches.
 
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