Horse rearing inhand??

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

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Right guys whats your remedies for a horse that rears inhand when it doesnt want to do as its asked ??

Ive suggested rope headcollar with the pressure point between the ears and lots of ground work but what would others recommend??

Thanks :D
 
Grey filly went through a faze of doing this when she didn't want to go forwards. I wore gloves and held a schooling whip, she had a leather headcollar with a long leadrope (about 10ft). I walked at her shoulder, if she hesitated or even *thought* about stopping and rearing, I tapped her hindquarters/flank with the whip to send her on and said 'walk on'. I would get her to circle around me and then continue as we had been before. She soon gave up because it got boring doing a whole row of circles. ;) You have to be quick to keep their hooves moving though, she could get up into a rear after the smallest hesitation in walk.
 
Exactly as above - keep the feet moving forward at all costs, schooling whip behind you on their arse if they so much as think about it.

I also, admittedly in temper which I'm not proud of, one day swung the rope end of the leadrope hard into her tummy when she went up. Now I'm not sure whether it was very BHS, but by god she came down to earth with a thump and it was the beginning of the end for her rearing!
 
I've been using a 'Kemp Controller' for a week on my mare.

She didn't want to leave field and pals, would bunny hop, rear and take off - leaving me standing. She attempted it once, controller came into play and she stopped. Can honestly say there has been a complete turnaround in behaviour. Have been doing loads of groundwork with her and much more respectful and controllable in all this wind. Fingers crossed not just a fluke! :)
 
I found a pressure halter made it worse....

I got an extra long lead rope, so had plenty of space, and tbh what worked for me was ignoring the behavior, and carrying on as if nothing had happened.
 
I'm going to be shot down in flames for this :D

BUT ...

Put a chiffney on. They are designed for rearers and give you much, much more control than any of these ancy fancy be nice halters! If she goes up then pull down on the rope attached to the chiffney. The action of the bit puts pressure on the lower jaw and they come back down and rarely try that trick again.
 
EKW said:
I'm going to be shot down in flames for this :D

BUT ...

Put a chiffney on. They are designed for rearers and give you much, much more control than any of these ancy fancy be nice halters! If she goes up then pull down on the rope attached to the chiffney. The action of the bit puts pressure on the lower jaw and they come back down and rarely try that trick again.
Click to expand...

Not going to shoot you down in flames, I think most "gadgets" can have their place, but..

Be careful with a chifney with a young horse or one with a fine jaw, they can cause a bit of damage, but by far the biggest problem with them is if you use one to turn out. They can be difficult to remove on an excitable horse, especially if they throw their heads up when you remove the headslip. A chifney caught round the lower teeth isn't funny.
 
A horse at my previous livery yard acted the same and was 17hh!

His very small and petite owner tried a dually but made things worse (worth a try though in my opinion) then she just used a very long lead rope (at least 12 ft) and ignored the behaviour and carried on humming or singing away to herself - it worked :D

You could make your horse understand that its hard to do the wrong thing so after the rear ask the horse to move in a circle around you using a long line (say 3/4 circles) then continue to walk forward repeat at next rear. Prehaps the horse will learn to do the right this is much less hassle after all!
 
I have seen a lot of damage done with a Chiffney and would never use one. Horrible bits.

When a horse consistently rears in hand then I will carry a length of blue pipe and when they go up whack them across their back legs. This is attacking their only means of support and makes them think twice about doing it again.

You do need to keep them moving and circling around you is also good.
 
Ideally, it would be pretty vital to try to pinpoint the actual cause of the rearing in the 1st place - is it excitement? Age-related? Fear? It's all very well trying to deal with the rearing but the best thing would be to avoid or prevent it in the first place, and then the handler doesn't have to deal with any rearing at all. When you remove or deal with the trigger(s) then the rearing tends to fade away...
This might sound a bit odd because it helps to prevent and deal with rearing less directly, but teaching the horse to lower it's head when asked, I find, really helps because it a) distracts the horse, b) channels the behaviour positively and gives the horse an alternative behaviour, and c) really helps to calm the horse down. naturally. It's really easy to teach and can be mastered very quickly: applying pressure to the orse's poll and maintaining that pressure until s/he lowers her head - even a tiny amount - and then releasing the pressure immediately. Horses usually catch on very quickly, even stubborn ones.
Otherwise, I agree with the circling using the long rope.
Above all, I think that remaining calm is vitally important, as any anger or emotional energy from the handler would only fuel the rearing and make it worse. You can't settle or calm a horse down if the handler themself is not calm.
I would seriously advise against using a chifney. (I'm lighting the torch as I write ;) ) Not using one doesn't mean you have any greater tolerance for rearing, but for many, many reasons it doesn't deal with the cause of the behaviour & it just isn't necessary. There are so many clearer, fairer, less abusable and less harsh methods of dealing with rearing.
 
Last edited:
EKW said:
I'm going to be shot down in flames for this :D

BUT ...

Put a chiffney on. They are designed for rearers and give you much, much more control than any of these ancy fancy be nice halters! If she goes up then pull down on the rope attached to the chiffney. The action of the bit puts pressure on the lower jaw and they come back down and rarely try that trick again.
Click to expand...

^^This^^

Used correctly they can be very useful.
 
The horse is worse when the handler turns in to it, goes up and spins and pulls back almost as if i knows that its doing wrong and has struck out in the past.

Id be wary of suggesting a chiffney in the situation TBF although I have seen their enormous 'persuasion' in getting horses to give this a rest.

A smack in the tummy probably would go along way but wouldnt that be dangerous if horse is striking??
 
I had/have this problem with my horse only when he is being turned out after being stabled. I would make it worse cause it scares me a lot so he would stress and the whole situation was a big accident waiting to happen. So, yard manager put stallion chain on him and took time to teach him to walk nicely. She also had a very long 12ft line attached to chain. She did a lot of backing up and backing up and then more backing up till he understood that the only way to get to the field was to walk nicely. He walks like a dream with her now. She has to teach me to be as competent and then I should be able to walk him too. As for sending him round in circles, Well I think in his case you might have got your head very nearly kicked in.
 
Mine (who's 17.2) did it terribly as a 2 year old just flung himself all over shows at home anywhere,then once the man who showed him in hand let go and he flipped over NEVER did it again! Not telling you to do this as its very dangerous for the horse but its what stopped topper.
 
Ground work and patience, it’s the only way.

They soon stop rearing when they realise that there little exhibitions gets them no where fast, my view is work on the mind, if half a ton of horse wants to go up, it doesn’t matter what it’s wearing on it’s head, it’s off up and there’s nothing you can do about it, otherwise you get into a battle of strength and trust me the horse always wins.
 
Am another for the chifney, but it depends on the horse. They are a last resort IMO and on my old lad I tried thepressure halters etc they didn't work, if I tapped him with schooling whip it made the situation more dangerous. The chifney was the only way with my boy. I would consider one if it was a question of safety
 
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