Horse rearing when jumping - starting to loose bottle!

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CharlesMax

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Hi all,

Hoping to get some advice. I bought a new horse 3 months ago - a 10 year old but green boy who is just lovely! He has been so eager to please and picks things up fast. Just one thing that's starting to concern me:

On a few occasions when jumping him, he has started rearing and rather high as well. I fell off the first time and he fell too - could have been very serious! He seems to do it when he is stressed out - after refusing a jump twice, for example, he will rear up on the 3rd attempt. When I turn the jump back into a cross pole or remove a filler, he will jump it without problems.

I am taking things slowly and not being harsh with him after the first refusal so this behaviour is really starting to stress me out and making me loose my nerve. He did the same thing under a more experienced rider yesterday - he was jumping well; we added a filler which went well; added another filler and he refused. 3rd attempt at jump and he reared up. It seems like he is genuinely scared and not taking the p'.

I am happy to go back to the basics but don't want to fight a losing battle and certainly do not want this to end in tears!

Any advice much appreciated - thanks in advance:

I don't think he is in pain - everything checked.
 
just go slow, maybe your are holding him too tight for fear of him stopping or rearing and this is causing him to just get so upset because he actually couldnt jump unless you gave him some rein anyway, so relax, sit up straight, bum in saddle and trot in to the jump, cantering can come later, if he stops, relax release the contact, pat him give him time to realise he hasnt done too much wrong and then try again, if he does rear, dont go backwards you will pull him over, go with him lean towards his neck, he wont fall if you do that. Scary yes but once you have stayed on once you will laugh and say now thats easy. And he will also relax and so life goes on.
 
Sounds as if he is nervous when it comes to jumping, and maybe because of his age he has learnt that he can get away with not jumping 'scary' things by rearing. I think I would take him back to basics to gain his trust. You don't want to have a huge battle with him, ending in him going up and over and seriously injuring you and/or himself. Start with trotting poles and work your way up. You could try lungeing him over fences. Also, is there another horse who is a confident jumper who could give him a lead over the 'scary' fences initially to encourage him to go over? When riding him, make sure you stay loose and try not to tense up in anticipation of his rearing as this will transmit to him and make him more likely to do it (easier said than done I know). A PMA goes a long way in these sort of situations. Hope you start to make progress with him :)
 
Great advice so far. Good to hear positive advice! I am happy to go back to basics as he is worth investing the time and effort into.
 
Another thing to do is keep jumps at a height that he can step over from standstill.
Find the scary fillers, and things that he really doesnt like, dont let him turn, but dont pressure him. Wait, and give yourself time to REALLY wait. like an hour, or two. Be more persistant than him!!
The only way out is over the problem, hence why they have to be that low. Start setting up a new pattern in his mind, that becomes once faced to a jump the only way is over it.
It also has the advantage as well that scary becomes normal, and not so scary as you spend so much time near the scary obstacle without it hurting him.
He may get grumpy, my really push the issue, but hang in there, and you will get there x
 
Have not loose jumped him yet. Another eg. We did grid work with fillers yesterday. He was not respecting jumps and knocking poles. We turned fillers around to make jump more spooky to see if he would clear the jump and then it all kicked off.

Oddly he cleared jumps without fillers with oodles of room.
 
Sorry , no advice but wanted to say, please be careful. There is a thread on here now in which someone has been paralysed from a horse rearing and falling over.

Not sure why I posted this. I think that the other thread made me remember the risks involved in what we do. One moment and everything changes.
 
Does he only rear when jumping? Or when on a hack/flatwork as well? Is he nappy?

I think we don't credit horses for knowing as much as they do. Most horses know rearing is very, very bad and is a last resort. My guess is that this horse has been smacked for refusing jumps, possibly because he is a bit difficult to ride to a fence. This has made him lose his manners and nerves and resort to rearing.

As above, be very very careful with any horse that shows a tendency to rear. Personally, I'd stick to hacking to establish a partnership, then go back to flatwork, then polework and work up over the course of a couple of years if necessary.
 
I would try him loose building up from the ground as you would ridden and see what he does when you ask him to jump fillers etc, might take a couple of sessions obviously

I think it is useful to know if it is something I am doing or something the horse is doing. IYSWIM?
 
He's only reared when jumping sj and xc. Only when he gets stressed after a free refusals. He is whip shy so I've started using it in him carefully. He has reared without whip at xc schooling when other people shouting, etc stressed him out. He's a very sensitive boy.

He has never reared hacking of on the flat. He puts up with bungee reins, Pessoa, etc. very good boy. Not nappy either.

Agreed that its a risk riding him but I am confident he will come right. I have decided to focus on flatwork and have a more experienced rider who will introduce new jumps, etc.
 
Anna* said:
Sorry , no advice but wanted to say, please be careful. There is a thread on here now in which someone has been paralysed from a horse rearing and falling over.

Not sure why I posted this. I think that the other thread made me remember the risks involved in what we do. One moment and everything changes.
Click to expand...

yes i read this earlier too.
Made me really think how dangerous riding can actually be.
Investing in a back protector next month when i start taking my cob jumping. She's normally as safe as houses but you can never be too careful
 
Just wrote a massive reply and it got deleted argh!!!

Anyway IMO he is rearing as he is lacking confidence!! If he is green then he is probably unbalanced too. U need to keep the jumps small, practice your approach, put fillers to the side etc. the more balanced he gets then the more confident he will become. Sounds to me that you are over facing him a bit and this is his way of telling you.

Also I wouldn't let it get to the point of a rear!! I would turn him away, jump a few jumps he has already done and then straight back round to the jump he refused. I would possible lower one side before attempting it again to. The key here is not to make an issue of things and build his confidence. If you keep pushing him then the rearing will become a habit and that's def something u don't want!!

Also keep everything in trot for now and use the jumps as a schooling session rather than jump, jump, jump. So basically school, get him working nicely then jump, back to schooling nicely then jump etc.
 
Kelly1982 said:
Just wrote a massive reply and it got deleted argh!!!

Anyway IMO he is rearing as he is lacking confidence!! If he is green then he is probably unbalanced too. U need to keep the jumps small, practice your approach, put fillers to the side etc. the more balanced he gets then the more confident he will become. Sounds to me that you are over facing him a bit and this is his way of telling you.

Also I wouldn't let it get to the point of a rear!! I would turn him away, jump a few jumps he has already done and then straight back round to the jump he refused. I would possible lower one side before attempting it again to. The key here is not to make an issue of things and build his confidence. If you keep pushing him then the rearing will become a habit and that's def something u don't want!!


Also keep everything in trot for now and use the jumps as a schooling session rather than jump, jump, jump. So basically school, get him working nicely then jump, back to schooling nicely then jump etc.
Click to expand...

Great advice! You've hit the nail on the head. He is unbalanced which is evident when he runs out to the same side each time he refuses. The friend who rode him the other day said exactly the same thing. I have pushed him quite hard since buying him 3 months ago as I was aiming to event him this month. Going to go back to basics and gain his trust to build his confidence.
 
And enjoy. Just think that the time you spend now in his training will give you rock solid foundations later. Mine is still silly with fillers so I school him in the field at least twice a week near fillers, he is jumped 1-2 times a week and I am making fillers part of everyday life. It's slow but working. Coloured poles hold no fear any more and he could now rack up height wise easily but I want him to be really confident with all fillers. When I get frustrated I have to remind myself that he would be an idiot with just poles originally so we have made progress. Took me most of last summer to make him a bold hack and stop having kittens at really silly things such as a piece of grass bent across the path. Now he is a lovely confident hack and if not quite bombproof, not far off.

For those of us who have our horses with the long term goal in mind, taking time to build up really solid foundations pays us back in spades. My OTT youngster can go to different venues, leave his friends and work away from them without stressing. I too want to event and might make it now for the autumn element. We are ready on 2 out of the 3 parts just need to crack the Showjumping to ensure consistency. Enjoy your boy, give yourself a break and don't make fillers a big deal. Make it boring, everyday and mundane!
 
You might think you are going slowly enough, but your horse says differently. You can't afford to get into the rearing/refusal argument as firstly, you're not winning it, and secondly if he's willing to go over in a rear, he could kill you.

I'd try loose jumping him, or lunging him over jumps first. Then practice your canter striding to poles around the school as if they were jumps. Build him up slowly.

If he does refuse, I'd not reface him, instead I'd make him do something else right away, something with forwards movement so maybe leg yield or shoulder in. Big fuss and pats if he does it well, then pop him over a different jump. Build up again...
 
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