Horse rearing when napping - what would you do?

[scarymare]

Hmmm, some not so good advice here IMHO.

Depends how established. Mine have to hack down the road to 'nap corner' and all try it on at some point and especially after a break. The road is not the place to have a battle and if the rear is high enough then the head to foot tight circles can easily (and very frequently) pull them over. You can also pull them over if you loose balance and put 10 stone on their mouth.

I think you have to 'play it as it lays' depending on the situation. I've had to:

1. Reverse hack around the corner
2. Sit before the corner for 40 minutes until horse got fed up
3. Get off and lead

I don't like rearing BUT they do sense this and therefore will try and use this to intimdate me so positive mental attitude and confidence is important too. Good luck! PS have just counted and out of the 8 riding horses I've hacked from home, I've only had one that hasn't worked out fine in the end!

 

[Hoof_Prints]

I had to ride a horse that did this- and I had to think quickly as I wasn't told until I'd got halfway down the road! He reared when asked to stand as he wanted to go one way and didn't like the idea of standing still- so I turned him to face the other way (the opposite direction to where he wanted to go) and made him back up a few steps, then turned him to face the way we wanted to go, made him back up a few steps facing that way and he rounded his back and walked forwards rather than hollowing to rear.

 

[Loobyloo98]

My horse does this, I wasn't prepared to mess about with him especially on the roads.
I hack him in a Market Harborough, it stops him getting his head past the point of control, it has stopped the rearing.
I keep my leg on, as soon as he takes one step forward I take me leg off.
In regular work he's fine, as he's had 2 1/2 weeks off due to injury no doubt we'll have the battle all over again at the weekend.

How do you use the market harbourough? I’ve got an older mare who uses rearing at certain spots to avoid going where I want her to. I keep contact but he’s strong and I’ve got her on a Tom Thumb with a running martingale. She will start with small rears but now their getting bigger any pool pressure though and she avoids by tossing her head

 

[Skib]

. Turning a horse round in three small circles when they start napping, then driving forward quietly usually works (may have to be repeated a few steps later if the horse stops again).

Circle once and then back up 4 steps. That is my horse punishment. And if you do only a half circle, then backing up takes the horse in the direction it is objecting to and in which you want to go.
I agree it needs repeating for a few hacks. But it is ages since my nappy share mare napped with me.

 

[Irish Sally]

The easiest thing to do would be to send him off for schooling. Or to get someone to school him at home. I wouldn't Ride him in a standing martingale or side reins or anything that will restrict his head. You're just asking him to flip if you restrict his head. What's he like if you back up your leg with a whip?

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

I too had mare who used to rear and spin and then leap as soon as you touched the reins again (scary on slippery roads). In her case I think it was about confidence as she had been passed around a lot before I got her but that may not be the case with yours. I had got her over it using most of the methods described already but after time off to recover from an injury and have a foal she started doing it again when she came back into work.
Tbh I thought ffs I can't be dealing with this again so I decided to get off and lead her for a bit then get back on and (try) to carry on. Not going to lie it was bloody frustrating and tedious but it helped that she was only about 15hh so relatively easy to get back on.
It did take a while but one day we had the plant! freeze! head up! moment and I just sat there and patted and reassured and she thought about it and walked on which felt like the most amazing breakthrough. And it did work long-term as even when she was worried about something or just didn't fancy it (deep water for example) she would go forward with quiet but determined encouragement. Obs this won't work with all horses all the time but is worth a try if other methods don't work.

 

[DabDab]

This is a very old thread

 

[DabDab]

Fwiw though, napping wise I just get off and lead and then get back on. I find it's the quickest way to build confidence out hacking.

IMO, wrapping your horse up in multiples of gadgets is unethical, liable to force a dangerous escalation from them, and does nothing to address the underlying lack of confidence and willingness

 

[planete]

Fwiw though, napping wise I just get off and lead and then get back on. I find it's the quickest way to build confidence out hacking.

IMO, wrapping your horse up in multiples of gadgets is unethical, liable to force a dangerous escalation from them, and does nothing to address the underlying lack of confidence and willingness

I do exactly the same. It is safe for all concerned and it works. It also shows the horse I am prepared to listen to him and help him when he gets worried.

 

[Birker2020]

That is a good tip! Thanks! I may have to try that!

I think it's a really bad idea tbf. The horse rears, finds itself restrained and completely loses the plot.

My friend did this at a yard fun show when her horse she'd had 25 years by that point kept rearing with excitement at the start of each 'race'. Needless to say the horse feeling itself restricted totally lost it and they had a horrendous accident when it flipped over backwards. She totally lost her confidence after that.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

One rein stops, head pulled round to your foot and just turn until they give then release and ask to walk on, repeat everytime horse feels like they are tensing up and attention is getting away from you.

Worked for my sister and her tb.

^^^ This worked for mine. He'd never been out solo till I had him as an 11yo, he had been a Trekker, and he'd plant, spin and/or rear. I had a professional out and this was the "emergency measure" she taught me to use. It stops them going up. Keeps you safe. You are not trying to be nice about it, you are stopping them rearing.

More importantly, with mine we worked him on the ground - basically re-backed him. We did a LOT (and I mean a lot) of groundwork, getting him to trust me as his Herd Leader. We built up little obstacle courses at home to build up confidence and get him going FORWARD, then started him leading-out (tacked up), and then when we were both ready I hopped up and rode him home. We always used a circular route. It took time, but we got there and he went on to be a lovely happy hacker, but could be as quirky as a box of frogs, bless him!

When he was 20 I'd put his photo up on my FB profile as knew he'd come from a certain area here in Devon and had always wondered about his history. A previous owner got in touch. She'd had him when he was about 5 - 7yo. Turned out he had been actually TAUGHT to rear; she'd figured that "he was gonna do it anyway and he might as well do it on command". Incredible, but true. This girl lived about an hour away from me and she came up and rode him out with me. I'm glad I knew the reason for the rearing, it meant that it wasn't anything I'd done! Apparently the girl's mother had sold the horse on when she was a teenager (think she'd developed more of an interest for the boys than horses, reading between the lines!) and hadn't told the girl where he'd gone. He had actually gone not far away to a trekking centre, which is where I got him from.

Two years later, my quirky old lad was PTS: we did his pairbonded mare the same day. Both of them together, on a bright autumn morning, our lovely old vet did the job.