How do you stop a horse rearing?

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almrc

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I'm not really sure why I am asking as I know there won't be a quick fix but I just wondered other people's stories and how you have over come this issue.

I can safely rule out back pain/teeth/saddle fitting issues. I know what the problem is, its when he gets scared of something. The boy has had a lot of issues which we have over come, and he used to be scared of his own shadow. He has got loads better and even hacks in front now...he used to be so wary in front but he happily marches out in front now. However, when he is in front if he sees something he doesnt like he does some rears and spins round.

This isnt all the time just sometimes. Anyway, please tell me your stories and mainly the good news, that you have over come the issue?
 
I briefly rode a horse that was sometimes known to do this when hacking out alone. I could sort of feel when he started backing off and ready to do this. I rode in spurs and carried a schooling whip. If he still backed off after applying my leg I rode him in a shoulder in postion so he couldnt go up. It worked with him and he gradually got his confidence and the problem disappeared. He gained his confidence from me and started to enjoy his hacks out. I had to ride looking far ahead to look for anything that might bother him, a bit like when towing.

Hope that helps.
 
* sits back with bowl of popcorn and waits for all the cures to be posted *
crazy.gif
 
I don't expect cures for anything hence as i mentioned this briefly above, I just wanted to hear people's experiences and also as mentioned, how people have overcome this issue, or even if they haven't been able to. Its nice to hear peoples experiences. If you don't ask, you don't learn ;)
 
almrc said:
I don't expect cures for anything hence as i mentioned this briefly above, I just wanted to hear people's experiences and also as mentioned, how people have overcome this issue, or even if they haven't been able to. Its nice to hear peoples experiences. If you don't ask, you don't learn ;)
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Quite... thats what this forum is about.
 
I did loads and loads of natural horsemanship groundwork with him. Once he got his confidence in me on the ground he started trusting me under saddle and the spinning and rearing stopped (which is just as well cos he was scaring the crap out of me:o). The nh stuff was a last resort but it worked so well I wouldnt hesitate to recommend it.

Dont get all hung up on having to use a specific type of nh. You can get a great book - 101 Horsemanship exercises by Rio Barrett for about a tenner on amazon and it covers loads of exercises. Even if you just do the basic ones it seems to make a real difference.

It certainly did for me:D
 
Thank you for your experiences so far, the shoulder in sounds like a good thing to try, you can feel it about to happen before it does, I always know when it will. The ground work is a good idea too, I used to do a lot of it when I was getting his trust back (see thread: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=424874&page=3) but must admit I have been doing less recently since I have been able to ride him. Perhaps I will do some more.
 
To be honest, I dont know what I am going to do yet. I am just looking to see what is out there and what options there are available. We have come too far to give up and I would never give up on him anyway! I always listen to him, hence how we have come so far, that speaks for itself.

That video was very interesting and amazing how that horse just walks on afterwards!
 
almrc said:
I don't expect cures for anything hence as i mentioned this briefly above, I just wanted to hear people's experiences and also as mentioned, how people have overcome this issue, or even if they haven't been able to. Its nice to hear peoples experiences. If you don't ask, you don't learn ;)
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Actually I wasn't having a dig at you almrc. I only posted my remark as on previous posts similar to this you would be surprised as to what people suggest you do. Usually involving eggs I might add!

If you are having big problems my advice would be to enlist the help of somebody experienced in these matters.
 
I do apologise, things can get so mixed up writing online with as you cant show emotion. I've read that on a different website-the old egg trick and the hitting them between the ears that they used to tell us to do back in the day. I won't be doing any of that
 
My horse reared a lot, always when he found something difficult or just didnt fancy it. I'm not saying this is an absolute rule, but my first question is "does this horse have any sense of self preservation?".

If he doesnt give a hoot about hurting himself, guess who is way down on the list Luckily my boy did, so I was reasonably confident that going over backwards was unlikely.

His main problem was not coming off the leg/going forward, as someone explained to me rearing/bucking /napping is just a method to get out of going where you want.

Essentially we spent a good part of each schooling session just making sure he was forward going, and if that meant virtually no rein contact and hefty pony club kicks, thats what we did until he moved off the leg straight away. Like someone else has said, shoulder in on hacks, leg yield, anything that keeps the brain on you and not the invisible monster lurking in the bushes!

This might not be what everyone else would do, but this horse was due to be PTS as a 5year old because he was so unpleasant to ride. He eventually retired at 16, happily pootling rounds lanes as a hack for a novice rider.
 
What you are explaining is more of a napping issue than a rearing one, so it is confidence that he needs and you to know when it is going to happen and be able to ride him throught it, belting him will only take his confidence away because he will relay the punishment to the object he is scared of in the first place and if it is a tree well you are going to come across lots and lots of trees so riding wont be fun. The egg thing will just make him head shy as will the hitting between the ears - whilst some old things worked well there were also some things that were just barbaric IMO. He will get his confidence from you, give it to him! When you see an object he may spook at, you need to take your eyes off it because the horse does follow what we see i dont know how, maybe its our body language but try it anyway look away from the object.
 
Lilly rears as a fear response, as it sounds like your horse does. She hasn't reared for quite some time now, as I have learnt how to manage her fear where it's unavoidable, and have desensitized her to a fair bit.

What I did may not work for you at all, but this is what worked for us:

1) Spending time with her on the ground, leading, basic exercises etc, being v strict about her behaviour even in scary situations (so I'm more scary than it but in a fair way i.e. these are the rules, no matter what happens you follow them kind of thing). The more she felt I was in charge, the less spooky and silly she was.

2) Making her face her fears in manageable chunks, so she learned through experience that if she did what she was told nothing would hurt her after all - and also learned to deal with some of her bugbears e.g. hacking past scary stuff alone, standing still in the field on her own etc.

3) Never piling on the pressure. I will sit calmly and ask, while giving her the freedom to move away from whatever it is, then ask again. If she doesn't feel trapped or bullied, she doesn't rear, but spins or runs sideways a bit instead. If she has time to think about things, she will often find she does have the courage to try and do as she has been asked.

4) For a while, when it was at its worst, I used Global Herbs Supercalm, at about a quarter the normal dose, just to take the edge off her fear so she could still keep herself safe while panicking at the noise in the hedge.

5) Doing scary stuff, with the support of a human/horse to help her - the more we did, the more she realized that the world wasn't going to eat her after all.
 
^^ The above hits all the high points for a horse with confidence issues, particularly the emphasis on being fair and keeping everything within manageable, progressive limits but also expecting the horse to learn to face its fears.

One thing I would add, this is an area where it really helps to have a horse working correctly, in front of the leg, soft over the top line and confident in the hand. These aren't "dressage test things" they are part of being able to move the horse where and when you want, confidently and with relaxation. Calm, forward, straight and all that. While it's perfectly possible to do lots of things with horses without having them go that way (although arguably not advisable . . .) I find it's often a HUGE part of "fixing" a horse with a problem. Ridability isn't about being judged, it's about getting the job done.
 
Mine used to rear when she was unconfident. Make sure they trust you by doing bombproofing and introducing loads of stuff on the ground. when you're on the gorund and they rear don't react, but act like it never happened. Confidence will reduce rearing.
 
Track down the youtube of the "one rein stop". It's effective, common sense and can stop an anxious rear before it starts. Someone on the Forum has posted this before but I can't remember who! Michael Peace also advocates teaching you and your horse the one rein stop. Google him - he has all sorts of common sense dvds and I bet the one rein stop is covered somewhere. It will give you confidence and that will go down the reins and reassure your worried horse x
 
you have had some good replies so I will just throw in something a bit different

My horse is very sensitive and I have noticed on the odd time he threatens to rear that if I put my leg on ie nudge it makes him worse, if however I squeeze (like your supposed to lol) and keep squeezing he doesn't threaten to go up at all, just thinks about it then takes a tiny step, I take leg off for a couple of seconds and rub his neck. then squeeze again and after a few times he will then go forward
Its as though if I put too much pressure on he panics whereas the squeeze shows him what I want but doesn't panic him he can go forward in his own time.
 
Well done with sticking with it!
My horse did this alot he would just keep going untill it was out of his system, but I would sit it through, take a deep breath and walk him straight on at my pace. He got over it very fast and now he relises that it wont stop me making him work, he hasnt done it in 4 months now! The shoulder in approch also worked for me the more i made him concentrate on the less lightly he would go up. Also make sure when you think he's going to do it you dont pull up your rains, I think this is what my boys previous owner was doing and it was increasing the problem.

Good luck! and wear a body protector!
 
frostie652 said:
a martingale? obviously doesnt solve the problem, but reduces it to a slightly safer level.
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I used a market harbourgh when mine was doing it (when I first got him) it just kept his head down enough for me to move him on with lots of leg aids and voice praise - he has gotten over it now - he doesn't do it (not for years) so we don't need one - but it did help back then :)
 
I sent mine off to be re-schooled for a few weeks as soon as she started her rearing thing (scared me totally!) and since then I always ride in a running martingale (fitted properly so it actually does something) and keep an eye on any attempts at napping, i.e. the minute my mare starts going behind the bit and I feel her 'gathering' herself I jerk the rein sharply on one side while keeping a firm contact on the other and apply pony club kicks and that seems to do it. It's not pretty, but it works, but then I don't think she was ever frightened of anything, just napping, so a little reminder of who's actually in charge helps :)

Good luck with it!
 
My mum (when she was much younger!) had a hunter that reared at meets out of sheer anticipation, threatened to go over a few times. One time she decided enough was enough, and had someone on standy with a bag of warm water. When horse went up she smashed the bag onto his poll, and he never went up again. However, method is not recomended nowadays, I don't think ;D
 
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