New horse reared :/

[Trouper]

If he is so lovely in so many other ways he certainly would deserve the benefit of the doubt in my book. They say it can take up to a year to really get to know a new horse so you have barely put a hoof outside the stable door on that timescale. Any horse - of any age - needs to learn to trust a new owner and vice versa. It can't come in a few days however well he is treated during them. Add to that his age and I think he is doing remarkably well so far.

You need to find out "how" he learns and that can only come with getting to know him. Apart from making sure he and his tack are comfortable (as you are) I would start with some in hand walking so that you are meeting all the new scary things together. When you are on his back he is not feeling that support yet as he does not know you and does not feel he can trust you. When you do ride him, I would not be afraid to get off if he meets something that really frightens him and you can sense that he might go up. He will soon learn that you are there to protect and "fix" things that his young brain finds challenging.

I agree with others that the range of things you have done so far might just be too much for him to process in a week - so that might be your first lesson learnt about him - he needs to take things slowly, one at a time and with lots of gentle repetition.

I know how deflating it can be when all the excitement of finding and getting a new horse wears off because apparent problems appear. Do persevere with him - and get help if you need it - because he sounds a lovely character.

 

[AmyMay]

?? nooooooooo! Don't say it?

I didn’t ????

 

[Clodagh]

Can you dismount at the gate for now?
I imagine you are both heading towards it thinking hey Ho battle time. Set him up to succeed.

 

[[59668]]

As the owner of 2 rising 5yr olds, I can totally foresee both of them potentially behaving like this in the situation you have put your new horse in, and yet neither of them have ever reared/ spun before.
Take it slow, let him adjust to his new life- work him, but keep everything very easy to understand. Get off to open the gate for now, don’t carry on and create more of an issue.

Thank you. I love this forum.

 

[[59668]]

Can you dismount at the gate for now?
I imagine you are both heading towards it thinking hey Ho battle time. Set him up to succeed.

Yes I totally can on the way in. Can't really get back on on the way out though

 

[Clodagh]

Yes I totally can on the way in. Can't really get back on on the way out though

Oh. Would someone be able to help you? Don’t know.

 

[littleshetland]

Perhaps stick to easy lessons, reduced in length and just potter about with him for awhile? I completely understand why you want to have lessons....a trusted trainers' help so helpful, but perhaps just make things easy for him for a few weeks? I'm sure you'll be fine!

 

[ycbm]

he's 5 and I've had him 4 days

And what you describe is so common as to be almost normal in that situation, especially as he's a blood horse. He probably just needs time.
.

 

[littleshetland]

Do you need to lean forward to do gate code? If you do have to could you be giving him conflicting commands as I fund if I have to do a gate , as I lean forward my kegs go back and I'm unaware I'm actually asking my horse to walk forward then obviously with the front end I'm asking him to stop! Totally confusing for horse. I'm now aware of my legs but my lad is well used to it so puts up with it!!

This^^^ perhaps a bit of 'Handy pony' practice?

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Instead of dismounting could you ask somebody to do the gate for you for a while until he gets used to going in and out and then gradually with help of a person on foot teach the gate opening sequence bit by bit.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Honestly his 5 and you have asked quite a bit of him he doesn't know you or his surroundings, I have a 16 year old arab that would do the same put in the same situation.

Maybe take a few steps back and have smaller goals for a while so you don't fail there is no rush.

 

[paddi22]

he's 5 and everything is new to him. I think you underestimate what's involved in lining up to do the key pad. that's a lot of positioning work, your balance in changing, there's weird noises and he is probably anticipating another noise coming when the gate opens. plus the action and movement of the gate opening. get off and open the gate from now on, and give him treats or scratches at the gate just to break the cycle of it being stressful place. you have asked so much of him in the time he is there and he is just communicating that he can't handle it all at times. a rear and spin is very common on a 5 year old. just take the pressure off, have fun, do groundwork, inland stuff. keep it easy for him until you get a better feel for him.

 

[Parrotperson]

Thinking about it I think you have more positives than negatives.

I also think you’re doing quite a lot for a new young horse too quickly. Hack, have fun. Don’t push him too hard too fast. Give his brain time to catch up!

If I were you I’d persevere. He sounds lovely and when he spins/rears he’s just being a baby

 

[EmmaC78]

I think you have asked quite a lot of him in a short space of time too, it took me a few months to get my 5yo hacking out the way I wanted him when I first got him. Even then it took a huge amount of calm repetition to get things like opening gates sorted. As someone else said you do need to set horses up to succeed so I'd think of keeping things simple in the first few weeks so he has a positive start to learning with you. He is young so there is no rush to get everything done.

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

Gosh I think you're lucky (and have well chosen) a lovely young horse to have had so few 'teething' troubles so far. So now you know what his go-to reaction is to stressful situations - it could have been an awful lot worse with the sort of youngster you describe. There is no such thing as the 'perfect' horse particularily with one so young so I would back up OP's other suggestions to break this situation down to simple learning opportunities if you can get some help with the very discrete situation of asking him to stand still while putting in a gate code. The reaction of a (sentitive) horse to the go-forward and now wait command can be very confusing but I'd rather have a horse that wants to go forward rather than something that constandly thinks backwards. I really hope you can work this 'glitch' through.

 

[Marigold4]

I'm another who's in favour of walking for the time being. He's very new and there is a lot for his little brain to process. There's loads of useful things you can achieve in walk: a change of tempo; lateral work; walk to halt transions and , poles, shapes. Slow it all down until you both have more confidence in each other.

I had a horse who reared - she did it 5 times in the 6 years I had her - full on standing up rears. It's tempting to think that once a horse has reared it will keep doing it but in my experience it can be an occasional bad experience.

 

[HashRouge]

Is he from a professional type set up? As he may not have hacked very much, or may be used to doing the same hacks and is not used to the variety he is now getting. I know when I worked on a pro yard the horses were only hacked round the farm, either down the lane or round the fields, so I'm sure anything else might have seemed quite exciting., I've also come across quite a few 5 year olds with a bit of thing about rearing when they get overwhelmed/ over-excited. But they did all grow out of it and mature into lovely horses!

So long as he's not unnerving you too much, I'd be inclined to carry on as you are doing. I'd be inclined to just walk out hacking to try and keep the excitement levels a bit lower, but I'd definitely carry on as normal in the school and keep up the lessons. He's young and likely quite fit, I wouldn't reduce the work too much!

 

[FlyingCircus]

Am sort of in the "so what?" camp. My mare would (though never been given the chance) do this in frustration/confusion if given half the chance. The small hops and spins were a warning and you pushed on, so he shouted.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Honestly his 5 and you have asked quite a bit of him he doesn't know you or his surroundings, I have a 16 year old arab that would do the same put in the same situation.

Maybe take a few steps back and have smaller goals for a while so you don't fail there is no rush.

And he potentially is uncomfortable in his mouth, with a less than perfectly fitting saddle. I would step it all down for a bit until the professionals have done their stuff.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Agree with Cortez and others…essentially it’s very very early days..he doesn’t know you and he s settling in..take your time getting to know one another.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Just sounds like he’s impatient and not understanding. Give him a chance he’s only five and he will settle

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Sounds like a confidence issue to me. I’d be focusing on setting him up to succeed. I’d find the thing he finds easy and just focus on doing that for a while, whilst refining communication in that context. Make him feel like he’s doing a good job, and that you’re on his side.

Mim is really good at “tricks” like rein back, turn on the forehand etc. She struggles with bending and balance. Whenever she feels like she’s not coping so much with new work, I do some turns and rein back with her and give her a big fuss for getting it right. She likes to get things right and her brain totally shifts into “I can” mode from “I can’t”.

 

[ihatework]

Are you hacking him out alone?
If so I’d suggest only going in company to start with and have someone else do the gate code initially.
Now I’m all for training them to go alone, but in the early days, set them up to settle into their new life and to succeed

 

[Ratface]

Some years ago, I bought a very nice youngster (5) from some settled travellers. She was a Fell pony type of no particular breeding. She had been in harness and ridden by adult males. I rode her briefly, did some basic handling (feet, body, head, mouth, legs) and agreed a sale at a reduced price.
When I got her home, she became almost feral. Charging at me in the field, rearing and spinning. Dentist, farrier, equine vet checks done. All OK.
So I started from the very beginning. Handling on the ground and in the stable. All very low key. I sat/stood in her field/stable reading a book/newspaper/singing songs. Hand grooming. Soft brush grooming. Carrot stretches.
I got lots of mockery from some people, but it paid off. We then progressed to leading round the farm, and then round the lanes.
Within the year, she had achieved the basic levels of trust and we steadily built on that.
Three years later, I sold her as a safe family pony to a Pony Club family. She did very well and is still safely teaching young people today.
In my experience, time spent on working with youngsters is never wasted. They generally stay sound in body and mind for longer.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

With some horses it's very easy to make them rear. If they don't want to go forwards and you push on too strongly, the energy that you have created by pushing them on has to be released somehow. As forwards isn't an option in their mind, they go up.

My chestnut mare is like that. You just learn to take things back a step. Be Zen. Give her a moment to think before asking for forwards again. Keep the energy low. Break things down into smaller steps and repeat them so that she is confident with step one before moving onto step two. Plus if something really scary had been fly tipped at the side of a road and giving it a wide berth wasn't possible, I would dismount and lead past. Often I could ride past it the next time because the first time didn't involve any drama.

You just have to adjust your training to suit the horse in front of you. (Easier said than done of course.)

 

[Tiddlypom]

Thinking back, it was standing at gates that my newbie RSPCA fosters struggled with in their first days.

They were younger (2yo) and unbroken, and whilst they didn't otherwise put a foot wrong, just asking them to stand very briefly while I shut the gate behind them caused them to strike out with a foreleg.

I decided that the best thing was to ignore it and carry on (I did have to shut the gate), but keeping myself positioned out of the way of forelegs. Remonstrating with them would have made them even more anxious. Within a fortnight, both had relaxed and they stopped striking out altogether. The habit didn't return later.

It was as if they thought 'OMG, I've got this new home, handler and stuff to process, and now I've got to stand and wait as well? Help!!'

Good luck, it's very early days. He's lovely.

 

[[59668]]

Thank you all so much for your comments. I wish I could reply to each individually.
Today with the rearing was a hack in company so yes, I could ask the other rider to do it. Maybe I should just take him to the gate in hand to have a mooch about and an investigate on foot.

 

[Berpisc]

I think you are taking on board the good advice that others have put on here, so I would chill a bit, give things a try and hang on to him a bit longer at least.

 

[Flicker]

Two of the nicest horses on our yard were vertical rearers as 5 year olds. With both, it was a confidence thing that they did in new situations. With both, their riders kept them in a routine based on what they’d been used to before they arrived, introducing new scenarios slowly and in small stages.

The owner of the worst of the two had her trainer ride the horse in situations where she knew he would be reactive because the trainer had lots of experience with horses that went up. I remember watching him in the collecting ring almost going over once. He’s an absolute saint now.

The other horse was sorted by turning him sharply in a circle every time he stopped moving forward and then making him do silly things that made him bored and annoyed, followed by taking the pressure off him completely when he moved in the direction she wanted him to go. Her young daughter has ’inherited’ him now and she’s doing brilliantly.

Both had lots of input from good, knowledgable trainers and always had help on the ground in new situations to keep things safe.

 

[planete]

If your lower leg goes back as you are holding him still with your hands, you are effectively asking him to rear. I had an accident with my four year old Arab when I bent down to open a forest gate. He went up and tried to jump the fence alongside from a standstill, hit the top wire with his tucked front legs and did a cartwheel. Thankfully we landed on the sandy ground and all his bony bits missed mine but I had bruises for months. Sensitive young horses can catch us out through no fault of their own. It is up to us to adjust to them and adapt our riding and training according to what they need.