What do you do when your horse rears?

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amanda1788

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Hi

he title says it really, when your horse rears what are you meant to do? How do you stay on? I know your not meant to pull on reigns as could make them go backwards. But my horse at the moment although hasn't reared with me on him, has done it on his own, so would feel better if I knew what to do if he does it when i am on his back! Thanks x
 
At the risk of stating the obvious, don't let him get to that stage!
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Having had a mare who would half rear and spin I learnt the hard way that you realy have to push them on and not let them have time to get up. The other thing I had to do was to keep making lots of transitions to keep her interested and to keep her on her toes, if she could predict what happened next she got bored.
 
My old mare was terrible at rearing when i was on the ground. She tried it twice whilst being ridden.
As above i pushed her on. We new each other well and both could predict each other. Doing the unexpected stopped the rearing thought in her. Just asking for a change of gait did the trick.
Good private lessons in schooling worked wonders.
I did use a chifney once whilst on the ground. It only needed useing on her the once and cured her, she started to go up, i kept the same tension - did not pull - she thought thats not nice and never did it again.
All horses are different though.
 
I know he shouldnt get to that stage, but sometimes when on a hack he will walk quickly backwards shaking his head, like he is going to, i do nudge him on but he just shakes his head more and will keep going backwards. If i let him get on with it he will stop and then when i nudge he goes forward, but will do it again. So I just wanted to know what to do in this situation? If he reared what do i do?
 
If you feel he is about to stand up, turn him in a tight circle and pull him around. If his head and neck are bent around he can't stand up on you. It sounds as if your boy is napping, so I'm afraid it does look as though you will have to have a few arguments with him from time to time.

Backward thinking horses are hard to correct, and will always have a tendancy to rear. If he ever catches you unawares and you are suddenly on two legs, just remember to loosen your contact on the reins and lean into his neck. Try not to unbalance him.

Make sure you always ride in a correctly fitting hat and a body protector! Better safe than sorry.
 
I have seen some people try to ride a small circle, I didn't used to do this when Dutchie used to do it here and there. I used to loosen the rein a little, lean forward a little and give him a big pony club kick with both legs, he used to then shoot forward thus going forward into a nice contact again! He soon got rather annoyed of rearing and eventually gave up on it. He was very fit and more than capable and muscled for the work, he has just being difficult when he got bored or thought he was incharge.

I know it isn't pretty giving a sharp pony club kick but he had to stop rearing, it is so dangerous and stops the opportunity of doing well in competition.

I hope it all works out for you.

Diana
 
Have you had all the checks done? My current Appy started doing this in the summer and when I had her back and neck checked she was out at the poll and then needed a new saddle. If this is not the case then I would suggest some-one behind him so he can run back onto a broom!
 
Mine is a little bit backwards thinking and used to rear as a form of napping but after a lesson with a well known eventer he told me to pull her into a tight circle as it makes it impossible for my big girl to rear right up.

Ever since i've learnt that trick she hasn't reared.
 
My sisters old horse had his rearing down to a fine art and we never did manage to stop it - i had a nasty fall right off the back of him one time and have had problems with my pelvis ever since. I hence now would not be confident with a rearer although wish we'd known a few more 'tricks' to stop him getting so bad. We sent him to a professional to 'sort' and he did a fairly good job but once he came back, sensed was my sister back on board he went back to his old ways.

Now I would always try stop it before it started. Most start from a lack of confidence/napping and, if they egt away with it once that's when the trouble starts. However, I have a pony who is a dab hand at reversing if he doesn't fancy going past something and he would NEVER rear, he's just a sod and i was always told if they start going backwards then MAKE them go backwards until they stop, then ask them to walk forwards again. This worked with my pony. However, he's 21 no and still a bit of a pig when it suits so acn still be 'fun' to ride!!
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Mine can be a bit nappy and can rear, but like masterbronze, since I found the confidence to turn his head - I don't have to turn him, just bend his neck round - he can't rear and doesn't try it really any more. It did take a lesson with a very good instructor for me to get enough confidence to stop him though. Before then I was always worried I'd make him worse. I turn his head and just keep kicking until he moves forwards
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I know he shouldnt get to that stage, but sometimes when on a hack he will walk quickly backwards shaking his head, like he is going to, i do nudge him on but he just shakes his head more and will keep going backwards. If i let him get on with it he will stop and then when i nudge he goes forward, but will do it again. So I just wanted to know what to do in this situation? If he reared what do i do?

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Prom does that out on a hack. Any attempt to get him to stand still or any attempt to get him past something he's scared of results in him going backwards without looking where he's going until I drop the contact and boot him forwards. As soon as he meets contact again it's like he hits a brick wall and starts going backwards again. I haven't been riding him long so I'm still getting to know him. It's hard when he naps because he's quite flighty and has gone up and backed down fairly steep banks before which makes it hard to circle. Last Sunday he nearly backed into a barbed wire fence when asked to stand still while another rider re-mounted her horse.
 
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