From: Lynda
Hi there,
I am new to this list and would like to say how much I enjoy reading all the posts sent. My problem,. or rather my horses problem is as follows: I have a 16.2 5yo pure Thoroughbred gelding. He has recently been off work for 3 weeks due to an injury, and he has started rearing (I mean rearing with a capital R) and pawing the air as he does it. He is right up in the air and the hooves comes increasingly close as he does it. He will do it at an incredibly close range. I have tried snapping his lead rope tight, immediate discipline. Is there anything else that I can do to prevent this from turning into a habit - as he is a very big horse this isn't funny when those hooves come flying at you!! Since I first wrote this he has also reared up when being ridden and come over backwards, luckily no serious injury was incurred!
Thanks
Lyn and Rob Jones
Rearing is perhaps the single most dangerous behaviour that a horse can exhibit -- if it becomes a confirmed habit, the only safe course to take is to get rid of the horse!
Your horse is young and energetic, and it's understandable if he reacts badly to being confined. But horses must learn that rearing, like biting, is NOT acceptable under ANY circumstances.
Going back to the time of his injury, what exactly did you do when he was confined to his stall? Did you cut or eliminate his hard feed, and offer him only grass hay, or a mixture of grass and lucerne? Thoroughbreds -- like horses of ANY breed -- can become very agitated in confinement if they are fed at a level that was appropriate when they were in full work. Confined horses tend to develop "stall courage" in any case, since they have no outlet for their energy -- confined horses that are overfed do not always become fat, some of them remain at the same weight, and become aggressive! I know that you can't go back three weeks and cut his feed, but it will be something for you to think about if a similar situation arises with this horse or any other.
Now that he is already rearing, you must try to cure this habit as quickly as possible, so that it will be safe for you to keep the horse.
First, NEVER handle this horse unless you are wearing your safety helmet! This is one of the best moves you can make to ensure your own safety while you retrain your horse.
If your horse rears while you are leading him, it is often possible to shift his balance in that moment just before the rear, when his weight begins to go back onto his hind legs. There is always a brief pause before this happens -- perhaps just a fraction of a second, but if you are very attentive, this is enough warning for you to snap the lead and take him NOT just forward (this could become a pulling contest, and he would surely win) but SIDEWAYS and forward. This has three effects: first, it shifts the weight of the horse's forehand to one side, and he will naturally try to put his front feet down to balance his weight. Second, it puts his attention on YOU, because you are telling him to DO something -- "Come over this way and come along!" is a much more effective command than "Don't rear!" Third, it's a distraction -- often, a horse taken sharply sideways and forward will forget that he was thinking about rearing. This works quite well with young horses being turned out into their fields in the morning -- they ofte get over-eager and would be happy to walk out of the yard on their hind legs. It's comparatively easy to break the habit by taking them sideways each time they think about going up.
Whenever you train a horse to do (or to stop doing!) anything at all, you must always make it easy and pleasant for the horse to do what you want him to do, and difficult and unpleasant for the horse to do what you do NOT want him to do. But you have to be careful and think about exactly what you are doing with the horse, and why, and what the effect is likely to be.
Standing, yelling, and jerking the lead will NOT help -- it will make matters worse, as the horse will react by coming to a complete stop, then pulling back and up! If the horse is THINKING about rearing, hesitates momentarily, and you stand still and jerk the lead, the horse will stop in his tracks and even recoil a little, which simply shifts his weight backward and puts him in a better position from which to rear. If, on the other hand, you take advantage of the moment to shift his balance sideways and put more weight on his FRONT end, he will have to re-balance and move foward, and rearing will become much more difficult.
Don't try to lead him from the bridle, or from the bit -- and don't try to use a bit to "cure" the rearing. You will only make it worse -- a horse with a sore mouth will often rear higher and even go over backward. Instead, lead him from a longe cavesson, which will give you much more authority without causing him distracting pain. Some people will tell you to use a chain over the horse's nose, but there are several disadvantages to this. One is that it inflicts severe pain, which is just as likely to cause the horse to rear or go over; another is that the chain can tighten when you jerk the lead, but will not necessarily loosen afterward! And a third disadvantage, in the long term, is that punishment is not your goal -- re-training is your goal, and you can do that much more effectively with a longe cavesson (use a properly-designed and properly-fitted one, with the hinged steel plates on the noseband, NOT a headcollar with rings sewn onto the nosepiece!).
Rearing under saddle is also extremely dangerous. Before you do anything else, have the horse's teeth checked, just in case there might be a sharp edge somewhere contributing to mouth pain. Check his bit, as well, for fit and suitability -- ANY mouth pain can provoke a rear.
When a horse rears under saddle, there is always that brief moment BEFORE the rear when he must stop and shift his balance backward onto his hind legs. If this happens while you are riding, you can do exactly the same thing that you did from the ground -- take the horse forward AND SIDEWAYS. Lean forward, loosen your outside rein, and take your inside rein hand quite low, bringing his nose toward your knee. At the same time, use your legs strongly to send the horse forward -- the result SHOULD be a circle in the direction of your low inside hand. Again, you are putting weight onto his forehand (your weight and his), and taking his head and neck to the side, while sending him forward -- this makes it easier for him to go forward in a circle, and more difficult for him to rear, as he will have to stop and rebalance before he can do it. He can't rear until he has both hind legs together underneath him, and he can't get them there if he is moving forward on a circle.
If you aren't paying close attention and the moment of hesitation passes without any action on your part, and the horse DOES rear, immediately lean forward, loosening the reins and stretching your arms around his neck. Weighting his forehand like this may send him down and forward, or it may not, but at least it will make it more difficult for him to rear high, and very difficult for him to go over backward.
Whatever you do, do NOT sit back or lift your hands or pull on both reins - - those actions make it easy for the horse to rear, ENCOURAGE him to rear, and make it more likely that he will go over backward. Riders have been killed when that happens! If you feel the horse going up high enough that he is likely to go over backward, take your feet out of the stirrups immediately, lean forward with both arms around his neck, and slide off. If he does go over backward, you do NOT want your body to be between the horse and the ground!
The keys to all of this are knowledge, planning, and focus. You must know what is involved in a rear, and in what position the horse must place himself to be able to rear! You must have a plan so that you can act without hesitation at the very moment that the idea of rearing comes into the horse's mind. And you must be sensitive to what the horse is doing and thinking, and keep your focus on the horse and on the information he is giving you, so that you will sense that tiny hesitation and send him forward and sideways before the rear actually happens. It's much easier to avoid a rear than it is to deal with one that's happening underneath you -- or next to you!
Good luck, and be careful.
- Jessica
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