Horse Problems – Horse Rearing
Horse Problems: Horse Rearing
What is horse rearing? Horse rearing is when your horse tries to stand up on his back legs with varying degrees of success. Some horses just threaten to rear whilst others can pull some great wheelies and occasionally a horse will fall over backwards. Horse rearing can be very frightening but as long as you sit forwards you should not cause the horse to go over backwards.
Why is your horse rearing? Most horse rearing stems from two key things;
1. Your horse appears to resent your leg aids and refuses to go forwards, for example, rearing occurs when you ask your horse to leave the yard or go past the exit of the schooling area. This type of rearing typically ties in with napping behaviour and if not dealt with correctly your horse will quickly learn that by rearing he can get his own way.
2. Your horse is trying to go forwards but being restricted from doing so.
For example, a fit event horse having to wait in the start box before going cross country will be excited and keen go as he knows that he will be setting of shortly. However he isn’t allowed to go until the count down. Sometimes horses in this situation will do small rears due to excitement and restriction until he is allowed to set off.
Another cause of horse rearing is when the horse is restricted from going forwards due to restricted rein contact. This creates tension and confusion leading to rearing.
What can you do to stop your horse rearing? Holly’s owner contacted me because she was napping and rearing. First I got a full vet check and this confirmed that there were no physical problems. Next I identified the root cause for Holly’s rearing and in this case Holly had learnt that rearing intimidated her owner and meant that she could get her own way. By observing and analysing Holly’s behaviour I was quickly able to predict when and where she was likely to rear. This allowed me to catch her before she attempted a rear get her moving forwards. In Holly’s case she would drop her shoulder before attempting to rear so a short tap with the stick on her shoulder and someone on the ground with a lunge whip helped to move her on. As with lots of horses that use rearing to intimidate their riders Holly tried a variety of other tricks over the coming sessions inc bucking and going backwards to get her own way. However after 2 weeks the rearing and napping had stopped and she was happily hacking out and cantering around fields and past gateways without showing any signs of rearing or napping behaviour.
Horse rearing can be frightening for the rider and different horses may require slightly different solutions although in all cases the key is getting your horse to move forwards freely. For more information on rearing and a step by step guide on tackling problem behaviour in horses look out for my new e-book , “How to handle problem horses” due out in June.
Happy Riding
