Pony rears inhand

[SearchingForUrchins]

Seen a pony that I'm quite keen to buy. Trouble is, it's reared a few times on the lead rope whilst I've been leading it round the yard. We've just been walking around and it suddenly skips off to the side at the end of the rope and rears really high, although not "at" me per se. It doesn't seem to have spooked at anything- I tell it off, it looks sheepish, stops and carries on for a while. Then a bit later it randomly does the same again.

It didn't rear at all when I was riding it, although it was quite spooky and a bit stroppy.

Owners say it has been allowed to get away with murder by young handler so is just testing its luck / asserting dominance. They say its never done anything when ridden, but has been known to inhand especially at shows. And that once it is worked more frequently and told who is boss, itll stop.

What do you reckon?

I HATE rearers. It is the one thing I absolutely won’t tolerate/wouldn’t consider a horse that did it, and I really like a hot/buzzy ride. It is SO dangerous.
If he is stroppy to ride also Id suspect there is an underlying physical issue there too and you are walking into a potential bottomless money pit.

I’d walk away.

Very difficult.

I have a horse who used to rear in hand as a youngster. He would get more and more wound up, on the way to the field for example, and then would explode in a rear. It can be dangerous, he once landed on my head and broke my hat. He wasn't being aggressive, just exuberant, but without the hat he would have seriously injured me. Then again he has never, in 15 years reared while ridden and the odd horse that has done a small rear out of excitement/nerves ridden has never done it in hand.

For what it's worth, telling off my horse only made things worse. Reassurance calmed him down a lot faster, but I do agree that there are many horses that respond better to a sharp reprimand straight away.

Who will ride and handle this horse? He doesn't sound at all suitable for a child so he needs an adult. Are you experienced with re-schooling horses? Will anyone else need to handle him, e.g. yard groom or family member, who may be less experienced and more likely to be hurt?

What do you intend to do with this horse? If he seems like an amazing competition pony or something really special maybe he is worth taking a gamble on, however, you'd need to start with a comprehensive vetting to make sure that none of his behavior is down to pain. In my experience, once you correct the obvious (a lot of turnout, low feed, regular work), if the bad behavior persists, the animal is in pain.

Yeah I think it would be a no from me too, unless as Booboo says the pont is a potential amazing bargain and you can afford (financially and emotionally) to lose him if it all goes wrong and he can't be quickly sorted out... rearing is just so dangerous (particularly full on high rears that seem to come from nowhere, not little hops you can feel coming...), on the ground or ridden!

Rearing can simply be a sign of exuberance and not having learnt proper ground manners, but you'd expect to see that more in a youngster in a excitable mood, on the way too/from turnout for example. And it can be an aggressive/dominance thing, but mainly in stallions as far as I know. In an adult gelding not doing anything particularly exciting, just walking quietly around the yard, I'd be far more inclined to suspect it's a pain (possibly remembered pain) or neurological issue TBH. Particularly as he did it again after you'd already told him off, and because he was a bit sticky and spooky to ride too... you could have him vetted which might show up a physical cause/fix, but things like kissing spines will only show up on back xrays and some neurological stuff won't show up at all. Not a risk I'd be inclined to take really!

Is it a mare or a gelding?

Persistent rearers are dangerous and really hard to retrain.

I'd run a mile if I were you.

It's a mare. I'm trying to think in my mind if there was something in particular that triggered it - a few times it was turning to the right. The owners are adamant its bolshiness because pony hasn't been handled well and currently is only being ridden every few weeks, if that. Pony is also very overweight! I know really I should run from a rearer...& no I cant afford financially or emotionally to make a loss. It is going cheap though - probably why!

This screams physical problem and reaction to pain. Rears because of exuberance are fairly easy to see coming. There is a trigger like heading to the field, and the energy bubbles up until it explodes. When horses are scared they tend to spook sideways, spin round or take off, rather than rear.

I’ve had two horses that reared aggressively. One was an insane mare that was overall aggressive and dangerous. The other is a horse I have who has reared twice because he was seriously annoyed about loose dogs running up to him barking (he did not injure the dogs either time, but they got the message immediately).

What you describe sounds like a pain issue. I would ignore anything his current owners say, they sound clueless and irresponsible. You risk having to spend a lot of money on vet fees for an uncertain future.

It 110% sounds like a pain issue from your update. A lot of people have a terrible eye for lameness and it gets mistaken for a horse being quirky or stuffy

Yes agree that it sounds like an underlying cause probably pain related. My pony's behaviour both ridden and in hand changed dramatically, and I DO mean dramatically. Turned out to be suspensory damage. All fixed 18 months on and he's back to being an angel. Or at least as much of an angel as the little bugger is every likely to be! But no rearing/trying to kill us!