curing a horse tht rears

[firthy85]

i used to ride horses often in my younger days as a student. the phrase i often heard from people with bad behaved horses was once bad can't be cured. i knew someone with a really explosive rearer. it was like "i don't want to do that so up i go and i hope you fall off". so my question do you think they can be cured of such behaviour?

how do i need to be more responsible with what i am saying? i do know there is a difference between a horse that deliberately chucks its self backwards landing you in an injured heap and one that's gone over by accident because its unbalanced its self. once when doing sj as a student the mare i was riding went over a jump and got 3 legs on the ground on the other side but her forth didn't quite make it and she stumbled. thankfully she managed to steady herself but that could have easily gone over so i think it depends why they went over. if it was up and over from a verticle rear it would get another chance with me but if it did it a second time i would either pts or sell on with full disclaimer

I’m not sure what you mean really - this horse was thoroughly investigated by a vet for possible triggers. Having considered that I might be the cause/issue I sent him to a professional 5* event rider who came to the same conclusion, that it was a deliberate evasive measure. Going up for whatever reason before I had him became a learned method of not doing what it was that we asked of him. The professional however, managed to live with it and the horse and he get on fine. I was absolutely not the person to continue with this horse as it would have likely ended in injury to one or both of us and it certainly caused me to lose my confidence big time.

A slight tangent, but back in the 80s pony club, we were told that if you crack an egg over the poll of a rearer when they went up, they would stop. We just took it as gospel because we didn't have ponies that reared. Was this a universal theory or just some eccentric thing from our instructor? How you keep an egg in one piece when your pony is not rearing, then reach up and crack it at the moment he does is anyone's guess!

@firthy85 You're clearly in experienced, and a lot of what you are saying could encourage impressionable people to try and "cure" a dangerous rearer. You've clearly never been in this situation or met a horse that behaves in this way, so stop passing judgement on others or saying what you would do. We talking about a tiny minority of horses, who have the potential to kill and cause life changing injuries.

Going up and over (in general) is not a deliberate behaviour on the horse's part- it is usually a consequence of an unbalanced rear, and sometimes an unbalanced rider. The horse won't magically learn to rear in a more balanced way after one attempt.

@lurch3r I've heard that idea too, but I also have no idea how it works in practice. Not even sure I could get on my pony without breaking an egg, let alone ride along with it until the pony rears!

Oh, and there is a massive difference between a horse that trips and falls over and one that rears and goes over, but I wouldn't jump something that was regularly falling over jumps, either...

i would love to know where in what i said meant i was judging others for the decisions that they have made? all i said was what happened to me which was just a freak accident which luckily didn't end up being serious as the mare steadied herself in the nick of time then after that all i said was what i would do if it was me. fail to see what's judgy about that. everyone deals with situations differently.

"Sometimes I wonder if it has become a bit too easy to PTS instead of trying to solve the problem" - sounds fairly judgy to me.

I don't know of anyone who has ever PTS a horse lightly, and I do know people who have been injured, in some cases seriously, by horses where the owner hasn't given full disclosure of the history/dangerous behaviour.

If it's pain related, that can be solved if the cause of the pain can be found and dealt with, but if it's purely behavioural then it is dangerous, and is it reasonable to ask someone to put their life/career at risk on a dangerous horse?