[RC] I'll take your rearing horse - Howard Bramhall
I liked this post and just wanted to add one thing; something that has
worked for me over the years since I have a herd of horses that were formerly
considered by others to be "hard cases." This really does work.
Very slight pressure on the horse's neck, just above the withers, with your
hand, will help cure this problem. Put your hand there as you mount
up and keep it there until you move forward. If he rears in the walk keep
your hand there until you begin trotting. It's quite amazing how just a
little pressure will eliminate this bad habit. Grab some mane if you
like. You will eventually find the exact spot on the neck where just a
touch of your hand does the trick.
Andrea is right on about bashing a rearing horse, especially an Arab.
Please, try the hand thing first. It's quite amazing how easy it is to
stop a rearing horse with a few pounds of pressure. Try it once and it
will be your number one method of correcting this problem without resorting to
violence.
I wasn't going to reply on the rearing horse issue, but the
answers that have been sent in have me gritting my teeth. Biting, hitting
on the head? Maybe for some of those ugly, cold-blooded "sevana" horses
they used to get off the range, but NOT an Arab.
When you're done
bashing on your rearing horse, and he's totally goofy and throwing himself
over backwards, give him to me so I can spend a year or more making him a
nice horse again. Not trolling, the sarcasm comes from having rehabed
three of the nicest Arabs with severe rearing problems. Actually, the
problems were with the owners/trainers.
One 5 yo horse was on the way
to the slaughterhouse--same scenerio, he'd been trained and drilled in an
arena until he would just throw himself over in frustration/confusion and
lay on the ground while they whipped on him to get up. The final "cure"
was to break a water balloon over his
head--after..........
