Dealing with rearing

TG1

I've had my mare about 6 months, and she's always been a bit funny about mounting, she doesn't like to stand still and won't stand at a block. She isn't easy with me mounting while holding a stick either.
Last week I was getting on her from a block with a schooling whip and a dog ran into the arena. She reared up, pulled back and got away from me.
Since then she's tried it every time I go to get on her. Today she even tried it when I was changing a lunge line over.
The trouble is I think she did damage to my finger the first time and I've been unable to hold her when she does it now so she's got away from me each time since.

I'm hoping someone will have advice on how to fix this as she's a sweetheart in every other way!

Ave Sodalis

First of all, as with any sudden problem, make sure it's not pain that's causing it.

If it's not pain, then there's several exercises that can be done. Do you do in hand work with her? In hand work is useful in getting them to stand. Spend five or ten minutes (or however long it takes to see an improvement) walking her around the arena with reins and with a schooling whip, before you get on. Do several transitions, turn on the forehand etc and you're working towards getting the transitions sharp and the paces active. During it, get her to stand square. If she takes a step forward without permission, push her back with the word "back". If she does it three times or bulls her way forward, use the stick on either the offending leg or across her chest. Slowly increase the amount of time she has to stand for and reward her with a scratch if she stands for the required amount of time. As a note, be sure to slacken the rein as soon as she stops and not keep contact. Only take it up again if she goes to move forward. This is negative reinforcement, you take away the pressure when she does it right and she associates stop with no pressure.
By doing this exercise, it helps teach that when you say stop, you mean stop. You should be able to walk around the horse in the arena and she still stands until you're ready to go, which helps with mounting.

Do you have someone to help you out? A friend that isn't mean or condescending? You need someone to hold the horse's head from the ground. Be sure this friend knows the aids you were giving on the ground and can give the same aids whenever you are attempting to mount. Bare in mind that this could take a few days and you may not be able to mount at all in that time. So have your friend on the ground, holding the horse beside a mounting block. While you prepare the mount, have the friend hold a schooling whip and stop the horse moving forward as described above. All the while, you keep a few eggs in your pocket. This is where a mounting block is handy because if the horse goes to rear, you need to be quick and crack an egg between her ears while she's in the air. It mimics blood then trickling down her head and she thinks she's hit it. It's messy and requires a lot of cleaning afterwards but it's effective. If she bolts, have your friend turn her in a sharp circle around both of you and stop her. When she stands again, relax. Have no pressure on her, no rein contact, whip pointing to the ground and both you and your friend completely relaxed. Then when she calms, line her up again and start again. This may take hours, or days. If everything gets too stressful and wound up, repeat the ground exercises to end on a good note and put her away for the day and try again fresh tomorrow. Don't get on her until she's standing quietly.

Just as a note, don't crack the egg until she's in a rear. There's no point in cracking it when her legs are on the ground which is why you have to be fast. If that means don't doing it the first time she rears, then that's fine but the timing has to be right. Also, plenty of praise and scratches while she's standing is useful. How is she with eating? Is she over protective and/or moves about a lot? If she isn't, it might be useful to have the person on the ground stand with a small bucket of feed while you're getting on. This is overshadowing the mounting process whilst giving it a positive association. If she goes to rear/walk off though, the bucket comes away. It might be useful to have a third person to take the bucket away completely so the handler doesn't have to wrestle. Of course, this approach mightn't work at all but it's there if the above doesn't work out.

fits

I cant imagine how anyone could contort themselves to land an egg on a rearing horse mid rear. Have you actually done that sup dude?

Ave Sodalis

fits wrote: »

I cant imagine how anyone could contort themselves to land an egg on a rearing horse mid rear. Have you actually done that sup dude?

Yup, when it's done from a mounting block, it's easy enough to reach. No contortion needed, just reach over and break it

TG1

Yeh, I suppose I wasn't jumping to pain as I can pinpoint the exact reason she did it the first time (the dog ran at her front feet) and because she is young I think she just realised it was a way to have a fun bucking session round the arena before schooling starts, but its always worth checking!

She can be funny about food, not anxious and protective but more just not interested in it so not sure how much motivation it would be but it's all worth trying!

Ah_Yeah

If she's always funny about being mounted I would get back, saddle and feet checked. Potentially teeth too depending how much of a contact you're taking when mounting.