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Horse rears when being ridden
Hi, my name is Chelsea,
I have a rearing problem with my dad's horse, Dakota. He is an 8 year old quarter horse and has been doing this for about 3 years. My dad doesn't ride him much at all, but when he does he rears, when he has been riding him for a while he's ok. We have tried to figure out why he does this, maybe because my dad has such a loud voice and it makes him nervous or we just didn't work with him enough. He is 15.1 hh and I think he is very good looking, I would like to do barrel racing and some other things with him too, but my parents wont let me, my sister rides him every so once in a while and he never does anything with her, maybe he's better with women.
I would really, really appreciate it if you would write me back and give me some advice if you have it on what I should do about this, I really want to do something with him.
Thank you, Chelsea
Hi Chelsea,
Sounds like nothing is going on for the horse except an occasional ride. This will make him very resistant to doing anything other than standing around eating. If all you did was to hang out and eat, you would be resistant to getting active as well. It should not be expected that a horse only ridden occasionally and never played with on the ground (consistent ground play is so very important to have a compliant and willing horse) be nice and easy while ridden. Your sister probably puts no pressure on the horse (unlike your father) to perform and he feels a bit more comfortable with her. Many horses do much better with women as men frequently try to dominate and control the horse. Does this sound like your father? You probably have a fine horse in there somewhere. But with no one doing anything of significance with him, he has become 'sour' about being ridden. The horse is innocent. In fact, this is not about the horse. This is about what the humans caring for the horse do or do not do with the horse. It all makes a big difference.
If you want a willing and compliant horse, you must begin to do regular ground excercises (games, etc.) and get him ridden by competant and non-abusive riders who know a little about training a horse under saddle. With just a little consistent ground play and appropriate riding, your horse will probably come around to be the horse you really want. Do not expect any changes in this horse unless the humans around him change what happens for the horse. Again, it is much more about the humans than it is about the horse. Good luck and please keep me posted.
Sincerely, Franklin