when lunging horse rears

[horsesrule!!!]

plz help me i hv this problem but after a while it quites down! :D

[glory]

Hi. When your horse rears when you lunge him, that is because he does not respect you, he does not consider you his boss. So he does not like it when you tell him what to do. I suggest doing some natural horsemanship excersises if you know any. If not then I think you should get in contact with a trainer who can help you. Rearing when being lunged can become very dangerous if you do not fix the problem. It often leads to kicking at you when he is being lunged so fix the problem NOW before you get hurt.

Have a good day,
Jaimie

[kelso]

When it comes to "fight or flight", horses are flight animals. They can go in 6 basic directions: up & down, left & right, forward & back. They commonly prefer to go RIGHT, FORWARD or UP (rearing). The problem is that usually humans will instinctually release pressure and loosen the rein or in this case lungeline, which unknowingly is rewarding the horses bad behavior. When he rears put pressure on the line so that he must turn or bring his head/neck towards you, that will cause him to have to come down back onto all fours. If you do it EVERY time, he'll start to realize that every rear is going to bring him back down on the ground where he started and he may decide he's going to save his energy if he just stays grounded. As long as he's not rearing, you won't pull on his face. In other words, make YOUR request easy for the horse, and HIS choice difficult. Therefore he'll end up doing what you wanted him to do in the first place. See if that helps.

[spencer.nethercutt]

I Have A 6 Month Old Colt That Ran Wild The First 5 Months Of His Life And When I Got Time To Mess With Him He Was Vary Disrespectful He Also Would Rear Up When Lunging Or Even Being Walked. What I Did Was Tied Hit Leadrope Through The Hole Where The Ball On My Truck Goes And Then Just Let Him Trot Behind The Truck For About An Hour And Then Lunged Him For 30 Minutes Until His A$$ Was Dragging And Have Not Had A Problem With Him Since But On The Other Hand You Horse Might Do It Again But When He Does Either Let Him Fall Backwards Or Jerk Him Back Down As Hard As You Possibly Can

[Elana55]

How old is this horse? Rearing is an evasion and is often misconstrued as bad or nasty behavior. Is this horse a stud? Is he under 3 years old? is he sound? does he know how to lunge? Are lunging him in a cavesson, a bridle or just a halter? Is he tacked up? If you are using side reins, how tight are they?

Rearing is an evasion and is usually done because the horse is confused and that is how he is evading your requests. Horses will also rear out of fear and pain. Are you lunging on level ground? What is the footing like?

Please post more information (answers to the above questions).

Tying a horse to a ball hitch and running him ragged behind a truck is not training.. it is dangerous and cruel. Training reqquires the trainer to understand the horse and communicate.. and this practice is not any of that.

[Dakota Sunrise]

Please post more information (answers to the above questions).

Tying a horse to a ball hitch and running him ragged behind a truck is not training.. it is dangerous and cruel. Training reqquires the trainer to understand the horse and communicate.. and this practice is not any of that.

Thanks for saying that.^^^ I was about to launch into a long-winded, very :mad:pissed:mad: off post about the so called "training" methods of spencer.nethercutt, but you covered it quite nicely, and got the point across better then my ranting probably would have.
Well said.

~Dakota Sunrise

[Thundercrash]

Rearing is a natural thing that is caused by 3 things: Fear, disrespect and high spirits.

From the description of lunging its most probably disrespect (as mentioned before). The thing is to try and understand why he is desrespecting you, whether it be he's personality is naughty or he fears you, then think of a solution.

First examine the problem before solving it.

After you have understood him, think of a solution that will teach the horse that you are his boss and mean no harm without hurting him.
The best way to do this is by spending time with him, talking to him and interacting with him. Let him start to like you and know you mean him no harm. Not dragging his poor body behind a truck like a cruel maniac.

The rearing will most probably lessen after that. ;)

[Saddle Bag]

Are you using a lunge whip and frequently popping it? Some horses tune it out and others dislike it. If he's trotting as requested, try pointing the whip to the ground and to the side in a non-threatening gesture. If he rears, run as tho to make a wide circle around him and pull him off balance. That may scare him enough to stop rearing. Then ask him to trot again. Also too many circles may make a horse rebellious. 4 or 5 each way are plenty. I don't usually ask for a canter as it's quite a strain on the joints and it opens the door for fractious behaviour.