To Rear Or Not To Rear

Earlier today some people were talking about horses who rear.  Some said "once a flipper, always a flipper".  Others suggested doing a lot of ground work.  Still others advised getting a trainer involved.  Then someone mentioned breaking a raw egg over the horse's head as it reared.  All this got me to thinking about a few "confirmed rearers" that I've known.

In 1984, I saw a gelding at the stable where I boarded my mare rearing & flipping over with a so-called trainer.  I say so-called because she was unaffectionately known as Big Bird.  She had the gelding in a pelham & a chambone, trying to force him "into frame".  This was an 11 year old horse who was unbroke & she was attempting to get him started.  I really liked the looks of the horse & thought to myself that I wouldn't mind owning him.  Be VERY careful what you wish for because just a couple months later, he was mine.  Still not successfully under saddle, I knew I had a challenge ahead of me.  In answer to anything that gelding didn't like, he'd rear right on up & over.  I put him in a snaffle & had a little less problem, but he'd still go up if he got mad or had a different opinion of what we should be doing.  One day after a flip-over going down the side of a hill, I got desperate & switched him to an old hackamore I had in the trailer.  That horse NEVER reared again.  He went on be the greatest horse I've ever ridden.          

A LOT of years ago (45 I think) I had an OTTB gelding who would rear. He'd stand on his hind legs, pawing the air. I tried breaking the warm water balloon over his head. Didn't work. Turning his head around didn't work. Pulling him over didn't work to fix the problem either. The old Englishman who owned the stable handed me a short piece of hose one day & told me to tap my horse's poll the next time he reared. He said to keep it up until the horse finally dropped to his knees to get away from the tapping. He said once a horse was "dropped" in this way, they'd never rear again. Mind you this wasn't a hard hitting session. Just a continuous tap, tap, tap. Not easy to do as you try to stay in the saddle & follow the slinging head. I'm sure I was all smiles as that gelding finally dropped to his knees. I stopped tapping & the next thing I knew that danged horse had not only gone straight up onto his hind legs, he'd smacked me in the face & broke my cheekbone. But you know, that was his last rear. For whatever reason, he really did never rear again while I owned him.

He was a chestnut quarter horse who'd been purchased as a young girl's first horse.  He was NOT a kid's horse.  I don't know how many times he reared & threw his young rider before I started riding him.  He was an ornery thing, having temper tantrums if he didn't get his way.  Those temper tantrums were usually rearing, sometimes adding a buck as his front feet hit the ground.  After a couple of months, he was settling down & working fairly well so his young owner was allowed to start riding him again.  It didn't take long for him to revert back to the rearing beast he'd been.  He knew his rider was no match for his temper tantrums.  Once again I became his rider.  I finally got tired of being nice, trying to work through his rearing.  He reared on a bad day & I pulled him all the way over.  He got up stunned & I was hopeful that was the only lesson he needed.  Nope.  A few days later he went up again.  I pulled his head around until he fell to his side.  He just didn't care.  On any given day, whenever he was in a "snit", he'd rear.  After another month of trying to get him over his bad habit, it was decided he was never going to be suitable as a young girl's horse.  He was traded to a horse dealer for an older, kid safe horse.  Last I heard, the dealer had some young cowboys riding him.  He was working cattle well, but would still occasionally rear.

Horses rear to get away from pain or fear.  For some, it becomes a learned habit to get away from anything they perceive to be unpleasant.  With luck, some horses are fortunate enough to find a rider who's willing to work things through until a solution is found.  These horses go on to be successful mounts.  For the few who are hardcore problems (sadly they're man made problems), not only is their future in danger but they're a danger to all who dare ride them.  

To rear or not rear?  If only people wouldn't put horses in a position where they feel rearing is their only way out.