Yes, Holly has mastered the 'one rein stop'...has it down to a fine art, in
fact she was practicing it at our last training ride all on her own! We
were loping down a nice patch in between the rocky parts of the trail and WHOOP!
out of the blue, all on her own (mostly from a fast lope/gallop) she comes
to a screeching stop and proceeds to spin like a top : ) - NO, this wasn't a
spook...that's the teleport routine...and to prove that she really had it
down good, we took off loping again and she did it again at her own 'designated
area'. I love my girl...always keeps it interesting!
Suzi and Holly Ilovemyhorseilovemyhorseilovemyhorse
>Well, for stuff like rearing....I am a big believer in the
practice of >"disengaging the hindquarters",by bending the horse in a
tight >circle....when you do this and force them to step
underthemselves >with that inside hind leg, it is very, very hard to
rear, buck or bolt.
Not necessarily. My mare could rear from any
position, even facing downhill.
This reminds me of the chuckle I got
from Gawani Pony Boy at Equine Affaire last year when he commented that
(loosely quoted) "those of you who own Arabs know that you could tie its
nose to your knee and the horse will still be able to do whatever it
wants." His point was to train rather than try to physically prevent the
horse from doing whatever.
>The tight cirlce then also becomes
the punishment for the rear, or >pre-rear balk. The horses I have been
on that tried to rear, well it >was easy to tell in advance; there would
be a balk or refusal first, if >you were paying attention you could
catch it.....and turn the horse >before it went up.
I tried your
cure. My mare loves to spin. She was extremely entertained by all the
spinning. I just got dizzy (er?).
I don't believe "once a rearer,
always a rearer" or that some behaviors must be adressed by doing
something. Some horses just need to grow up and get over such silliness.
Some behaviors extinguish all by themselves. I think the more important
thing is to not put the horse in situations where they are likely to rear.
(This, of course, is the wisdom of
hindsight.)
