Monday, October 22, 2007

Horse Training: What Rearing Really Is


Have you ever tried to get your horse to go somewhere (like through a door or in a trailer) and he rears as he approaches?

In this case, the rearing is a symptom of a problem.

The horse is showing resistance and fear - plus a lack of respect for the handler's direction.

To solve this, you must do groundwork away from the spooky object.

You'll want to do exercises that will get him to expand his comfort level AND get his feet moving forward.

We want the horse to learn to move his feet forward (not up) when he feels his life is threatened.

Now when the horse rears, DO NOT pull down on his head.

Why?

Because it could make him rear even higher and perhaps fall backwards. He could even pull you back and land on you.

Plus, the horse will have experienced BIG TIME trauma - and man oh man...that will be hard to fix.

If the horse rears, get away from him moving to his side.

One BIG secret is to be ready for him to do it. Think ahead of him.

If he starts to spring up, pull his head around and move his hindquarters.

Why?

Because if you're a horse, it's pretty dang hard to rear up when your hindquarters are moving and your head is turned.

When he sees he can't rear, he'll even- tually learn to go forward when feeling troubled.

He will discover it's not so bad to move his feet forward and that he'll be okay.

He likely won't learn to move forward the first few times you draw his head around and move his hindquarters...but he'll get it eventualy.

Just keep at it until he does - stay consistent.

If you've ever ridden a horse that rears, you'd know it can be scary and dangerous.

You should know how to prevent it.

In some horse training videos from http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com, there are a couple trainers. To learn more about how they train their horses, be sure to read about them.

About The Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. He is also well known for finding, interviewing, and filming expert horse trainers and making their expertise available to horse owners who want to learn different horse training tips and secrets and how to solve behaviorial issues with horses. For information visit his website at www.SuperStarsofHorseTraining.com.

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