But even if the horse was a rearer, what caused the rearing? Typically, it is part of a defense mechanism of a horse. I have a horse that was made into a rearer because the colt starter viciously corrected him for stopping at the gate when he was just being broken out under saddle and was ridden too long. They beat the ever loving snot out of him while twirling him and pulling a bit through his mouth. It did not stop the stopping, it actually confirmed it and taught him that if he was going to stop, he should rear too. Eventually he flipped over on the trainer. I pulled the horse when I understood what was happening–the horse went from good as gold to fighting the rider, then he flipped. The colt started tried to gaslight me into thinking the horse flipped on its own.
Retraining this horse has been a long, patient process. He lost trust for riding because that was his first experience of it. He actually was afraid to go forward and was expecting to be beat and slammed in the mouth. Because the punishment was so far beyond the crime, the message he received is that riding is unpleasant and painful. When I got him home after 5 months at the trainer, he just would not go forward and you could not use a whip or a spur. The retraining included a lot of ground work to teach him some lateral movements so that he would be comfortable with them and I could mobilize his feet when he stopped. It is now two years later and I have walk, trot and canter, and the vestiges now are that he will sometimes put his head in the air and twist it, harden his mouth and expect a slam from the bit. When that happens, I put him on a stretchy circle and let go of the reins, or I stop and ask him to flex (with just a rein wiggle). He is an extremely talented horse and he is coming along, but he is still not reliable enough to show because he has flash backs of defensive behavior (now manifesting as the head thing, the hard mouth and sometimes hardening his body against the leg and refusing to bend).
He has not offered to rear since I brought him home. The colt starter told me to euthanize him as they could not dominate him into submission. Not her or her husband bothered to consider that he was TERRIFIED. It looks willful, but it is terror. Most horses will flee or spook, this one will stop and fight. They are prey animals and he was just doing what nature told him. Fear and/or confusion can trigger the response.
If I had laid a lunge whip into this horse, I believe I would have been very hurt and the horse ruined for life. He is a sensitive horse and not lazy. He stopped from unfairness, confusion, and because he was a baby horse and was tired.
If the horse in the CDJ video truly was a confirmed rearer, she should have refused to teach a minor on the horse, IMO. If the rider was giving the horse such mixed signals that it was stopping, she should have coached the rider’s position in walk until the right response was received. The rider was clamped on the horse and it was doing what she was telling it to do. Beating a horse that is doing what you are telling it to do or has made a mistake never gets anyone anywhere. The horse looked a lovely sort and like it had some training on it. It is worthwhile to figure it out. But it is not going to be fixed or made better by a whipping session. That never ends well for anyone, as CDJ found out.
