Right, and some internet rando is a way better bet.
I think you’re doing great, @AdultEmmy. She’s put on weight, now you have your work cut out for you for the training part but you’re doing that right too by leaving this initial time with a pro, and you under the eyes of the pro.
There is nothing wrong with the mares belly. It looks weird due to shadows/markings.
Hopefully the OP does ride said mare after her trainer evaluated and deems it safe to do so.
Not pointed at anyone in particular but the mean girl spirit on this thread needs to get taken down a few notches. Try supporting vs passive aggressive and straight up rude posts.
The horse has been pulling this behavior for almost a year and not just with the OP.
She’s doing it from the ground with an experienced trainer who we’ll give the benefit of the doubt and assume they have a much better feel and tact than the OP. Before that she was “rearing” with other people that the OP had riding the horse.
I think the majority of the frustration is that it seems the advice is pretty cavalier and telling the OP, an admitted nervous beginner, how to ride through a situation that even a professional doesn’t seem to be able to get an easy handle on via ground work. The other frustration is that it doesn’t seem there is much actual information on what the OP has done to further themselves in this situation. No mention of riding lessons involving this horse. Is the horse being worked at all outside of these groundwork sessions? What has been xrayed? How has pain been ruled out? In the previous thread we never even got a weight measurement of the feed but we know at least one barn doubled it at some point after the concerns were being expressed.
Thank you, as always 
Thank you. It’s definitely more of a pop-up. But I want to get ahead of it in case it becomes a full rear (which it hasn’t yet)
You rock, thank you
I think you can be supportive of someone who is struggling with their horse, without [edit] implying “that’s not enough, you haven’t tried sufficiently hard.”
Lessons are incoming.
X rays have been done. What has been done is not entirely relevant. The pain factor has not been ignored. I don’t expect everyone to go down a massive rabbit hole for every evasion a horse learns. It’s ok to push a little first, see if it’s behavioral or if it’s going to persist.
Sorry to hear you’re in a similar situation. And I didn’t take anything you have said negatively at all. Thank you
Hi! Thank you. Yes it’s more of a pop up, I just don’t want it to become a rear. That’s why it’s really just my trainer working on her and she stays out of her face.
Edit: she has been seen for massages too 
You know the OP? I thought she didn’t ride the horse much for most of the time last fall to allow her topline to strengthen and deal with other problems. Earlier last fall OP shared vids of other riders with no mention of issues and she has not posted much or at all the past months, like since around TG. Not sure where you are getting consistent dangerous behavior for almost a year.
OP has admitted to being timid and hired a hands on Pro to help her decide what to do here. Which has been the repeated advice of the collective and better for both her and the horse should she decide to sell.
There was another thread about a different (more dedicated) rearing horse; maybe some should be careful the two don’t get confused.
Someone here mentioned she’d rear with other riders (pop up is probably more accurate)
If we are referring to the girl I hired over the summer (July maybe?) yes, that was a bad fit and she definitely tried to force her into a frame and hang on her.
Fwiw- these pop ups have happened all of 2x with my trainer, who is perfectly equipped to deal with honey. I’m not going to entertain an argument about my trainer’s ability to work with Honey and I. I will add— we did have a come to Jesus. She’s not going to be charging me left and right for years to make honey work. We will treat the ulcers (treatment started Sunday) and go into this upped program and evaluate in a month. Some of you may recall—when I bought honey I had a trainer who all but ditched me after the purchase.
But I’ve known this new trainer for a while. She worked with my best friends horse for a while. She admittedly said that if I was with her at the time of purchase, she wouldn’t have picked honey for me. So we are being realistic here, and seeing what April brings. If April proves rewarding, then great! If not, that’s ok too.
Edited to add: having her ridden by the other person in July proved to be a mistake for many reasons. All of which I’ve learned from.
She sounds like a good trainer, from what you’ve said. This is a brutally honest comment, and one I would appreciate from someone that I was paying for their opinion.
One thing I’d change - it’s ok to reevaluate at the end of April, but I’d give it until the end of June before I would truly make the call.
I guess that includes you, then.
Sure does. I’d defer to her hands on trainer 100 times before I’d say that my internet opinion is more valid.
Next.
Yet, you keep hammering this post with your internet opinion. Take a break!
I agree. I appreciate her honesty in that. She also wants to get me on some of her more reliable horses to help me feel better about myself.
Yeah-I don’t want to make a rush decision. But if April goes well I can’t keep paying 3x a week plus a lesson, so we’d probably be reevaluating things training wise.
You do what you need to do. Of course under trainers guidance.
Just a thought…perhaps trainer has another horse she might think suits you? And can help rehome Honey? Just a thought. You don’t have to do everything alone, seek help.
It’s a very individual thing but when I have had enough of an unsuitable horse, I have been done. Again, do what you need based on your needs and finances with trainers help.
I’ve wondered that. She has one that I think is technically on consignment with her, a qh gelding, 15.2 I think, who is very been there done that. I did ask her and she agreed to let me lesson on him.
I think a situation like that would be the only way I’d get another horse if honey doesn’t work out. Otherwise, I think I’d need a break.
I had a horse that would pop up when he felt trapped. [Important to say he never went into a full rear.] A previous owner had ridden him in draw reins and then, when he reared up, she would get off. He learned VERY quickly that rearing = no work.
You don’t really have a history on the mare so you can’t tell what baggage she’s carrying from past experiences.
In this case, I did work my horse through it with the help of a trainer. I also rode him bitless for a long time as he had bad associations with being cranked in by a bit. The trainer and I worked on forward, forward and forward. We also really took the pressure off and didn’t ask him for things that he thought were “hard” until he started feeling more comfortable with how he was being ridden. This horse ended up being an incredible hunt horse (still ridden bitless) but I realize he would never be an eventer because he couldn’t tolerate any form of collection while wearing a bit.
Whether you want to/feel capable of trying to get to the bottom of Honey’s issues is completely up to you. Only do what you feel comfortable with and know that it’s perfectly okay to say that a particular horse is not the right one for you. You’ve done well by her and continue to look at long term success.
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