Pony rearing

[newdriver]

I am having trouble with my pony rearing in harness. When he does, he turns to the left and comes down on top of the left shaft. Of course once that happens, I have to undo the traces and pull the shaft from under his elbow, then reattach the trace and drive off. He is somewhat barn sour and being a pony he is as hardheaded as I am. I would love to know what y’alls input is to alleviate this issue and get him past this problem.Thank you all so much. I hate to ask stupid questions, but if you don’t ask … you will never know.

Thanks.

[China_Doll]

no way should he be able to get his leg over the shaft. That is feasibly impossible if hitched correctly. First I would not hitch a rearing pony but if said pony reared the shaft would go up with him making it impossible to get a leg over it. It sounds as if you do not have everything attached and adjusted correctly and or it does not fit. First off do lots of ground driving. When he goes to rear I would use a deep voice and reprimand him. If still acting up I would crack him with a whip on his side. They usually throw a fit for a bit and then are fine. I"m not sure you have the skill/knowledge to correct this though.

[newdriver]

China Doll, thanks for your input. I will post a picture of him hitched up so you can give me some relevant feedback about my hitch. I will never have the skill or knowledge unless I can learn from asking questions and studying. That said, I have been riding for over 50 years and have just started driving. Thank you for your suggestion of ground driving. I will try that.

[luvmyhackney]

If a pony goes high enough they can get a leg over the shaft even on a correctly adjusted cart. Come to a hackney breed show, you see it all. Definitely, see if the pony does it ground driving away from home.

It’s very dangerous for a horse or pony to rear in harness. You want to nip this in the bud. A horse moving forward can’t rear.

[China_Doll]

@luvmyhackney

If a pony goes high enough they can get a leg over the shaft even on a correctly adjusted cart. Come to a hackney breed show, you see it all. Definitely, see if the pony does it ground driving away from home.

It’s very dangerous for a horse or pony to rear in harness. You want to nip this in the bud. A horse moving forward can’t rear.

It isn’t physically possible if cart is correct. They could flip over and still not get a leg over unless shafts are too low on side. The shafts move with the horse and would never be low enough unless it twisted side ways and rotated.

[Zu_Zu]

[B]Honestly - this is too dangerous !

I recommend you put this pony in training with a professional for his education.

I recommend you learn to drive under the trainer’s guidance while driving a ‘finished’ driving horse or pony.

Then and only then you and your pony start driving - while under the trainer’s guidance.

Driving is a grand hobby but can be dangerous.

Good Luck and SAFE driving ![/B]

[Zu_Zu]

@luvmyhackney

If a pony goes high enough they can get a leg over the shaft even on a correctly adjusted cart. Come to a hackney breed show, you see it all. Definitely, see if the pony does it ground driving away from home.

It’s very dangerous for a horse or pony to rear in harness. You want to nip this in the bud. A horse moving forward can’t rear.

^ this exactly !!!

worth repeating

[newdriver]

Thank you every one. I will have my pony hitched this afternoon and will take pictures and hopefully you all will comment on the hitch. Yesterday I was able to work it out of him and had him coming and going very nicely. After that, I made him stand fully hitched in time out for an hour. He only rears going away from the barn. Yesterday we went around and around the barn and after about 30 minutes he got over it. Then we worked 30 more minutes and he was a love.

[newdriver]

I plan on ground driving him before we go in the cart this afternoon. I’ll see if he does it again. On the driving lessons, I would love to do that. Does anyone know of someone in Western Kentucky, Western Tennessee or Southeast Missouri? Thanks so much.

[Zu_Zu]

@newdriver

Thank you every one. I will have my pony hitched this afternoon and will take pictures and hopefully you all will comment on the hitch. Yesterday I was able to work it out of him and had him coming and going very nicely. After that, I made him stand fully hitched in time out for an hour. He only rears going away from the barn. Yesterday we went around and around the barn and after about 30 minutes he got over it. Then we worked 30 more minutes and he was a love.

Am I reading this correctly ?

You worked him for an hour and then you made him stand fully hitched for an hour as a ‘time-out’ ?

[buck22]

I don’t have any experience with rearing, but I did start to sour my Morgan early on in his driving and fortunately caught it before it got out of hand.

I grossly underestimated the amount of time required to leg up a driving horse. Sitting back in the cart/carriage I didn’t get fatigued and I didn’t have physical contact with my horse to feel him being tired or breathing hard. I was new to driving, disconnected from my animal and not able yet to read more subtle signs of tiredness.

As our drives became longer, he became sourer and more resistant to leave the barn. The worse he got, the harder I drove him, thinking the wet saddle blanket theory. It was wrong of me. Though he wasn’t drenched in sweat by the time we came home, or stumbling or anything, it was still too much too soon for him. Finally one day, he didn’t want to be caught for work, which was very out of character for him.

I went the other direction for quite some time, driving much shorter distances, same direction and distance each time for a few outings so he learned exactly what was going to be expected of him, and included a lot of random halt breaks.

This worked well for us.

When he learned he wasn’t going to be pushed as hard anymore, the resistance to leaving melted away.

I worked hard from that point on to slowly and carefully condition him, it took over a year, driving several times a week.

[awaywego]

Is the weight of your cart appropriate for your pony? If it is heavy for him, he may be rearing because it is legitimately HARD for him to get it rolling initially. I have seen this happen with a somewhat green pony when he was hitched to a new vehicle.

Please reconsider leaving him hitched for long periods of time as a “time-out.” The best driving ponies enjoy what they’re doing

[cayuse]

I am not going to address the rearing as I will leave that to those with more driving experience, but I will suggest that if your pony does something you are happy with and you have made progress end the lesson on that positive note. Don’t make him stand hitched in time out, he doesn’t know what a time out is. Reward him and stop the training session.
My last drive lasted ten minutes. We were revisiting a minor issue that cropped up in a previous drive and when I got what I asked for, which was a quiet straight back up, he got a big praise and we quit for the day. Sometimes knowing when to quit can be the best reward.

[newdriver]

Thank you everyone. I ground drove him today and found that he was rearing and turning to return to the barn. We would get a specific distance away and then he would rear. I then decided to lunge him for a little bit and found that he would stop and not go forward when he was facing the barn. I just quietly made him go forward and after a few time around he was going like a champ. I ground drove him around the field and ended on a good note. Then I took some pictures for ya’ll and turned him out. Lesson learned. As I said before, he was an Amish horse and probably got sour then. It seems that would be possible. I really appreciate all the great advice. Thank you everyone.

[newdriver]

@buck22

I don’t have any experience with rearing, but I did start to sour my Morgan early on in his driving and fortunately caught it before it got out of hand.

I grossly underestimated the amount of time required to leg up a driving horse. Sitting back in the cart/carriage I didn’t get fatigued and I didn’t have physical contact with my horse to feel him being tired or breathing hard. I was new to driving, disconnected from my animal and not able yet to read more subtle signs of tiredness.

As our drives became longer, he became sourer and more resistant to leave the barn. The worse he got, the harder I drove him, thinking the wet saddle blanket theory. It was wrong of me. Though he wasn’t drenched in sweat by the time we came home, or stumbling or anything, it was still too much too soon for him. Finally one day, he didn’t want to be caught for work, which was very out of character for him.

I went the other direction for quite some time, driving much shorter distances, same direction and distance each time for a few outings so he learned exactly what was going to be expected of him, and included a lot of random halt breaks.

This worked well for us.

When he learned he wasn’t going to be pushed as hard anymore, the resistance to leaving melted away.

I worked hard from that point on to slowly and carefully condition him, it took over a year, driving several times a week.

Thank you buck22. I had not thought about what you said and perhaps you are right. He is not in shape and maybe he has become sour because I worked him too hard. He did not work hard today and we ended on a good note.