I bought an off the track quarter horse. He was solid for the first several months. however, then he started rearing. we did numerous vettings and a couple of months ago decided to try treating with doxy despite his lyme negative test. all the other bad behaviors that appeared with the rearing have disappeared and he is much less electric and seemed back to his old self. so we decided to get on him to do some light walking around. we are now onto the third ride where he will not move forward when the leg is used. Each time the leg is squeezed onto him, he threatens to rear. however, if someone is there on the ground to lead him off he carries on fine. he has gone on two trail rides a lone and does not spook but will just stop and need to be lead off. any suggestions on how to resolve this?
Sounds like he needs to relearn the very basics, such as stop and go and turn. It`s great to have someone on the ground who can help you. Lots and lots of transitions, and when needed a person on the ground to encourage him to go forward. This can take time but he will get it!
I"m thinking he has slowly been gaining the upper hand and now needs to go back to basics. When you say, put your leg on, are we literally talking just leg, or are you re-enforcing with spurs or a crop? This horse most likely needs a very firm, assertive ride until he understands his job better.
Also make sure you aren’t inadvertently pulling on the reins too strong and giving a whoa signal at the same time as a go signal, confusing the horse into rearing!
Rearing is very dangerous to the rider and can be fatal if the horse goes over backwards and lands on you, so be very very careful.
It is said that a horse is taught to rear which is the comment above . Beginners do not have independent hands and inadvertently pull when they kick telling the horse to go stop which is confusing. It is a confused horse that does the antics you are talking about not a naughty horse.
This horse needs retraining. It is harder to retrain than it is to train. Don’t think it will be any easier than an off the track thoroughbred.
Proper groundwork with long lining and lunging will improve him and keep the rider safe - if the rider knows how.
When the horse knows no better. Reins mean turn and stop. Legs mean go. Never both together. If the rider does not know how to use contact this is not the horse for them to be trying it on. Even if you do know contact Youy do not adk before the horse is moving forward freely.
You said he was solid for the first few months. When you rule out the physical, what is left is training. Every single time you interact with him, you are training him. Every single time you train him he is either a little bit worse or a little bit better.
If he is a little bit better each ride you end up with a much better horse on Monday than you had last Monday .
If he is a little bit worse. Then on Monday you have a lot worse horse than last Monday and get help fast because things can deteriorate quickly as you have found out.
Good luck.
If the doxy helped that much, it’s always possible that something bad is going on inside. I had a mare who did this, and she had a recurrent internal abscess. Does blood work show any signs of infection?
I know I sound like a broken record, but I have found teaching verbal cues fixes most “lack of forward” issues. Say “walk” and immediately touch his hocks with a dressage whip. Make sure he steps forward a fraction of a second before you do. Repeat until it is ingrained. Same for trot. Teach whoa too. It transfers well to under saddle work. You do have to reinforce every once in a while. Good luck!
Which is done with proper lunging and long reining.
Not how I did it, but whatever works.
Besides starting him on the longe to encourage him to learn voice commands, you also need to check saddle fit, and have someone with a knowledgeable eye observe your use of the forward aids. It is not from leg alone that the horse moves forward. If your body is tense, you may be transmitting Halt!, while legging for forward. Giving him no option but up!.
Yes whatever works but advice to touch a whip to the hocks of a horse that is rearing when asked forward is not the best I have ever heard.
I don’t think there are issues on the ground with this horse, but maybe I am wrong? My horse was also a rearer when you asked him to go somewhere he didn’t want to go. But he was very well-mannered on the ground, and teaching verbal cues in-hand worked very well for him. The pairing between the cue and the desired behavior is closer and easier to understand IMO than attempting to teach verbal cues on the lunge. But it would depend on the individual horse as to which technique would work better.
He just doesn’t know. Not a track skill. You need to start all over. Do not ride him until you get rid of the rearing. IME many of the OTQHs know less then most OTTBs, they are mostly pedal to the metal straight line sprinters and, sorry to say, there’s more questionable practices and fewer basics installed. They don’t need to rate or learn tactical speed in a 20 second race. More real yahoo anything to win types there too. There’s some very good people out there though so don’t dismiss the whole bunch when looking for cheap prospects.
Id get a blood draw and see if you are dealing with something that will need to be cleared up. He probably could use a let down too before you hit the reset button.
Check for ulcers.
Second vote to check for ulcers. The rearing/threatening to rear with the leg on is a pretty classic sign.
I agree with checking for ulcers. I also think getting professional help would be good.
Lunging is not only done from 10 metres away . The horse has to be taught to lunge. You can be close out furthest away. Ast least far enough away so as the hooves are not near your head if they go up.
He is not in front of your leg/not responding to your leg. My mare has just started this. I still ask her to walk on, light squeeze with the legs, if she starts backing or starts getting light in front, it is followed with a whack with the whip on the hindquarters. Forward means forward, and up is NOT an option. Like yours, mine has never threatened to rear on the ground or the lunge. I have gone back to riding with little to no contact and working on keeping her responsive and forward. Luckily has never gone completely UP but it CAN and WILL escalate quickly if you don’t nip this in the bud!
ETA: My mare has only had about 45 rides on her so she is super green. She is just starting to actually WORK and she is testing me and trying to see what she can get away with. She has only done this the past 2 rides, so I am hoping to correct it ASAP.
My horse did exactly this when he had ulcers, so definitely, DEFINITELY look into that.
Of course, even after ulcers were treated, he still will (rarely) rear as a temper tantrum when I ask him to go forward and he does not want to. (When he gets barn or buddy sour, or if I want him to cross water and he is not feeling it.)
And there is the problem. A horse that thinks up instead of any other thought they could have had. It stays with them. There are horses out there that do not have that thought.
However every horse can be taught to rear with incorrect riding.
As I said rearing is dangerous. It can be fatal or worse for the rider. So weigh up how safe the horse is. No I do not ride horses that rear. That is my own rule. You make your own rules.
Well, there’s sulky “no I won’t” rearing, propping up in front, and there’s “I’m going to try to kill you and don’t care if I kill myself doing it” REARING. You can’t really tell which any OP is referring to in the internet without video and some over dramatize a bit or don’t really have enough experience to have a frame of reference trying to describe bucking, bolting and rearing.
The first , “no I won’t” is often just bratty behavior brought on by well intentioned but poorly executed, inconsistent training, often by a timid rider, and I’ll work with it, The one trying to kill itself that has no sense of self preservation not so much. Ulcers might contribute to the behavior but getting rid of them will NOT remove the reasons it got started so wont stop it. You have to figure out why and fix that, in this case it sounds like lack of understanding what is being asked and how to ask for it. Not uncommon.
But it’s a nasty, dangerous habit that must be nipped in the bud and that might mean paying for Pro help. It won’t go away by itself.
