We had one from the track years ago who reared. I decided to long line him to work on forward. He spun, tangled himself up, and fell down. I untangled him. He never, ever reared again. I couldn’t have done that on purpose if I tried and I certainly don’t recommend it as a solution to rearing. I think he thought I did it and I didn’t. But it worked.
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Lol, I do think that spinning yourself into a tight ball might be a right of passage with driving horses. For sure if they freak out vs wait for you to get them out of the situation that would tell you a lot about how they might handle it when things go sideways in a vehicle.
(Or stop snickering and saying “that’s a fine mess you found yourself in, would you like some help with that?” I plead the fifth on whether this is ever been me)
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This made me laugh out loud. Thank you.
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I had one kinda hop, just to see what would happen, thinking maybe he could cut himself some slack (from working).
Well, what happened is that he ended up sliding down onto his left side – I had nothing to do with it. I could see him think “hummpf, this didn’t work out like I thought it would,” he lay there a moment, and quietly got up. Zero panic.
Never tried anything again, and was a great horse his whole life.
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To try to avoid “freak outs” I do my best to get them comfortable with lines, stepping on their lead rope and not freaking out, and things around their legs, but sh*t hitting the fan is still possible because horses. When I drop the line(s) the horse should stop and wait for me to approach.
I will say that some longlines come connected and I always cut them so that they’re 2 separate lines. Shorter lines don’t come like that, IME. I do have a set of shorter lines and long lines. I also like to invest in a quality surcingle and make sure our lunging skills are solid.
So there are a few “homework” things I do before long lining to try to reduce the odds of something ridiculous happening, but I have found myself in a “situation” once or twice! 
never put yourself in a situation to get caught up in your lines.
I’ve mostly long lined horses that had already been under saddle for a minute, but have done it the other way around when starting a young horse. Regardless of what order it’s been in, the horse and I always learn something(s).
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Man. I’m so glad he was ok but I live for the moments when the horses teach themselves! 
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Same.
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Me, too. He scared the living daylights out of me. He didn’t struggle much and let me untangle him without clobbering me. He was big…17.3…I’m 5’2”. He went on to be a lovely dressage horse.
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Kyra is 1/2 Andalusian. When she was younger she was hot and reactive. She never went down but could spin herself in the length of the lines pretty fast. When she was totally wound up she would just stop and yes…look at me like a little help please😳.
One day I drove over in a snow storm to get her in the indoor and out of the snow for a bit. I decided I would double lunge her. I knew better than to get on her. Well right off the bat, something spooked her. She was controllable but within 5 minutes, she was sopping wet so I know something got her on edge because all we were doing is some walk and trot. She wound herself up a couple times that day 
.
She did calm down but now she is sopping wet, the wind is blowing 30mph and it is snowing and I have nothing in my car to help dry her off. So we walked and walked and walked. Well it was dark by the time I drove home. The wet roads froze and I wrecked my car. Nothing that she comprehends but I always tell her that my wreck was her fault. All in jest .
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I hope you were ok. I’m really sorry about that.
Yes…I was fine. I was only going 20mph but lost control on a bridge. The car was not fine but not totaled.
It only took 5K to fix it. Thank goodness for insurance.
Moral of the story…STAY HOME.
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Mine was being a doofus and complained about being asked to canter, threw himself into the air and then wiped out. After he picked himself up off the ground he was very well behaved. I’m sure he thought I’d done it to him.
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I find regardless of how much training you do previously they will always try to back up into them at some point. Young smart mares are the worst offenders. I think this is where the lines behind the hindquarters can be helpful to provide a boundary. I also find that in the beginning, longer lines are helpful, which seems counterintuitive, but I want to be able to make a big correction (usually just make a lot of noise with the whip) when they back up and have extra length if they jump forward without hitting them in the mouth or having them get away from me (has happened to me, because horses).
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No surcingle? wow
