I was going to stay quiet on this, but I decided it is a matter of safety and I do not want to see you or your daughter get hurt. Rearing is a REALLY dangerous thing. You do not want this to continue, or become ingrained. He is really young still. You told me he won't be three until February, yet you have had him under saddle for four months now.
I think you need to slow down with training. He most likely reared due to confusion over what you wanted. He is very young still, he is not going to "get it" as quickly as a mature horse will. Rearing can happen when a person is giving a forward aid with their legs, and yet they are pulling back with their hands. If he was acting antsy, you might have had a tighter hold on the reins than usual. You wanted him to stand still, but most likely you were squeezing with your legs or your seat. He has no where to go but up.
Next time, try to keep his feet moving and give him some direction. Do circles, spiral him in and out of the circle. Do serpentines..
Or better yet - turn him till early summer, let him grow up a little more, mentally and physically and then start over. BEFORE a habit becomes ingrained and you have a horse you cannot ride safely.
Probably not what you wanted to hear... but I don't think people realize Toby's age. That is an important factor. Not only is he green, he is still a colt.
Your Haffiefriend,
~Kiola~
Brier, WA.
--- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, Marilyn Mitchell <marilynmitchell61@...> wrote:
>
> When I got on Toby this afternoon, right away he started acting squirrely -- backing up when not asked...that's about it. 15 or 20 miniutes later, while at the community arena he was antsy, wouldn't hold still, backed up...and then he reared!
>
> I'm 48 years old. It's been twenty years between owning horses for me. Rearing scared the daylights out of me! My heart was racing and I thought, "How high up is he going to go? Is he going to fall over backwards?" It all seemed to happen very slowly.
>
> Thank goodness I still have some sense about me and was able to pop him with my hand between the ears. This, he seemed to ignore and was on his way down anyway.
>
> A moment later, he reared again. I wasn't caught off-guard this time so it wasn't as scary (AS scary) and I, again, popped him between the ears with my hand. This time, he seemed to notice.
>
> Someone shouted for me (I think it was the trainer) to, "Turn him in circles!" which I did.
>
> Having said all this, do tiy think it mattered that the trainer was ponying a seven month old stud colt in the vicinity at the time? Do horses act differently around youngsters/unaltered males? The colt is a few weeks new to the stable and is kept nowhere near Toby. (In fact, has Toby ever walked close to the baby?)
>
> Toby hasn't reared on me before today. I've only had him for five months. He's very, very green. He's been under saddle only four months.
>
> He didn't at any time act distressed. But, he did seem very alert. Hmmm....was he just very, very excited by the new baby? It could be.
>
> Your thoughts?
>
> Marilyn in Sacramento
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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