Rearing- turn on the haunches to the left

Question
QUESTION: Hi.

My horse is giving me serious trouble. I'm about to call it quits and just give up and get rid of this horse! My horse who is a five year-old QH gelding, has spent the winter at a reiner trainers and did very well. I have been working with him all spring and now summer and things have been going awesome and I can't complain. Until recently (this week), my horse has been rearing like mad and throwing this head almost whacking me in the face. He will NOT stop no matter how hard I try. He is only doing this everytime I ask him to turn on the haunches to the left. That's it! He does it to the right like a pro and gives a bit of speed to it as well. He does know how to do it. He's been doing it probably six months now.
I've used spurs, I've wacked him over the head with my reins when he rears, I've tried nosebands, whatever I can think of! He just had shoes put on his front feet yesterday, so it's not a foot pain. I don't have money to call my equine therapist or the vet, neither go to my trainer for a lesson. What should I do? I'm really stuck here, and I've been wasting hours upon hours all week fighting with him and fustrating myself.
Should I give up and stop wasting my time? The person who "trained" him, abused him but I didn't know that when I got him. He spent a full year being unridden until last winter. He was very dangerous, and always reared when you lunged him, and even crashed through fences to avoid working. He is lungable now though. As I said, it's only that turn he refuses. I hope you can help me out, or he's not staying with me anymore. Thanks!

ANSWER: Alexandra,

I think you need to find the money and get a chiropractor out.  Sounds like he's out someplace so he's not refusing, he simply cannot do what you are asking him to do.  Whacking him on the head, using spurs, etc. is not going to help him do something he cannot do.  Plus, if he's already been abused then he doesn't need/deserve any more.  He's trying to do what you ask, and does when you turn to the right.  You spent money to get him trained so you must have thought he was worth it.  He's broken and needs to be fixed, not cast off like an old shoe.  

Horses that are already trained, and performing as asked, have a reason for not doing something that they have been in the past.  Horses simply don't start doing something for no reason.  He sounds like he's had a lot of problems in the past.  Too bad, he's a young horse, still has a lot of growing and maturing to do, and hasn't had a very good life up to this point.  He needs to be given a real chance.


Lyn

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the great answer Lyn. But today, actually just now, I was trying to lunge him and he decided he'd rather not be lunged, and dragged me around. Then I said "okay" and free lunged him. What'd he do? Decided to find a way out of my pen. He almost knocked a solid wooden wall off trying to crash through it. This is what he used to do when I first got him. I thought this bad habit was gone..so much for that. What can I do to stop this? Also he rears up too when I get him to move off on the left side. He really is giving me trouble on that side.

Alexandra

ANSWER: Alexandra,

You have a lot of issues here to address, some of which you created yourself.  You said he was abused by the trainer, so he's got good reason to not trust people.  You have joined the "bad people" club with your attempts to force him to do something he couldn't do.  Now the best thing I can suggest is to start over again and build a trusting, respectful relationship.  Means you have to show him respect as well as insist he gives it to you.  He really wanted to get away from you, crashing into the wall was  a pretty drastic step.  Too many people have tried to force him to do something.  Any resistance from him because he was afraid/unsure/didn't understand/or just didn't get it has been met with pain.  I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but you can, with time and patience, bring him around.  He's been lied to a lot so it's gonna take a while.  

I sincerely hope you are willing to invest the work it will take to fix this broken horse.  I would suggest going back to step one and work on your relationship with him.  A round pen would be the very best way to work with him and would provide the fastest results.  If you aren't familiar with round pen work there is tons of information available and some excellent videos out, Parelli has a good DVD collection and there are also ones on the 'net that you will find fascinating to watch.  You can see the horse's reactions and will learn a lot about "reading" a horse from them.  

I love horses so much but also realize that they aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree.  Some learn much more quickly than others.  You have to learn patience, loosing your temper is the worst thing you can do.  I laugh at them, have to, some can be such boobs at times!  Think about them as not real bright 2 yr. old kids.  And geldings can be slower to learn than mares, at least in my experience.  I have 2 Mustangs here now, a mare and a gelding.  The gelding can be such a jerk, he and I go back to the round pen periodically when he is disrespectful, which is a lot.  He's a teenaged boy!  You can fix this horse, learn a lot in the process and gain a really nice horse.  

If you care about him give him the re-start he deserves.  

Lyn

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Lyn,

I noticed when giving him a carrot tonight, he had a bit of trouble chewing on the left side. Also as it's hard to peek in a horse's mouth to long, there is a bump where the tooth would be on the left side swollen a bit but not on the other side of his face. I'm calling my vet tomorrow to book a floating as he's never had one before. I'm also booking a massage for him..wow I'm gonna be broke! I still have a vet bill to pay from breeding my mare!
Once the problem is ruled out, I know I need to do some groundwork with him. I have been training wild BLM mustangs for the past 8 years, so I know what to do. Clinton Anderson is my favourite trainer! I'm planning to get another DVD from him for advanced manuevers. I hope I get an answer. I want to show at the end of the month, and he's too pretty of a horse to get rid of ( he's a dappled palomino). Thanks for all your help! If I still have trouble, I'll write again.

Alexandra

Answer
Alexandra,

Good Lord, he's never had his teeth floated?  Well, that could be a good explanation of at least part of his problem!  I only hope your vet is better than the vets around here.  I use an equine dentist for my horses.  He's actually cheaper than the vet and does a much better job.  Most of the vets here only do teeth occasionally.  I went for someone who does thousands of horses a year.  Trained by Larry Moriarty in FL, Butch is great.  He also undoubtedly has some muscular issues from compensating for the mouth so the massage therapist is a good idea.  I hope your therapist either can do chiro work or at least recognize that something is out if the horse needs more than massage.  I work with a couple of equine chiropractors and have recommended many a horse and rider get chiropractic work after I work on the horse.  Problems in one generally cause problems in the other.  

He sounds drop dead gorgeous although a show in a month might be pushing it a little.  Thank goodness you've worked with Mustangs!  You know how to build trust with a horse.  Just remember to apply the principles that you use with the Mustangs to domestic horses as well.  You wouldn't have hit a Mustang in the head or used spurs, at least I hope not.  If you just remember that actions like this have a reason.  Good horses just don't "go bad" or do bad things for no reason.  Horses aren't that devious.  

Good luck with him.  I hear you on being broke.  I am in a near constant state of being broke because of my horses.  As a friend says, I'm "horse poor".  But wouldn't have it any other way.

Lyn