rearing up

Question
I have a 5 year old quarter horse that i purchased, the old owner says she never had this problem i do not beleave it not at five.she rears up every time i go to get up on her, i tried a twisted snaffle bite.i bought a new blanket lots of cushion.I hold on to the side of my rein so she can not take off i have taken lesson for at least 5 to 6 years what do you think of a running martingail ? the saddle is not pinching her at all i cannot think of the problem just bad manners and got away with it thats why they sold her maybe?

Answer
Hi Cindy;

Rearing is a result of a horse's unwillingness to move forward.  You need to restart her on groundwork and make sure she goes forward, always.  Then transfer those aids over to saddle work.

I do however suspect that she has some pain issues.  Have a chiropractor examine her.

Horses do not just have bad manners.  Bad behavior is almost always the result of pain or discomfort.  Sometimes it's because of fear.  Very, very rarely is it because the horse just wants to be difficult.

You do not want to use a strong bit.  If her mouth gets hurt by one, she's more likely to rear and you want to encourage her to ACCEPT bit contact and move FORWARD.  No horse likes to move into a twisted snaffle.  

You could try a martingale, but then you run the risk if it's a pain issue of her throwing a fit, rearing and falling over, bucking etc...

Step 1 is to have her examined by a top quality chiropractor.

Step 2 is to fix and eliminate all possible pain issues.

Step 3 is to restart her on the ground with forward aids.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Lana Reinhardt