At 09:01:05 on 03.03.11, ilovehorseriding wrote:
hello my name is courtney i am having trouble with my horse he is 4 years old and is green broken i am only 13. i am having troubles cantering him everytime i try he is always throwing his head around or bucking to get me off we are going to use a martingale and see where it goes from there but also when doing ground work he has picked up how to rear sometimes he will rear at me but i just stand there every time he does it i wack him across the legs with the lead but not to hard but when i do he still continues to rear. and not long ago he tryed to kick me twice and sometimes when i push him to get to the other side to fix up his rug he would try and spaush me into the fence but he hasnt done it for a while now,i am not scared of him so i still do what i usually do with him even though he is a bit of show horse he can still be very naughty at times. please help me if you have any tips of what i can do i love him so so much and i dont want to let him go he starting to improve with cantering a tiny bit but could deff use some tips thank you.

At 20:08:28 on 04.03.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Firstly whacking a horse across the legs will make them want to pick their feet up and rear so you are only reinforcing the bahaviour, i would ignore him and turn a circle then carry on. As for the cantering he may not have been taught how to use himself propperly so i would do some lungeing in a pessoa in walk trot and canter on both reins but only do it for a short amount of time at first, plus he won't be able to throw his head and he will learn how to work propperly. Then when you start to ride again once he is good in the pessoa make sure your signals are clear and your not holding the reins too tight give him a relaxed contact so he can find his stride then gather him in once he is balanced which should help him and eventually you will be able to go straight into a collected canter. If he tries to kick ignore him negative actions normally are seeking ANY attention so don't give him any and when he is calm praise him. Instead of pushing or tapping your horse to get him to move try using sound and body language to get your horse to move, he won't like it because you will be showing authoritive body language (my horse puts his ears back) but once you get the hang of it you can look at your horse with a meaningful look and he will move, if you mean it and you know what you want him to do without actually touching him he will soon get him. And if he does try to squash you use your elbow between his forleg and ribs he will move because that is a pressure point. Good luck :)

At 23:31:28 on 06.03.11, ToriSilverson wrote:
ok whacking his legs when he rears is a definate no! this will only wind him up more, he is probably scared when he rears and wacking him will make it worse. you have to remember he is still a baby and because he is green everything is still very new to him. you need to build up his confidence with things, the bucking and throwing his head could just be excitement? cantering with a person on his back is brilliant fun to him, so when you ride him keep him focused do lots of transitions, circles changes of rein, keep changing what you are doing and he will be that busy concentrating on what is being asked that he wont mess about. i agree with jess' points too :) build his confidence dont break it down.

At 06:06:08 on 07.03.11, ilovehorseriding wrote:
thanks for advice i did show jumping yesterday with him i didnt have to much trouble cantering him i was able to canter him in a large circle with out the bucking and throwing the head around business :) which was good

At 20:58:31 on 08.03.11, Cowboy wrote:
I've had a rearer before. they're no fun. But what i found always worked for us was when he came down we would back up however far we thought we needed to. backing up also can keep his head down. hope he gets better!!

At 08:36:52 on 10.03.11, ilovehorseriding wrote:
thank you i will give it a try :)