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What to do with a rearing colt that strikes
I rescued a colt and momma from a really bad situation. They are fattening up but he is terrible when I try to lead him on his rt side! What to do? He rears and strikes!
Tags: colt handling, colt training, rearing colt
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Gormley on -
hi
You are a good person to rescue him, sad story about where he came from. Does he get scared when you or his mother go by his right side w/o the lead rope attached, and does he let you pet him without being held, like over the fence when he is resting in his pasture, etc.? So sorry to hear of your troubles. there are many great horse experts on here and they are very friendly so maybe they will give the answer we are curious about. Keep us updated. there are many horse rescuers in the rescue group on this site that have much knowledge.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on
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Oh, I had one of those.... and I worried about him rearing and striking me for months.. got crashed into, cut, scraped and everything and here is what changed it for me.... maybe you are way more experienced than me so bear with my stupid answer....
don't look at his head at all....... don't get too close...... don't GO for him at all... let him come to you... draw and pull game..... and GO SLOW....... make sure he licks and chews before moving on...... and please above all else make sure you are C A L M..... if he picks up on your adrenaline watch out.... my mustang used to chase me out of his pen and rear and strike..... they do that from pressure..... he is telling you, BLAH, I'm freaking out and you are scaring me.....
from there I spent five months not letting him near me at all, but rather pushing him away, driving him...... driving him..... and making sure I could turn him in an outside turn..... and got his respect... my young horse would jump on me from just standing still.... he's 4 now and I have worked with him, and so has my trainer since he was 8 weeks old... not until I learned about THE NO GO ZONE did I have any luck with my Oliver... he's a gentle colt now... but he was scared... poor booogie.
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Permalink Reply by Gail Haynes on -
Rearing and striking can be a very dangerous situation. I remember recieving a black eye from a hoof of a clients horse many years ago. I was very lucky that was all that happened. This is something to taken very seriously. I have had to deal with many types of horses over the years, and many rearing horses. A very effective way to deal with this is to work on teaching the horse in a calm area(field or stall, where ever the horse is most comfortable) to lower his head to pressure. start with light pressure downward on the leadrope and everytime the colt lowers his head release the pressure and encourage him. As this progresses you will be able to add more and more pressure and still get a calm downward responce from the horse.
It is natural for a horse to move against pressure, so you are teaching your horse how to respond to the pressure. I would also suggest working on leading a few steps, stopping and backing up for short training sessions. As you are working on training to prevent rearing, you may still encounter the negative rearing behavior. This is where you have to be brave and safety concious. My general rule is 1. the horse can't get hurt, 2. I can't get hurt and 3. The horse must be calmer after the training than before. Always lead and handle this horse with a dressage whip in hand, so when your horse rears you can tap your horses legs below the knees until the horses feet return to the ground. This does not have to be hard, it just needs to send a message to the horse that his behavior is unacceptable. Feel free to wear boots on his legs if you like. Once his feet have hit the ground, give your horse a rub to let him know that feet on the ground is a good thing. If you have further questions about this please message me. I will be putting a short video clip together this week to show you the steps we talked about and posting it on my fanpage.... Five Star Ranch...please join and you can see this lesson live.
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Awesome Gail.... :)
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Permalink Reply by Milena Banks on -
Hey this is a great suggestion! I got my trainer out today and she did exactly this! She applied pressure
to his poll and he lowered his head, she also used the dressage whip on him. i realize i need to have that whip with me whenever i lead the little bugger as a protection and as an extension of my arm to tap him and remind him i'm boss.
it's not easy. i've been sick with chronic lyme and adrenal fatigue and don't have the stamina to deal with
this little jet rocket of power!!!! i'm looking forward to see your video. thank you so much! milena banks
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Permalink Reply by Norma McDonald on -
I had a filly many years ago with a similar problem. We related it back to the mare and that she was a non-disciplining mom who would aloow her filly to strike rear and bite the crap out of her. Luckily the mare suffered gas colic and the baby was weened early off the mare -it was the best possible thing -she needed and craved human contact and I was there for her -she want out with a group of seasoned mares who would not tolerate her bullying -the problem was fixed! Take a good look at the momma -that my suggestion -see if she is passive with this little dude -and depending on how old he is you might want to try what worked for me -it's a thought anyway...good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Milena Banks on
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hey thank you. i'm trying to wean them but he is in the stall next to hers and although they are not turned out together but maybe he's spending too much time in the sight of momma. i could put him in a stall where he can't see her. . .but i didn't want to stress them out so much because i've just rescued them 6 weeks ago and they had so much stress where they came from ( 6 dead horses dying from starvation in their herd.etc) waht do you think? he is turned out so he can always see her, is that bad?
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Permalink Reply by Norma McDonald on
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how starved is he??? sometimes it is not fair to judge their personality when they are food deprived and have been starved. how old is he?
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Permalink Reply by Norma McDonald on
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try to take logical progressions in training your weanling. Has he been properly halter broke so that he yields to poll pressure? Have you used a short cotton rope and let it dangle so that he steps on it and will yield to the pressure -be advised that you only do this for supervised sessions and with a leather halter and a cotten lead rope that has been cut off and not left more than 3-3.5 ft. In regards to the weaning -I would like to know how old he is and where you are located -are you dealing with harsh winter etc...
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I couldn't halter mine he became worse.... babies of starving mamas are sometimes very troublesome themselves.. anyway, if you go with the haltering thing, I know many people do, I work with my horses at liberty and always always have my crop..... I also used to wear a helmet and a vest believe it or not.. my colt had no mama so I had to really try and work with him and what I did most was try and move him off..... he didn't like it at all but it had to be done.. my trainer did the halter work with him, I do not have the skill and whenever I was close to him he'd knock me down..... so whatever works and be safe.... my energy was too much for him to handle at the end of a rope.. I had to get a professional..... and I had to really work on not being afraid of him and calming myself down because we were always at odds...... and it is tiring so eat your wheaties and good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Gail Haynes on
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Weaning is easiest when they do not get to see each other, this will add to stress and behavior issues. So do take it easy on him during this stressfull time, spend lots of quiet time with him working on getting him to understand to drop his head to pressure( the video is being made tomorow and hope to have it online by sunday night). I do understand the concern of those who do not believe in using the dressage whip, this however is a very effective way to get the horse to stop the behavior. Of course prevention is best, so the dropping head to pressure, leading, backing(not extensively, just a few steps) and any thing elce that he enjoys.
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I thought you might get a kick out of my battle gear... this is my Oliver..... he is/was a handful.... Thank God for his trainer, Steve... he helped me raise him up.. so did my gelding, Toby.. you can try and put him with another horse for awhile after you wean him... try to smile or you will cry with a young horse, so come back for support as much as you need and I applaud you for rescuing the horses...... thank you.. Oliver is my rescue and I only wanted to kill him a few times.. just kidding.
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