Rearing Mare

[blue]

Hi,

I found this board by looking for reviews of the Little Joe bareback pad! Reading threads here, it seemed like a wonderful and supportive community, so I thought I would join and share my challenge / ask if anyone has any insight or help.

I'm 27 now, with an 18 year old mare I've had since I was 16 - but this is the first time in my life (due to a lot of other challenges I've had) that I have a good setup, where I have steady income, she's in a stable near me where I can see her, the stable has good turnout, and dry footing where I can ride. She was far too much horse for me when I first got her, I was used to a quiet little pony and she's a sixteen hand firecracker. I also had a poorly fitting saddle, the stable was not great and no turnout, she went bonkers, pretty soon wouldn't let me get anywhere near her with a saddle or she'd kick. 

I've worked really hard over the years to find us a better situation, trying to improve everything that I could. I'm sad to say that over a good number of years, I was barely able to see her. The few times I was able to ride her, she would stop and refuse to walk, or she'd take off running, shaking her head and kicking and jumping into the air, or she'd rear. She'll rear so high that sometimes she takes a step backwards. When she first started doing it, she'd stand up so fast her neck smashed into my face and I would have sworn I'd broken my nose. Once I came flying backwards and landed on the sand behind her, with my feet still in the stirrups! (I'd forgotten to lock the stirrup bars after cleaning my saddle...)

It was scary; people told me to either beat her on the head when she reared, or to crack an egg between her ears (?), or get rid of her. I watched a friend of mine have their horse fall over on top of them in front of me, and her pelvis was shattered - I know how bad this can be. But, my friend had also been pushing her horse, when he was clearly reluctant to go, and pushing him with her seat while also holding him back in the front. My justification for why I kept trying to ride her was, I don't ever get aggressive, I don't hold her back, and hopefully this means she won't be so stressed and upset that she totally loses control. I just take a handful of mane, turn my head to the side, and lean forward. When she comes back down I'm still sitting up straight, relaxed, balanced on my seat, and focusing on my breathing and my core instead of gripping or pushing her.

I've tried to learn everything I can about saddle fit, tried multiple saddles and examined them closely on her back, taken tracings of her back and withers, as well as feeling her back for soreness, obsessively staring at the sweat marks on her back and the dirt marks on my saddle pad, etc. I try to make sure she is healthy from head to toe: teeth checked yearly, feet trimmed by someone who's really good, every 4 weeks, have the vet check her over and watch her trot on a lunge line whenever they are around for farm calls or giving shots, in case maybe somehow she's sore in some way I'm missing.

I've improved myself tremendously, and now I am seeing her every week, and she moves beautifully on a lunge line.

Years ago, I had tried to ride her bareback, and she moved forward so well in such a big trot that I actually had trouble staying on. It was such a big, huge trot - I felt like her back was tossing me up into the air, and by the time gravity brought me back down, I was landing on her butt! Of course it wasn't that dramatic but, she was moving up and forward so much that without some kind of grip I could barely keep up. Now I'm hesitant to try again without a bareback pad.

I've been so scared of riding her bareback, because I've always been told that it focuses pressure on their spine, and causes serious long term damage.

However, I feel like I have no other choice.

My last concern is that, since she's older now and her back has sunk / her withers look much more pronounced, the Little Joe will bind across her withers. I sent some pictures in to Elizabeth at the website for Little Joe pads, and am hoping she can confirm that the cut of the Little Joe will fit alright. And hopefully start riding my mare! I would love to have more good times with her... she loves to run.

I know this is a really long post! I'm sorry if it's too long! Does anyone else have experience trying to work with a horse who rears? How did it go for you? Do any of you ride bareback because saddles just don't seem to work? Are you concerned about the "long term damage" it's said to cause by putting excess pressure on the spine?

Thanks so much

[ride4fun]

Hi Blue, this board is barely active anymore. The LJ pad worked well on my high withered, somewhat swaybacked gelding. Its a great option for concerns that a saddle tree will pinch the horse somewhere. I wouldn't worry a bit about long term damage from pressure on the spine with this mare. However when I was on a treeless saddle kick I did have other horses tend to always be stuck when I had the Eq. Chiro out so my 2 cents is that *WHEN* a regular saddle with a tree fits and works well that is the best option for spending long hours in the saddle. But for your mare the LJ sounds like a great option. I did distance riding with my gelding and bought a Supracor saddle pad to use under the LJ. I felt that the honeycomb of the Supracor made it fairly stiff so it would spread pressure. If you buy a LJ and it works for you, you can buy that pad if you get to doing long or frequent rides. Supracor costs as much as the LJ, so I would not add until sure the LJ is working and then if you feel you want add something to give a bit of saddle panel effect because you are riding a lot.

I rode a lot of rearing ponies in my youth. Now a rearing horse makes me nervous, but if its not huge I'll use a crop on the shoulder to demand 'forward not up' and that usually works pretty well. One other thing I would say is do long-lining (ground driving but in a round pen) and make sure the mare is not going to react to the bridle by rearing before riding her.