What To Do When The Worst Happens
Submitted by: Connie Warner
Phone: 804-721-0054
Email Address: conniewarner(at)warnerssporthorses.com
Date Added: 12/31/2011
The following isn't intended as a Do-It-Yourself horse training guide, but here are some safety tips when your horse acts his worse. What to Do When Your Horse....
Bucks
Pull his head up. If you can't think of anything else to do, pull his head up. If your able to react quickly enough; pull his head, sit up tall, put your lower leg forward. It's a great idea to pratice this BEFORE the emergency occurs! Horses are not able to buck when their head is in the air.
Rears
Good luck trying to find good information on how to handle this problem. The usual advice is to send your horse to a trainer. This is very true. You should never deal with rearing unless your a professional. However if your horse unexpectedly rears, do the following: lean forward (2 point position, good for all riders to learn, not just jumping ones), make your reins loose, grab mane, don't yell, kick him or try to punish him.
Worse thing you could ever do is pull back on the reins when he's going up. You can pull him over backwards. Don't try to punish him either. There is some horrible advice out there about breaking water balloons over the horse's head when he's rearing or knocking him in the head with a crop or similar items. I don't care what expert tells you this, this is a good way to get seriously injured or even killed.
The higher a horse rears, the more unsteady he becomes on his feet. If he pops up a little bit, that one thing. But if he's High-ho-Silver, than look out! Try to keep your horse as calm as possible when he is this upset. You can't control that he rears or not, but if you can keep calm yourself, you'll better the odds you'll stay safe.
Spooks
I still hate spooking. It always makes me spook as well! The best thing you can do is pratice good riding position. So when your horse spooks in the future, you'll have a better seat to ride out the quick jump to the side.
You have a choice when deciding to wear a safety helmet. I think the above situations are a good reason!
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