Why Horse Rearing Happens and How To Stop It

Rearing horses may look majestic, but the behavior can quickly become dangerous for both horses and their human handlers. Horses naturally rear during play or aggression with their own species. However, a horse rearing when being led or ridden may be expressing pain or fear.

Any horse that suddenly begins rearing up, or if their rearing becomes more frequent over time, should be seen by an equine veterinarian.

What Is Horse Rearing?

Rearing is a natural equine posture seen in both wild and domestic horses. A horse will briefly stand up on just their back legs, and may paw or strike forward with the front legs. They may “dance” by taking a few steps with their hind limbs before coming back down to the ground.

Horses usually land back on all four hooves after rearing, but if a horse is on slick ground, fearful, or unbalanced, they may fall over backward or on their side. 

Similarly, if a horse has a rider and their rider becomes unbalanced or pulls frantically during a rear, this may cause the horse to land incorrectly to the side or backward due to the weight distribution altering their normal landing. Depending on the way the horse falls, this can cause serious injury to both horse and rider. 

Some forms of horse rearing can be trained for horses to perform on command, such as the highly controlled levade and courbette movements seen in some dressage horse performances. Specially trained horses that work as equine actors or models may also be taught to rear on command.

These unusual cases aside, most equestrians see rearing in horses as a serious behavior problem because it poses a safety issue. 

Reasons Why a Horse Rears

Rearing in free-roaming horses is mainly seen as part of the mate selection process. Stallions fighting over a mare often rear while clashing with hooves and teeth. These fights may leave one or both horses seriously injured. Stallions may also rear up in excitement before mounting a mare for breeding.

Domestic horses may rear for different reasons. Here are a few of the most common:

• Pain: Rearing in horses is often an attempt to escape discomfort.

• Fear: A horse urged to move toward a frightening place or object may rear. If they are receiving multiple cues from the rider, such as forward pressure and tension or pulling on the reins, this may further incline an anxious horse to rear in these situations.

• Roughhousing: Geldings and young colts often rear while playing. Unlike combat between breeding stallions, play-fighting can be a normal social behavior. 

• Sexual arousal: Stallions and some geldings may rear as an expression of sexual excitement.

• Learned behavior: Some horses discover that rearing up is an effective way to control their environment. For instance, rearing may cause a fearful rider to dismount, teaching the horse to repeat this behavior whenever they don’t want to be ridden.

What To Do When Horse Rearing Becomes a Problem

Horses that rear when handled or ridden present a serious danger to themselves and to humans. A rearing horse may throw their rider or strike a handler with their front hooves. In some cases, rearing horses may fall backward, potentially fracturing their skull, withers, or hip bones or land on their rider.

Horse Rearing as a Physical Problem

According to Merle DerVartanian, DVM, equine veterinarian with Conejo Valley Equine in Thousand Oaks, California, rearing in horses should be treated as a physical problem until proven otherwise.

“You have to rule out pain first,” DerVartanian says. “As a veterinarian, we look for back pain, neck pain, hoof pain, joint pain, and even gastric ulcers. An oral exam is important, too, because horses with pain in their mouths [or temporomandibular joint (TMJ)] may rear.”

In addition to full-body physical and lameness exams, rearing horses seen by DerVartanian’s practice may receive X-rays; myelograms, which typically use contrast dyes in the spinal canal during the X-ray process; bone scans; or CT scans.

Although these diagnostic procedures can be expensive, they’re sometimes the only way to pinpoint the cause of a particular horse’s rearing.

Jodi Heaston, CERP (certification of equine physical rehabilitation), of Kinesthesia Equine, agrees. “With rearing, I’m going to advocate for as many diagnostics as someone is willing to do,” she says. “I’m also going to take a detailed history over the phone before I see the horse. I want to know if they have had a trailering accident, if they raced and had an issue in the starting gate, if they’ve ever flipped over, if they fell in the cross-ties, if they pull back when tied, [or] if there are any vices such as weaving or cribbing. All of these things can be [related] to clinical issues.”

Certain breeds may also be prone to congenital defects that can cause pain-related rearing, lameness, or other behavioral issues. Cervical Vertebral Malformation, or Wobbler Syndrome, can manifest as problem behaviors under saddle.

Horse Rearing as a Behavioral Problem

If thorough diagnostics find no physical reason for rearing, the issue may be behavioral.

According to Angi Murray, a professional horse trainer and co-founder of Wrong Turn Ranch, a Los Angeles-based equine rehabilitation nonprofit, “Rearing is a horse not feeling like it can move forward—either from the rider’s hands, an obstacle ahead of them that creates mental pressure, or anything that makes them feel unable to move forward.”

“Often it is from poor training, and that can be very hard to deal with,” DerVartanian agrees. “Personality is also a factor.”

Horses that learn rearing to be an effective method of unseating their rider or avoiding training aspects may be more difficult to retrain. Young colts that do this as a social behavior should be taught early on that it’s unacceptable behavior, especially if done around a handler.

Horses who rear due to lack of training or improper training should be placed on a behavior modification plan, created by an equine behaviorist or an experienced trainer in conjunction with your veterinarian.

How To Manage a Horse That Rears

Strategies to address rearing in horses may include:

• Management changes: Your trainer or behaviorist may recommend changes to your horse-keeping practices before starting a new training program.

• Restarting: A horse whose initial riding training was traumatic or inadequate may need to be retrained completely, as if they have never been saddled or ridden.

• Reinforcing forward motion: “Rearing is fixed by slower training, and teaching them to move out instead of shutting down and going up,” Murray says. A confident, experienced rider with soft hands should ride the horse briskly forward, praising the horse for moving out freely.

• Desensitization: For horses who rear when exposed to scary stimuli, a program of systematic desensitization can reduce the likelihood of strong fear responses.

• Retraining the rider: A horse who rears with one rider, but not with others, may be responding to that particular rider’s emotional state or riding technique. In these cases, the rider may need lessons specifically geared toward this issue. Equestrians dealing with fear may benefit from seeing a sports psychiatrist.

Avoid trainers who punish a rearing horse. According to Murray, rearing is often caused by confusion about the meaning of pressure cues, so adding more pressure won’t solve the problem.

Heaston recommends that owners build a comprehensive, consistent team to rehabilitate a rearing horse, including a veterinarian and a committed long-term trainer.

“The last thing I want is for rearing to become a horse’s story, and for them to be passed from trainer to trainer as a result,” she says. “Nothing makes me more sad than that. It endangers people, and it endangers the horse.”

Even after completing veterinary treatment and/or a behavior modification program, monitor your horse’s body language with care while handling and riding. Signs that a horse may be uncomfortable or anxious include strained facial expressions, pinned ears, balking, and “dancing” with the front hooves while planting the hind feet firmly.

Consider wearing protective equipment such as a helmet and either a body protector or an air vest.

With time, patience, and treatment of any underlying physical conditions, horses with a history of rearing can become reliable riding partners.