At least he's calm afterwords. Most people on Bad_Riding seem to always have tense horses before and after asking for the rear. I have a horse that will do the same thing if you apply reins and leg for backing/forward and he'll be fine once you stop making those cues.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I wonder that most of the people we see don't teach their horses to do it by pissing them off enough that they resort to it, then they reward the behaviour.
I think it's especially dangerous to do with a horse like Champ who's inclination to express any frustration is to start going up. Up until this point I've always taken care not to aggravate him to the point of a full-blown rear - before this he's mostly just lifted both his legs in a little faux-levade kind of threat. But he carries his head so high and sucks back so much that it was obvious that not pausing to chill his brain would make him escalate. Still, I didn't expect that much of a response from asking so decisively!
But I bet you're right. Some of these kids just agitate their horses into rearing, then call it training and think it's a great trick.
The huge difference, as you pointed out, it they are rewarding that type of response. Unfortunately if any of those horses were to be sold, they wouldn't be safe for any rider who may accidentally give those cues.
The yahoos who 'train' them to rear must have never had a horse flip on them. I had a horse that had been ridden like this before, his reaction would be to hop, go a bit higher, go higher, go higher, then flip. Every time you asked for something he didn't like, he'd start small and work into a flip even if you quit asking or dismounted. There was a screw loose in him from bad riding/training. He's a happy trail horse after tons of work.
I have asked my barrel horse into a small rear or two.
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I think it's especially dangerous to do with a horse like Champ who's inclination to express any frustration is to start going up. Up until this point I've always taken care not to aggravate him to the point of a full-blown rear - before this he's mostly just lifted both his legs in a little faux-levade kind of threat. But he carries his head so high and sucks back so much that it was obvious that not pausing to chill his brain would make him escalate. Still, I didn't expect that much of a response from asking so decisively!
But I bet you're right. Some of these kids just agitate their horses into rearing, then call it training and think it's a great trick.
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The yahoos who 'train' them to rear must have never had a horse flip on them. I had a horse that had been ridden like this before, his reaction would be to hop, go a bit higher, go higher, go higher, then flip. Every time you asked for something he didn't like, he'd start small and work into a flip even if you quit asking or dismounted. There was a screw loose in him from bad riding/training. He's a happy trail horse after tons of work.
I have asked my barrel horse into a small rear or two.
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