# Rolling while riding



## free_sprtd (Oct 18, 2007)

It's very easy to predict if a horse is going to roll, and very easy to keep it from doing so. They paw and put their head down, if you keep their head up and distract them, then keep em moving, there will be no rolling. Someone actually told me they can't roll unless they put their head down, so if that is true, then you must keep it up . No this has never happened to me thankfully.


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## QtrHorse (Oct 13, 2008)

I agree this is a bit different that an arena situation. But, when they want to they will.
Coming down a steep trail in Eastern Oregon a horse in front of me stepped on an big in-ground wasp nest. Needless to say they came flying out on the attack. My son got stung 3 times on his ear (required a vist to the Baker City Hospital as his ear was 3X's the size) and the horses got it too. Thank goodness my mare waited until we were in a flat area but she went down with no notice at all to roll because of the stings. Just jump off and get the saddle off asap.


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

My first pony would roll with me on her (I was like 6). She would start to put her head down... then down her body would go. I wasnt strong enough to keep her head up. If anyone stronger then me would ride her she wouldnt do it. I learned to bail off in a hurry, but we ended up selling her to a pony ring.


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## RusticWildFire (Jul 6, 2008)

I've had my horse try to do that and I've seen several trying to do that. If you keep their head up they shouldn't roll. (I've also heard that they _can't_..but I'm not sure about that) But, if you can keep the head up make him/her work really hard for a little bit to know that that is the _wrong_ thing to do. It can be scary though! Glad she wasn't hurt.


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## KateS (Jul 3, 2008)

My horse did that to me when I was younger. Now that I look back I'm pretty sure she did it because something was painfull or very irritating because she only did it on one ride and I stopped riding her after she lay down for the second time. She has never done anything like that again. But I agree with what everyone else is saying about keeping the horses head up and work them. Of course if it is a pain issue then get off the horse.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

ha ha ha... yes.... We has mounted games training at pony club one day, and it was super hot so we walked the horses in about belly deep into the dam to cool off. they were splashing around, having a great time, when this one horse, just plopped down and rolled! It was hilarious, the girl riding him got soaked, her saddle/saddle cloth got soaked (it was a synthetic saddle) oh my I don't think i've ever laughed so hard. It helped that the girl it happened to was an insufferable know-it-all and was always cruel to her horse when SHE made a mistake. Made it all that much sweeter :]

Often the horses will try and roll in the dam, but if you keep their head up and make them move forward they can't. We often let our horses in the dam loose though, and they roll and swim and have a ball :]


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## Pinto Pony (Jul 28, 2008)

My neighbours appy used to get down after a work out if you stopped. He would get a rather hard slap with a whip the moment he bent his knees to go down and back into work. Unfortunately he needed to learn that rolling was wrong but he was allowed to stand quietly. He learnt quickly though and I got rid of the habit, at least when I was riding him...

Also Kai has tried to roll on me when we are in water! He would be pawing at the water splashing then just buckle his front legs, he got a nasty kick in the ribs and I made him get out! So I took his saddle off and then took him back into the water, he didn't want to roll when I let him, oops!


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## Horsegma (Dec 1, 2008)

I had it happen for the first time this past summer.

My friend brought her horse over to my arena and I also took a ride on her. 

She did the pawing thing, but, I thought she was impatient because I was waiting while my friend mounted my horse. 

Not knowing her horse well enough to know she was being impatient, she just wanted to take advantage of the sand that was at her feet and roll. 

I kept her going the first time when I just thought she was impatient, the second time I figured it out too late and down she went, off I went and off came my friend from my horse to give her horse a kick so she didn't ruin her saddle! 

All turned out well, I know her horse a bit more now! :wink:


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## Bitless (Jan 11, 2008)

Boo tried it on me once....in the water :? 
He went on to his knees before i even realised he was going down....was kinda waiting for a minute....like he was waiting for me to get off :lol: So i pulled himback to his feet. lol. Hes never tried it again  my lovely boy, so polite, haha. 


I have been on a ride with this lady once, she had 4 horses, and had some kids on 3 of them and she was on her big horse, all bareback. When we got to some water all her ponies started to roll, and to my horror they were allowed :shock:. the ponies were pretty much encouraged to lie down in the mud with these kids o them. and of course one kid fell off and this poor scared young pony took off back home :? So i went of on Boo and caught her....luckily. 


But yea....deffiently not something to encorage, and luckily my boy practicly asked first, lol.


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## Equuestriaan (Nov 5, 2008)

I can imagine if you knew the horse was going to roll, it wouldn't be too hard to keep them on their feet. Just kick them and get them moving and they won't try anything. A horse has only rolled with me once. The thing is, I had no clue he was going to roll. Here's what happened:

I had just mounted and was adjusting my stirrups. Dakota was just walking around and I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. He stopped and put his head down and so I gave him more rein, assuming he was just going to scratch his nose on his leg. I was staring down doing my stirrups and I felt some sort of a weird motion... I can't really describe what if felt like but I didn't think at first he was going down. Then all of a sudden I realized he was on his knees, and my feet were almost touching the ground!

It's amazing how smooth it is. I didn't even realize what was happened. Suddenly I knew I had to get off immediately. I just kinda slid my feet out and stood up, and he was between my legs for a second before I just walked away. It was weird. Then he just started rolling! I was just kinda standing there looking at him. The funny thing was that he wasn't doing it to crush me... I would have been killed if I hadn't gotten off, but Dakota seemed to be waiting for me to get off before he rolled. I guess he figured he couldn't roll while I was sitting there!


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

It happened to me once because the horse was colicking.


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