Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

sorry to hear about your accident.  some just arent avoidable.  getting dumped and injured can be very traumatic.  sometimes dusting yourself off and getting back on is a lot easier said than done!

as for bucking in general, what i have found is that the vast majority of horses dont buck, not even once in awhile.  others might buck if something gooses them unexpectedly in the flank or under the belly,(i.e., insect stings, swishing branches) but the ones that are inclined to do that probably will not if you spend some time desensitizing them in these areas.  you can do this by flipping the lead line all around the body, behind the legs, and around the head, until the horse stands quietly and is not bothered by it.

when starting horses under saddle,  i have found that if one has a tendency to buck, it will usually do it the first time i put the saddle on.  when this happens,  i make the horse stop, stand still, then ask it to move again.  if it bucks again, i will make it stop, then start moving again, repeating this procedure until the horse understands that i want it to move out at a walk or trot on the leadline without bucking.  this way the horse learns that bucking under saddle is unacceptable. this has worked really well for me.  i maintain that horses have to learn how to buck under saddle, so i prefer not to teach them!

i have seen some horses that will pitch a little fit, sometimes out of fear, sometimes due to being scared, barn sour or buddy sour.  this is usually not really bucking, but the horse will drop its head and lunge forward, hitting the ground kind of stiff legged. they will usually do this only once or twice in succession, unlike real bucking which will be at least 4-6 repititions or more. lots of people get unseated when this happens.   the best way to prevent this is to do extensive ground work with the horse, lots of flexing excercises, including one rein stops from the saddle, in order to teach the horse to relax.  it is so important with horses to understand that in order to control the body, you must first control the head.   ed