Re: [RC] Fw: advice on bucking horse please!! - Barbara McCrary
I've recently had a similar experience with
a home-bred 5-year-old mare. I sent her out for saddle training and when
she was ready, we brought her home. The trainer is a good one for most
horses, but her regimen was limited to mostly trail-riding with other
horses. When we brought her home, a younger rider than myself offered to
do some warm-up riding in the arena and was fairly soon bucked off. We
found out the mare had never had a bit in her mouth (rider was using a snaffle)
and had never been accustomed to taking orders (she just mostly followed
the other horses on the trail.) So when she froze in the arena, due to
confusion, and the rider tapped her on the butt to urge forward motion, the mare
bucked. The trainer came back to see what this was all about, and the mare
bucked her off, too. More recently, I've had a different trainer working
with her ala Parelli. Started in on the ground floor as if the mare didn't
know anything. It hasn't taken very long to get her used to accepting
commands and cues and she is doing lovely canters around the arena. So
far, she's just ridden in a rope halter, but in time will graduate to a snaffle
and then onto whatever seems to work the best on her. Unfortunately, the rain
has halted her training for a bit, as the arena is not a covered
one.
I came to the best place to get some advice
guys...so please give me some good tips!
Horse is a 4 yr. old paint. >From what we
have gathered he was owned by an elderly man, sold, and was not put under
saddle till possibly these last 3 weeks (to our knowledge) anyway, he was
getting ready to go thru a sale barn.
We can take him over obstacles ground/saddled, we
have flopped things at him, taken willow branches, ran over his body, under
belly, over the top, over the ears, etc. both ground/saddled, and he does
nothing. But when you go to get on this horse, he will run his butt
under himself and is nervy. We've poked along his back did all kinds of
things trying to find ouchy spots on his back and there is nothing.
Anyway, once you've gotten on him the initial time, you can then get on and
off, but if this horse feels any "leg" what so ever he flies into
bucking. So I don't know if the getting on, he feels like something is
getting him in the belly and therefore that's why the mounting is the same way
the first time or not. He's been backing fine, but the other day he
"locked up" and my husband gave him a squeeze to get his feet moving, and he
reared up. You can have a saddle on him, and stand there run your hands
and poke, prod, whatever in the belly, and he won't do anything. It's
just all in the saddle. We thought that possibly since he hadn't been
broke and possibly sold to a person to go in the sale barn that maybe someone
had gotten spurs on him, and was trying to get him sale ring ready.
Do any of you all have any suggestions?
We've been trying to do a lot of desensitizing, serpentines, suppling,
backing, that's all going well. It's just seems to be limited to
mounting, then legs. Any ideas???????
