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[RC] How did [I] get [Ended]? Bucked Off! Advice? - Beverley H. Kane, MD

Title: How did [I] get [Ended]? Bucked Off! Advice?
I’m nursing a severely bruised ego this morning and NSAIDs aren’t helping.
(Press 1 to skip this message and get to Questions.)***

Yesterday I got bucked/bailed off for the first time!

The situation was: I was riding someone else’s horse, I’ll call him Miles, whom I’ve ridden before and who is a lovely Tevis veteran.
The owner rode him out and I was riding him back, as we were taking turns trying out a new saddle on the horse I rode out on.
It was cool and drizzly, and the once familiar trail was bizarrely decked out in post-storm detours, fallen trees, puddles, police tape, and killer cones.
The other 2 horses were having “issues” during the ride—1 spooking and 1 impatient to keep moving out.

About 2 miles into my turn, Miles wanted to canter. I held him back, as they are generally not allowed to break gait til the leader says so. He got off 2 big bucks and then I bailed, for a controlled landing on grass. (Found out later that this was his usual cantering stretch, so he was programmed to GO!---but he’s never bucked before!) I was pretty sure the bucking was due to our altercation over gait, but I also thought something might be sticking into him or he just wanted me off or...who knows what? Decided not to let Blue Cross figure out what.

After retrieving Miles from a near-runaway situation, I had to decide whether to re-mount or ask the owner to ride him. I felt duty and honor-bound to get back on Miles, but was a bit shell shocked and so did the wussy thing and switched back to the horse I rode out on. Miles was good as gold on the way back (during which he was allowed to canter part of the way).

Physically undamaged, I kept a stiff upper lip for the rest of the ride, the post-ride socializing, and the 2 hr drive home. Then 3 hrs after I got back I started sobbing hysterically on da hubby’s shoulder—so I knew I better deal with it and try to minimize the chance of it happening again.

***Questions--
  1. What is your favorite way for riding out bucks (body position)?
  2. How do you tell if a horse will keep on bucking or settle down?
  3. What is your favorite way to stop bucking?
  4. Should I have gotten back on Miles immediately?
  5. Miles is out in a big pasture but hadn’t been ridden in 6 weeks, when he did a 50. Is that a long time in terms of pent up energy?
  6. Why Me, God/dess? Does the fact that Miles never bucked before mean that I did something specifically wrong during the ask for lower gear? I am pretty balanced w/ minimal rein contact, but I definitely don’t ride as well as his owner. Do you think he was resentful about that? I also know from my training in equine assisted psychotherapy that horses act out riders’/handlers’ pent up “stuff” (hmmmm...probably N/A here) or in/authenticity (hmmmm....could be), or...[your favorite theory HERE].


Thanks!

Beverley