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[RC] how did i get bucked off? advice - Ed Kilpatrickbeverly, when a horse starts bucking, it is best to get your shoulders back, with your feet slightly ahead, and get most of your weight on the balls of your feet. most people get thrown off forward because their feet go back past the centerline of their body, their weight shifts forward, and they just dont have a chance. dont try to squeeze with your legs to hold on. if you do, you will lose a stirrup for sure. just try to straddle the horse with your weight on your feet. it sounds like this horse just got kind of exuberant due to a long layoff and the other horses getting keyed up. with the type of bucking you described, it is usually best to ride the horse through it. he wanted to run anyway, so if you had just driven him forward, he might have just hopped a couple of times, then settled into a canter. i start lots of young horses, and this is pretty
common for them. many times when i first ask for a canter, the horse will crowhop just a little. i usually just spank them with the tail of the rein, and drive them forward. i would say this happened to you for several reasons. it probably would have happened to whomever was on this horse at the time, due to the fact that he had not been ridden in six weeks and was feeling his oats. when someone tells you, oh, that horse has never bucked before, doesnt mean he doesnt know how, just means he has it saved up for a special occasion. you were probably a bit tense because you had not ridden this horse. you were in a group of horses that was keyed up. just a common chain of events with a predictable outcome. oh, and by the way, that old adage, "dust yerself off, and get back on again" doesnt always apply. if you were upset and nervous about
getting back on this horse, it could have happened again. no need to push it. you did the right thing. cowboy ed
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