Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Carolyn Burgess wrote:

> I had a horse that was a champion bucker.

I had a horse that was a champion bucker. We could not figure out why. 
He'd tossed two trainers and put the former owner in the hospital - you 
think I was getting on him ;-) ?

We found a local NH trainer that also rode rodeo in his younger days and 
liked problem horses. I suspected that once we found out why he bucked - 
we could solve it. But we first needed to understand the problem.

First time Todd comes out he put his big old Western saddle on Avanti. 
This is a short backed Arab boy did that look funny. Then he goes to 
girth it up and says - I don't know if I have a girth big enough. He 
used a girth he used on warmbloods. Then Todd says I think I know the 
problem. We take him to the round pen and as soon as Todd asked Avanti 
to canter he set out bucking like crazy.

Seems that Avanti has a huge heart girth. When he canters - the chest 
expands, hits the girth and he panics. After we figured it out Todd came 
up with a program to desensitize Avanti. In about 5 trips Todd was 
riding Avanti.

I've been riding Avanti four about 5 months now. The only time he bucked 
on me was when I asked for a canter. At that time, however, the saddle I 
was using on him didn't fit well so I suspect that was the problem. 
Since I gotten him a saddle that fits - he hasn't offered to buck.

Sometimes when they are bucking they are really trying to tell you 
something, but their vocabulary is not that big.

Truman

--

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our 
humanity."

- Albert Einstein




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