Will he grow out of bucking ?

[TEDDY5]

Hi everyone

My boy is 5yrs old and he is continually bucking when I ask him to canter, he will normally do one on the transition then he will put in another more excited buck when we are having a 'nice' canter and it will come out of nowhere so I can never relax with him as I have come off a couple of times and it's really spoiling the pleasure and I am losing my nerve on the faster paces. His first saddle pinched him a bit so I got the saddler out and he now has a new saddle and I have had his back and teeth checked and they are both fine, does anyone know how I can get him out of this habit ? I realise he is young but my friends horse is only 4 and she is good as gold !! can horses just mature and grow out of this behaviour?

[Denbenj]

I guess hes maybe relating it to pain if his last saddle pinched and almost got into the habit of bucking by the sounds of it. He is young and seen as you have had him checked over I guess its a case of working him through it. Kai recently had a faze of bucking in canter ( just little bouncy ones!) he is very VERY lazy and was more irritated by the fact I was trying to get him to work.. it was a constant battle and ended in him napping even to go into the schooling paddock. In the end I have avoided schooling and hes happy back hacking now... I have tried to take his mind of the schooling thing. whilist asking for canter on hacks hes great now!

[TEDDY5]

I guess hes maybe relating it to pain if his last saddle pinched and almost got into the habit of bucking by the sounds of it. He is young and seen as you have had him checked over I guess its a case of working him through it. Kai recently had a faze of bucking in canter ( just little bouncy ones!) he is very VERY lazy and was more irritated by the fact I was trying to get him to work.. it was a constant battle and ended in him napping even to go into the schooling paddock. In the end I have avoided schooling and hes happy back hacking now... I have tried to take his mind of the schooling thing. whilist asking for canter on hacks hes great now!

Well my boy is very VERY lazy I thought it could be because he can't be bothered to canter and he is trying to get me off !!

[Denbenj]

Try giving him a break from schooling and relax... hack out and enjoy a plod about.. then perhaps reintroduce schooling I must admit it did Kai a world of good. He seemed to simply get sick of schooling... some horses also simply dont take to it! Kai is happiest out and about hacking and driving on the roads and across the county!... Put him in a paddock to school hes a git !!:D

[frazz_starlight]

Helped by giving my bucking youngster a break too by hacking alot and having the odd canter on a hack, now he doesn't buck at all, even when ridden bareback in canter.
He used to buck when he was tapped with the whip, but seemed to grow out of it as you say.
So have some fun with him!
xxx

[Emerald_city]

sometimes they do it if they feel un balanced, my cob puzzle is Alot older than yours :p but he was nearly completely green to the school and so when we canter in the school he does a buck sometimes if hes unbalanced , hes getting out of this now we have done some excersises to get him more in balance and hes getting alot better with it, balance is a big thing for youngsters anyway so try to do some excersises to improve his balance aswell , but i agree with the hacking mainly , but dont give up on the schooling!
Good luck :D

[frazz_starlight]

sometimes they do it if they feel un balanced, my cob puzzle is Alot older than yours :p but he was nearly completely green to the school and so when we canter in the school he does a buck sometimes if hes unbalanced , hes getting out of this now we have done some excersises to get him more in balance and hes getting alot better with it, balance is a big thing for youngsters anyway so try to do some excersises to improve his balance aswell , but i agree with the hacking mainly , but dont give up on the schooling!
Good luck :D

I have the same unbalenced problem.
What excercises do you do to help?
xx

[Alfies-slave]

Echo the thoughts about pain association.

He is only a baby so taking it easy won't do any harm. Try and project and request calmness at all times. If you stress up expecting the bucking he will sense your adrenoline which will excite him... possibley encouraging bucking.

A month or so of calm, quiet hacking, then ask for a calm canter. If you have a hill handy, all the better, a horse can't buck so high going uphill so it will make you worry less. If he does buck the back end won't come up so high.

It sounds like 2 things are going on here.

1, anticipation of pain (which no longer comes)
2, Excitement, fed by adrenoline or nervous anticipation of the rider.

Either way, he has been 'trained' in to this behaviour... so he can be trained in to the correct behaviour through calm, quiet riding.

If all fails, turn him away for a few months over the winter, bring him in in the spring, bring him back in to work gently and chances are he will have forgotten all about it!

Don't depress yourself over it!

[MajorityRules]

Don't they go through the terrible 5's? aha. Sometimes, I think I heard horses go through terrible 5's like children go through terrible 2's?

I know when I first taught Ginger to canter, she gave an "I feel good buck" when I asked, and when she was going.. but with time she got out of it.

[TEDDY5]

Thanks for your replies guys, all this bucking is on a hack unfortunately I don't school him often because he hates it !! my trainer school's him once a wk for an hour and she has not even got to cantering yet ! I have got a brave 16 yr old riding him for me a couple of times a wk so he can have fun, I hate kids they have no fear !!!!!!!!:mad: she rode him yesterday and they had 3 short canters and he did not buck at all on the first 2 then he spoilt it by putting in a buck in the middle of the third canter he could not buck too high because I have invested in a Daisy rein !!!

[carthorse]

Mine didn't grow out of it but he did perfect the technique. I'd now defy almost anyone to stay on him when he starts! Luckily it's only on grass so the solution is simple - avoid grass at all costs!

[carrimclaren]

Have to agree with alfies-slave that it does still sound very like he's still thinking pain is coming and oh look at this new thing i can do to get rid of it.
Maybe just easing off with him and taking things slowly would be a good idea. There must be some reason that he hates the schooling sessions so maybe finding out why would be a good idea because groundwork and schooling are really the basis for getting a nicely relaxed and well schooled horse. Once he has good schooling it will be easier to handle the bucking if he is still doing it. 5 yrs old is still a young horse which needs careful handling and just bear in mind what you do with him now will be a blueprint for his years to come. Maybe just doing groundwork exercises, just walking him and then working into trot when he's ready and just ignoring canter for now would be a good idea? But then i have to say i don't have lot of experience with youngsters and schooling so this is just an opinion :)
Whatever you decide good luck and i hope you both work it out, i'm sure you will :)

[Palomino Mare]

hi, my 6yo started fly bucking when asked for canter. he had 7weeks off due to mutual leg injuries and he hasnt **touches wood** done it since!