bucking!

[welsh_mountain]

right

i have this horse and he is 14.2 adn 24 years old!

at the moment he thinks he is a 4 year old! galloping around mad and mental!!!
when i ride him he wants to go the other way if i squeeze him he bucks adn canters adn bucks and it is really getting on my nerves!
and when i get of him i am aching and i don't get on him for a bit because he is just a stupid b----r!!

have you got any ideas of tryign to stop him doing it!! because i am getting very sick of him!!

jo

[Jay.o]

if he has just started doing it maybe you should get his back tack and teeth checked !

as he is old it may be his back ! but only a guess !

i havent seen him and i m no expert on that im 14 !

LOL

[welsh_mountain]

we have had teeth adn back done! adn we have checked his tack!

lol! i'm not either!! i'm only 12!!lol!

[Jay.o]

how long has he been doing it for

over a week, month, longer ???

if it was just today maybe he felt a bit frisky and wanted to play about !!!!

[welsh_mountain]

he has been doing it for about a month! its not *get off!* its * weeeee look at me!! * if you know what i mean!

[Jay.o]

you just have to teach him it is not what you expect of him while in the saddle he should get the message !!!!!

i dont really know otherwise !

[FreedomStar]

it's probably because the horse is excited to be ridden or such. Does he not get worked very often because he is so old? Try some longe work with him to settle him down before riding him.

[Showjumper]

Now that it's starting to get colder, I'm sure you'll find most horses will be getting more excited, just like your boy is doing. I used to ride a 26 year old pony, and I used to have a LOT of trouble staying on him when the weather suddenly started morphing into Winter.

[Hels]

Showjumper why do they get more excited in the cold weather? You would think they would want to run around less and just eat and conserve energy.

[Waikato Valuta]

When you want to turn him to the left and he hefuses to go turn right and go all the way round untill you are working that was anyway. if he dose it that way then rurn him the otherway.

It is not letting her get away with it it is saying you are not going to fall out and are still going to work in the direction i want you to work in even if it is on a different rein.

You could also try doing bigger circles and slowly reducing it or working in a manarge and getting him to work away from the track.

As for the bucking when you ask for the transition have someone tell you if your lower leg is moving alot and if you are boncing in the saddle and hitting his back hard. when he gos to buck dont try to stop him either turn him in a very small circle or push he forward and out of it. If he go's to fast then pull him back after you have got him out of the I want to buck stage.

What do you do with him. do you constantly work him in one place or do you always take the same way on a trail ride. He may be boared.

Do you canter him often, and do you get tense when you do it. Try to relax into a sitting trot and then ask for it. He may be getting excited because he only gets to canter wonce in a blue moon.

You could also try cantering him untill he is so tired he dose not have the nergy to race around and then get him working nice and stop.

One word of warning though. If you are totaly shore it is a mental thing and not a physical problem dont let him get away with it is he dose it work himrealy hard untill he works well then stop dont let him intimidate you or the problem will only get worse.

[welsh_mountain]

i have had someone to watch me ride squid and they said that i did'nt come down hard and my legs were not banging on his side ( you know what i mean ) but she did say that i tend to drop the reins abit when we trot! only sometimes she said.so we have to work on that to stop it happening!

i did do loads of hacking ( because he loves hacking! ) we have loads of trails around us and we go exploring ( well id until this! ) and did bridle paths!

we did do a little bit of jumping too but only small ones and some troting poles.

i think he started buckng when he bucked me off ( ahappy buck ) and i fell under him adn he kicked me on my head 4 times!! and after that he has started bucking! weather that has something to do with it,i don't know what do you think?

i try to canter him abit but i always stop because of his bucking!
i'm tense sometimes but not normally

yes i might try and get him to canter round until he is tired1 might stop him them! tooo tired to buck! *hopefully!!!*

[Showjumper]

hels, I have absolutely no idea why they get more hyper in winter - could be because the wind is quite sharp and they think "Whoooooooooo something's happening!!!" or it could just be that the grass is frosty underfoot, and it makes fun noises when they go bonkers on it. *Shrugs* whatever it is it's quite amusing hehe. :D

[Gemma R]

Jo??????

[FreedomStar]

ok, first of all, cantering him until he is tired will not solve the problem. Yes, after awhile he will stop bucking because he is tired, but what about the next time you ride him, and the next??? Is it only when you or someone else is on him that he tries to buck, or is it all the time now when someone asks him? If he does it all the time, I suggest longing him, and get a canter that way. Just canter him nice and easy, but don't try to stop him if he wants to bolt off. You just want to see if he reacts the same way.

[Waikato Valuta]

FreedomStar

I did not mean canter untill he is tired i ment canter him untill he stops bucking and then let him stop. otherwise he may think that when he bucks he get out of work.

welsh_mountain

I do think you being bucked of dose have something to do with it because he got you of and then got to stop, eat grass, ext. so he probably asociates bucking with you getting off his back.

I would strongly recommend some lessons. an also do you ride english or western? If you ride western do you ride with the back strap done up and if so if it very tight? this may enduce bucking.

Have you had the horse checked for a sore back or legs?

How often do you ride him? If you ride him 7days a week he may be soured and if you ride him 1day a week/month because you are scared of him he may be very fresh every thime you go to get on.

[Tootsie4U]

Yes I agree - take him into a round pen or throw a longe line on him and longe him till he gets the idea that "if I do that, youre gonna make me work"!!!!!! eventually he'll realize "Oh gee, I better not do that or else Ill have to run in these little circles for ten minutes".

Its not a crime to longe the spunk out of your horse. Its a matter of conveying respect. It mimics natural body language and social learning of natural horses.

Its your body and your horse - but I'd sure be willing to try longeing rather than getting bruises every day.

[15hhshp]

Rembember, as horses get older, they need longer to warm up, you should probably spend at least 10 minutes in walk, encouraging him to stretch and bend, do plent of transitions after that and make sure hhe is going forwards.
There are many reasons why horses buck, so you illiminate as many possibilities as possible.
If he is simply fresh, doing plenty of suppling exercises will concentrate his mind, and also make sure he is going forwars, as a common reason for bucking into canter is if they are not going sufficiently forwards (by this, obiously i don not mean the speed, but the connection of the horse through his body).
I do not think "to longe the spunk out of your horse" is a good way of dealing with the situation, it does not convey respect from your horse, you just need to find out why your horse is doing it, and see what you can do to improe the situation. Horses minds do not work like humans, he may not connect bucking with being lunged for ages if you see what I mean.
It is not a major problem, stick with it, I am sure he will improve!

[jUmPingIsLifE]

i don't know where u are abouts, but as fall is slowly turning to winter the horses here get very frisky in the chilly weather. you could lounge for 10-15minutes before a ride to get out some of that energy

as others said pain is another possibility. if you can't get rid of the problem i would suggest getting a trainer/instructer out to help you out.

[Gracie]

I think you should do it the other way, do not punish him when he is bad reward him when he is good. When he bucks ask him to move forward. After he moves forward around the ring bring him down to a walk, on a loose rein. Then ask him to move forward at the trot then canter and reward him when he's good!

[GingerPonyz]

As for horses being friskier when it is cold, I think it is because the way horses warm up in chilly weather is by moving around. In the summer, horses are often slow becuase of the heat, so naturally they are friskier in the cold.

[Shady_Indigo]

Remember, if your horse can not get his head down he cannot buck!
Do things to make your horses mind work hard, so he doesn't have the time to think about bucking, serpentines, circles, trotting poles, walking through patterns through poles on the ground forwards and BACKWARDS, lateral work, obstacle courses, are all great things to keep his mind active!