Rear & Bucking problems

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Posted : 5/17/2011 1:59:16 AM

So I have been training a horse for a while now & he seems to have a problem that I have no idea about.

Calvin is a great horse, when I started training him he was trained a little but not have gotten ridden in a quite bit. Well, I ended up ground working him for at least the weeks. After that I ended up tacking him getting him used to it. Well, I got him used to the saddle after about two weeks just letting him walk around in it. So I decided to get on him, he walked and turned & did his stunts great! Well, as in a two month of riding him, he ended up changing. Well, Calvin lives right infront of a park, also my pawpaw has his neighbors feed them at night. They seem to be a little off sometimes on weekends & It would worry me cause i wouldn't know if they went back there to mess with him.He started acting really different not listening, running away when i'd come too him. Well, after ground working him, I just put him back in his stall.

Came back the next day, I ground worked him some more and then tacked him up and decided to ride him. He ended up bucking on me. I held on but he was running straight to the barn so I had to let go or he would have rammed me straight into it. We I landed on my knee, I don't understand why he bucked! I checked the padding anything that might have been bothering him. Nothing was there, I checked his feet and they were fine. Well, I let him rest and ended up putting him back into his stall. Well, I went out the day after with a friend cause it was her birthday. I needed to see how Calvin was doing. I ground worked him some more, but I never did it till he was sweating or like ready to just be lazy. My friend wanted to ride him, but i told her I didn't think it was a good idea because the way he has been acting lately. Well, I tack him up to see how he would ride that day, and he ended up bucking on me again, I landed on that same need three times. The third time I couldn't walked because I bruised it so badly. I never knew what was wrong with him, and I am getting pretty worried. I feel like someone is messing with him..

Can anyone tell me what you might think is wrong with him..or any ideas how I can get him to calm down please! I would really appreciate it!

Thanks,
Amber

CozmoandGunner

Posted : 5/17/2011 11:59:41 PM

Don't just assume its a behavior problem. If he was riding alright then bucking started to show. You need to have your vet check him over for any type of discomfort or lameness. It could be a number of things other then a behavior problem and ruling that part of it out will give you a better idea at where to start next. It also might be your posture and how you are riding that is triggering his behavior. If and only if it is a behavior problem, it seems to me that he must be missing something on his ground work. What have you worked with him on, on the ground? There is many things you can do on the ground that will help you prepare for slip ups under saddle and can also eliminate them before they start. One rein stops really come in handy if you do them correctly. Another idea is to lounge him for about 10 or so minutes both directions getting him listening to you and then saddle him up and lounge him some more. Don't just run him around and around and expect him to learn anything. If you are riding him and he does start to hunch up, gets stiff and you feel he is wanting to buck, drive him forward and do some circle work at a trot if your able to. Figure 8's work pretty well. But if he does go ahead and starts bucking, drive him forward into smallers circles, going to the left and then turning and going to the right. Once he starts to relax, reward him with a little break of just calm walking. If he wants to buck, let him know he is gunna have to work even harder. Don't stop him or get off if he starts to buck, this will actually be a reward to him. Always try to end on a good note, a horse will learn if he bucks you off and you put him up right afterwords that his way out of work was to throw you. If he is trying to buck the entire time you ride and then all of a sudden he chills out and is quiet even for a couple minutes, end there for the day.

FreeMare

Posted : 5/19/2011 1:34:48 PM

After makeing sure its not pain. From the vet giving the ok...etc I would try and put some heavy sand bags on the saddle. tie them down so the saddle has weight in it. If you have a found pen, round pen him with them on. This is to show him that there is weight in the saddle. If he starts bucking you know he is waiting to feel your weight in the saddle. After bucking if he does for some time, he will give up knowing the weight is still there. Do this for a day or two. I use this type of training on a lot of horses that have learned, right when the weight is in the saddle is to buck. If he does fine and does not buck start putting more things in the saddle. Like a stuffed bear, I know it sounds funny but it works. The horse can see it and may start bucking for it. Once he comes down reward him and put him away. But dont but him away in his stall, tie him up. Let him stand for some time. This will allow him to think about, when you are putting him away in his stall, his mind wonders. As that is his home, there is food and water and he will lose most of the info from that. If he does well with all that fun stuff, then get into the saddle. Get up, sit there with his head turn to one side. Like a flex. This will keep him from bucking and running off. If he wants to move thats fine. Keep a hold of his head in a flex, once he stops moving. Reward him, sit there for a sec more get off, walk him around then do it again. Do lets of the flexing on the ground. When a horse has a chance to think about bucking is mostly beacuse he has time to think about doing it. Keep his mind on something. Do something that has his mind on you and not about wanting to dumb you at the next stop.