Bucking

When L's horse started doing this a couple years ago, she was told to have her horse circle once to each side then back up when he tried bucking/kicking. Doing this really helped.

[quote=Cow Pie Girls]

When L's horse started doing this a couple years ago, she was told to have her horse circle once to each side then back up when he tried bucking/kicking. Doing this really helped.

I'm glad you posted such a sensible response cuz I was going to say beat the snot out of him and that's probably not the best way of handling bucking.  []

Thanks - my first impulse was to beat the snot out of him too but I refrained.

Thanks - that does indeed sound like a sensible approach as hunterseat stated.  I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

my horse used to do that and my first response was to lay down the law which i am shameful about i regret getting mad at my horse cause he didnt quite get it but its been resolved
my second thought would be health he could be out somewhere or the saddle could be pinching when he moves a certain way for example into the lope
then my third would be just a habit which can be broken someone told me once to break a habit you have to counter it like 28 times or something like that....useless information anyway what i did when i felt my horse tense to buck is i turned him in an extremly tight circle to get his feet moving then kept going i didnt stop i kept him moving and if he tried again another tight circle keep moving
good luck!!!!

yep sounds to me like it has become a habit for him.  Most of the time for this I say if they want to buck they can buck but I'm going to give them something to buck about.  What I do is make sure the saddle is cinched right and that the flank strap, rear cinch (different names for different folks) and make sure that is good and snug.  Not as tight as the front but still snug.
 
If your horse knows how to lounge, here is what I do next.  I free lounge them for about 10 minutes and at the end make them lope for 5 minutes.  If the horse breaks into a buck I very quickly step in and really drive them forward with the flag.  And really make them hustle a couple of laps then back off.  When they relax I'll bring them back to a trot for a while and then ask for the lope again.  Same thing if they buck I hustle him around the arena or another way is to very quickly have them change directions several times till they just move off.
 
Its important that if this has been a learned behavior of someone pulling on his mouth as they ask for the canter that you have him bridled up and take the reins off.  This way he learns to move off without the added presure of the bit and is only holding it in his mouth.
 
 
Another way I work through this if the horse is just bound and determined to keep bucking, I will get him all saddled up go through the above ideas and if that isn't working I take a horse handling rope, xxxs nylon with a large honda that releases pressure imidiatly.  I make a large loop and step the horse through it and lay it over the saddle seat until it is between the front and rear cinch.  With the horse on a 14 ft lead line I will have them move through the paces again this time tightening the rope around the girth and releasing it.  If the horse bucks then I keep the slight pressure on the rope till the horse stops and release the pressure.  This way the horse gets an instant reward of no pressure the moment he stops bucking.  This is something though that can be done really wrong but there are a couple of big name trainers that I have seen use this as well.  I think Denis Reis has used it and I watched Chris Cox do this with a ranch horse that had become so use to bucking to get out of work that they didn't even use him anymore.  That ol horse sure got tired of bucking and when your not up there the ground doesn't hurt near as bad.  But if you want to try this then I suggest doing some homework on it just to be sure you are comfortable with the two ropes and all.
 
If you are riding him if you feel him tense up and get ready to pitch a fit, just like the others said, turn him a tight tight circle and make him hustle a few circles before you ask again.  If he starts to tense again, change directions on him and use your leg to disengage the hindend.  If he wants to buck going into a lope then it needs to be way more work not to lope than to just go.  Also when he does take off, most likely it will be a faster lope than your use to but its important to let him stride out for a while before shuting him down.  That way he realizes how much easier it is to just go when asked.
 
Hope I gave you some new ideas.  Good luck and be safe.

My mare started bucking when i asked her to lope i knew at once it was her being retarded i just had a custom saddle made for her and her teeth were floated a week ago......so i asked her to lope and she started bucking i put her into a tight circle..... That did the trick that day, the next time i rode her she started bucking when i asked for the lope agin this time i was o no we are not playing this game no mam. the arena were i work her at is pretty freaken big 200 by100 what i did i asked her on the rail (only on the rail) to lope if she started to buck i would ask her to stop make her turn on her haunches and go the other direction i asked her again to lope if she buck i would stop her make her turn on the haunches and go the other direction i did this over and over and over untill i asked on the rail to lope and she had a very smooth take off and we went 3times around the arena with out a buck.........Now i had to do this the next time i rode her she staarted bucking but after 2 times of working on the rail she finally stopped its been 5years sense she bucked so it worked for me.....I hope  this helps