Everyone's an expert

A lady on another blog is having problems with her bucking horse.

One thing that really annoys me about the internet is everyone is an expert.

I have pretty limited experience with consistently bucking horses.  And even if I had a lot of experience, I think I'd be hesitant to tell someone what to do if I couldn't see them and their horse in person.

I have ridden a lot of horses that will toss a buck in here or there--from excitement, landing after a jump, stumbling, nervousness, or confusion.  Those kind of bucks.  Not the kind of rodeo bucks she's describing with her horse, combined with a bad attitude.

I did ride a horse very long ago who was a pretty consistent bucker.  His name was Flame, and he was a middle aged sorrel Morgan.  Very cute little guy.  His past was dubious and had I known it I might have been able to see his problems more clearly.  For a while, I was the only one riding him.  I remember he bucked going into the trot, he bucked going into the canter.  He bucked at random occasionally.  He wasn't a bronco, but he bucked a lot.

He seemed to improve somewhat with consistency.  I remember we did a lot of riding forward, forward, forward.  And being very soft about cues.  I think my instructor at the time paired me up with him because I tend to be the over-sensitive type.

In retrospect I think he was just not cut out for the inconsistency of having multiple riders.  Eventually he was bought by a girl about my age who went all the way back to the beginning, doing Parelli exercises with him (which, way back then before they got all crazy, was just about solid groundwork).  As far as I remember they had moderate success in the saddle.  I don't know if his bucking problem ever went away.

The way I see it, there can't be just one way to "solve" a bucking problem.  Hereafter, I'm talking about a bucking problem that isn't pain related.

There must be at least as many solutions as there are reasons for bucking.

But at its root, bucking is a very loud signal from your horse that he doesn't want you to ignore.  But it's sort of like yelling "HEY!"

That could mean a lot of things, based on the tone it's said in and the surrounding environment.

In Flame's case, I'm pretty sure he was bucking as a long-ago learned response to confusing stimuli.

Our reaction as riders to bucking seems to also vary greatly based on what discipline we're grounded in.

If I'm allowed to grossly generalize from my personal experience and what I've seen...

Western folks are likely to boot a horse through a bucking session with minimal contact on the reins--if you can't prevent it, then you're going to ride it out, but you aren't going to take hold of the horse's face with both hands while you're doing it.  Occasionally one rein is used.

English folks are likely to whip the horse up into contact that already exists.  Applying the whip behind the girth is a fairly clear signal to go "forward", and since most english horses are schooled in contact, feeling the bit isn't unusual for them and they can go forward into it.  Tight contact is usually held.

But there are as many ways to train a horse as there are to untrain one.

In the immortal words of my long-ago Dressage instructor:  "Sure, you could reach up and twist the ear for a canter depart, but at some level of training that just doesn't make sense."

What she means is, you can train your horse to respond to anything.  But that doesn't make it right.

I think in any situation like this, if you'll accept my previous caveat, and the warning that exists with all the "advice" I give:

You need to make the situation as clear as possible for the horse.

I admit, I had some brief scary moments with Chev during our indoor arena session the other day.

If you watch horses out in the pasture, they are masters of the macho bluff.

They'll squeal, rear, and strike at each other, from distances that are so far they couldn't possibly hurt one another--hoping to psych the other one out.  One backs down, and the other rises in rank.  They are horses.  This works for them.

Most horses are just as happy to be down on the chain of command as they are being captain.

They just want to know where their place is.  They take security in that.

When Chev started acting like she was heading into a rear/buck/spin combo, I swallowed my fear, brought out my loudest growl, and booted her forward as hard as I could.

And guess what?  She backed down immediately.  She didn't try that again.  All of a sudden, I was more important to listen to than the wind.  I was more important to listen to than anything, because I was demanding all the attention.  As soon as she shot forward, I went back as close to neutral as I could.  That showed her she had done the right thing.  I didn't keep booting, or yelling.  I just went back to everything being fine.  And so did she.

So the bucking horse only needs know two things  (again, this doesn't apply to the horse who is bucking because he is in pain):

1. The present behavior is unacceptable.

2.  What to do instead.

If you're only doing step 1, your horse is probably not getting better.

If you're only doing step 2, your horse is probably not getting better.

Clear, clear, clear.  In my non-pro opinion, contact should be dropped if it gets in the way of the very linear command GO FORWARD.

Even if a horse is trained to contact, it is still a blocking aid.  It doesn't matter how horsey goes forward, just that he doesn't sull up and try to buck.  It's hard to buck when the feet are moving.  Although some talented horses are capable of that.


Anyway, as I said, everyone on the internet's an expert.


I think it's dangerous to give advice on a horse and rider I haven't seen.

That being said, horse people are going to offer you all kinds of advice.  We're kind of nosy by nature.  Try to follow your instincts and take everything with a grain of salt.