Saturday, July 12, 2008

Stop A Bucking Horse

Have you have ever gotten in a situation where your horse begins to buck with you while having a nice trail ride and you end up on your bum? If so, then from that time on you have probably made certain to be on your guard about it happening again. There are certain steps you can follow that will help you to stop the horse in it's proverbial tracks before he can throw you off his back.
Pay attention to your horses behavior in relation to how he is tacked out. Is he personable, finicky, irritable, quick to run? Or is he being very docile and walk slowly? Make sure before you do any riding at all that the saddle and tack fit your horse as perfectly as possible. The trick is to avoid any pinches or pokes by the equipment. Before getting angry and trying to punish your horse for bucking, check your saddle and headstall to make sure it was not that versus something to do with behavior issues. Horses usually buck for a good reason, but every now and then you will find one that has had bad training and does not like to be ridden. As stated before, this is only the case on rare occasions.
The signs that your horse may be about to buck are, ears pinned back; turning his head to look at you; dropping his head quickly to the ground or even tensing up under saddle and moving around. There may be no signs at all that there is anything wrong so it takes a watchful eye. When a horse bucks he drops his head down while kicking his back legs up and out in to the air with a huge amount of force. The usual reasons he bucks are to kick the horse next to him or his saddle is pinching him and causing discomfort in some way.
The first thing you do when a horse is bucking is pull the reins back as far and tight as you can to pull the horses head up. It is a physical impossibility to buck if his head is up in the air. Stand in your stirrups to help keep your balance and try to stay off his back so that he is bucking under you. If you get no results then take the right or left rein only and pull the horses head around to the side. This will cause him to move forward in to a circle where you can get control of him.

posted by Posh Pampered Pets @ 7:18 PM