Very different than what was originally posted but the same result to the unsuspecting rider, sadly and shows that the horse still wasn’t a good match in the end. Good advice below.
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it always amazes me that the whole mounting/dismounting as well as sacking-out part of training a green horse is totally left off the menu. I don’t get how the most basic of things are not addressed.
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Right? As soon as they get the general gist, I’m flopping around up there, dragging my feet across butts, getting on behind the saddle, getting on and off both sides, in general being a rag doll and intentionally sloppy. That way, should I or someone make a mistake getting on, the horse just looks at you in annoyance but doesn’t blow.
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Same here. I also intentionally push the saddle off onto the ground, drag feet across his hind quarters, swing my legs around, mount from the right, and so on and so forth.
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Aha, that will be my excuse for accidentally knocking over the 3-step mounting block yesterday while getting on my 4-year-old for our ~20th ride together. I was so proud when he stood like a statue instead of bucking me off!
Then of course he spent the entire ride screaming for the neighbors’ horses (whom he has never met), who moved from a paddock near my arena to one out of sight… Can’t win all the battles in one day I guess.
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The buyer wonders if the horse was drugged when they tried him the first time. Presumably she had the same bad leg and trouble dismounting then, and horse did not blow up! The seller was told by buyer and friend that they needed a rock-solid quiet horse, and seller did not sell them that. No excuses, and not the horses fault- this is entirely on the seller. At least she took horse back and refunded price! She could easily have refused, “Caveat Emptor” and all that.
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The seller may not have realized how broke to unexpected things the horse needed to be, or, more likely given her decision to be there for the ride, she thought he was “good enough”.
Training for novice riders is a particular skill many trainers dont have. And of course, some horses are never going to be that solid. I recall the trainers at one barn trying to train a 4 year old Arabian filly that a novice owner bought because “she was so pretty!” So owner got lessons on schoolies while trainers flopped about on the horse and tried to get her less reactive. They told her that the filly was sensitive and really wasnt suited for her, even well-trained. Owner insisted and it only took a few rides until the horse spun out from under her and she had a serious back injury.
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I think this is a thought some horse sellers fall prey to. I once bought a horse from a woman who assured me that the horse would be good for X. It turns out that the horse wasn’t good for X and had, in fact, not been good for X for her child.
But, I truly believe that she was not deliberately trying to mislead me. I think that they bought the horse believing it would be good for X based on what they were told and she had convinced herself that the horse would be good enough for X for me and that it just wasn’t good for X for them.
I think it’s a form of wishful thinking from a seller who really, really wants it to be true. Note that I’m not saying that that makes it OK, but just suggesting that the “no good dishonest horse trader” moniker may not always be entirely accurate.
Follow-up: In the end it didn’t matter that the horse wasn’t good at X because she was the most accident and injury prone equine I’ve ever owned and was mostly lame most of the time I owned her and I eventually just retired her as a pasture pet. Horses. 
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Not a bad horse but totally unsuitable horse for my husband; he’s a hefty guy and wanted a gaited horse so went to see a breeder of Rockies who had a couple. I wasn’t with him but wish I was. I come home to find he had bought a freaking pony with these little toothpick legs! What in former parlance would be considered “a lady’s horse”. And he wanted to ride in the mountains on this little pipsqueak? I should have insisted he bring her back immediately. He ended up having to put her down after she suffered a catastrophic break down while on a trail ride. Surprise surprise. Poor little horse. I have no idea why the seller would even sell this horse to him in the first place.
My young horse desensitized herself to the mounting block being knocked over…she’s a bit of a dope and used to just not notice it was there and waltz right on over it. Said horse also regularly steps on her own lead rope, gets it stuck over her ears etc etc and fortunately is so used to it now that she is equally good at getting herself out of the situation calmly.
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Just to clarify. I am not a beginner. I am a para rider (qualification card and everything).
Seller was very clear about my disability. Since I walk with a very noticeable limp, it is hard to miss.
I think seller wanted a good home for this horse and so over sold him to get it. I do wonder if she gave him a tube of Calm-Ez before we got there. I mounted and dismounted and rode the way I normally do when we tried him. Hard not to since my disability is always with me.
Sheilah
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Idaho- the fact that the seller knew you had a significant disability and STILL sold you an unsuitable horse makes her even more of a sleaze bag!
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This X 1000!
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I don’t say this to IN ANY WAY excuse the seller, but it’s also possible that he was comfortable enough in his familiar environment to handle it once (even without drugs), and that in the new environment, it pushed him over the edge. I think we all sometimes underestimate how long it can take horses to settle into a new place and what stress they might be hiding in the meantime.
A good friend of mine got bucked off her new horse in one of her first rides after his cross-country move (and some ulcers, which are now being treated). For her the unexpected reactivity was a wake-up call that her guy was definitely suffering a lot more stress in the new environment than she initially recognized.
Are you healing up okay?
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OP, you are a very kind hearted person but giving anybody the benefit of the doubt is not wise in todays world. Most would have been done at the Adequan solving the bucking claim let alone learning she had been trying to sell him longer then she claimed. Dont see huge concern for the horses welfare here either as it certainly appears he was “ prepped” for your test ride and seller hovered over you like a helicopter after you bought him…which is really odd as others mentioned.
Don’t make excuses for the choices others whose motives are not in your best interests. Don’t be passive and accept it as normal or honest mistakes. Its neither.
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I am healing okay. Broken ribs are a real pain I am told. I can have a good day and then a not so good day.
I lost my job in part because of this. In the last three months I have been off work because of a car wreck, COVID and then 9 days over the horse wreck. This, being Idaho, was enough to part ways since my employer “needed someone more consistent”.
But ever onward. I am close to 60 and feel I am getting too old to let bullshit bother me.
Sheilah
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Jeepers, losing your job sucks. I hope it’s not going to cause you problems. Also hope you heal up quickly
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I believe OP did not learn about that until after she was bucked off. From the OP: “I have since heard from people here that the horse has had a history of bucking. The former owner admitted that when I called her and she said that she thought his bucking had been resolved with Adequen.”
Well that sucks. Big time. I hope you feel better soon and find something even better.
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When I was younger I once had a horse with mounting issues … sometimes he was fine; other times he’d absolutely blow a gasket just as you swung your leg over (even when being mounted by an athletic teenager that was very unlikely to accidentally kick or goose him) and when that happened … good luck!!! In retrospect, I wonder if he had something physical causing it, but either way it made me realize just how “vulnerable” you are during mounting and dismounting.
Since that horse, I always make a point of doing lots of desensitizing around the mounting process … hanging off the side, flapping body parts and equipment, jumping up and down, smacking the saddle, etc before I ever swing a leg over for the first time. Slowly and gently easing on from a mounting block may be easiest on the horse in the short term (and the kindest way to mount once he’s broke), but in the long term it does him a disservice if he doesn’t learn that it’s no big deal when then mounting process isn’t perfect and seamless or humans do weird things … especially if he is going to be ridden by amateurs, or you’re going to ride out and need to get on and off without a block.
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