Bucking after a jump

[Sdel]

So my daughter and I share a horse. The horse is an early 20s “western” type that is has been learning the cross rails. She’s finally getting the hang of it and the last few weeks she’s been putting more effort into the jump as she is starting to enjoy it. Today during my daughter’s lesson she bucked her off after landing the jump. It was cold and windy and all the horses were being turkeys. Our horse didn’t get ridden much over the last two weeks with holidays going on. Horse jumped a little big, daughter was a bit to forward and I think she goosed the horse on the flank on her blind side and got a fairly decent buck that promptly launched her clear of the horse. Daughter rolled and landed well, but got a hand stuck out on the ground and our horse stepped on it when backing up. We are in the ER to check on the hand with an X-ray…

That brings us back to confidence. Daughter was looking forward to cantering our horse. I was looking forward to jumping in my lesson tomorrow. Now I think we are both going to be nervous about riding her for a little bit even though I don’t think our horse was trying to be naughty.

Any advice for both of us after our first time being bucked off?

[OverandOnward]

You’ve done a good job of describing the context of the buck. So clearly that is a situation that is easily avoided in the future. Given how green your daughter and the horse are to jumping, don’t tempt fate until she is far more secure in her seat.

The next thing is to learn to ride out a small buck. It is not that different from a jump. It is not hard to do. First thing - never scrunch up / curl up over the horse’s withers, that is a recipe to get tossed like a ball.

The instant you feel something is amiss, heels down (legs long on the side of the horse), shoulders back (as if you are leaning back over the hips - you aren’t back that far, you just feel as if you are). In other words, sit up and lean back with your legs long and heels down. Try not to pinch with the knees (that’s hard though).

And, get the horse’s head up. They can only buck with their head down. Stabilize your seat as above, THEN haul up on the horse’s head, shortening your reins as well you can.

Lots of people can ride out a buck like that who don’t know that they can. They just haven’t been coached in what to do. Unfortunately too many instructors these days don’t know what to say to a rider on a bucking horse.

[TheDBYC]

100% agree. I immediately thought of this video:

Bucking bronco horse!

OP, see how the first thing the jockey does is to kick his stirrups? Then he sits down & leans back & tries to keep the horse from getting his head down too far. Easier said than done, I know!

I also agree that you gave us the perfect etymology of a buck, OP. Cold weather, unexpectedly large effort with horse & rider both new to jumping, rider’s weight was further forward than ideal & potentially jabbed the horse with her leg. Given the age of the horse, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some arthritis going on or possibly even slight navicular changes starting, either of which can cause a buck.

Definitely wouldn’t hurt to back off a bit for a while. Getting the trainer to school the mare over fences at this stage wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. Someone with a solid leg & seat who can calmly ride out the experimentation phase of a horse learning to jump and has an experienced eye for distance can be very helpful. I’m sorry your daughter fell. Hope her hand is ok. Good luck!

[OverandOnward]

TheDBYC’s video is a GREAT example of riding out a buck! Notice that where the jockey is sitting (IN ThE MIDDLE - STAY IN THE MIDDLE) doesn’t get all that much action. But getting forward on the withers is much more bouncey. And he keeps the horse’s head up, thus minimizing the buck.

Bucking is a lot of work for the horse! It usually does not last long because they tire quickly. If you ride it out, they are less likely to try it again.

If you are getting pitched more than once in a few days or weeks, get some help. Getting tossed teaches the horse to buck because they think they are being released/rewarded for bucking. Ride it out! Most riders can do it, even if they aren’t that experienced. Get help from someone who can ride it if you can’t, and/or you feel unsafe.

If you have an occasional bucker and you can see that the horse is fresh before mounting, you need to be prepared and/or get someone else to “ride off the rough”. OP shows she is aware of some of the weather factors that can lead to some bucks, and other factors.

A good long longe before riding can help minimize or eliminate bucking. Let them wear down some energy. Even get some bucks out on the longe line. If they are bucking on the longe, keep them going until they are more stable.

[Sdel]

Home. Daughter is fine. No breaks, just going to have some deep bruising and some pain.

The horse is absolutely not a bucker. She landed the jump and my daughter was obviously up on her neck, she crow hopped and bucked once on the way out, I believe it was more about being unbalanced than pain. She’s never offered anything naughty before.

I’ll admit, no one was happy today, it just wasn’t ideal, and they probably should have all stuck to the flat. Some of the lesson horses are sick, so everyone had to swap off their usual horse….and at least half were avoiding the “scary” corner, the other more mellow half still had the zoomies and didn’t want to hold gait. Really, they were both probably a little over faced but were doing really well considering, until the fall. If it had been a single jump she might have been fine, but it was the last in a line and probably went in a bit off balance.

As far as pain….this horse was practically crippled 6 months ago. Bad farrier. With the new farrier we put her in plastic shoes and she has gone from not being able to walk to getting more confident over the cross rails. It’s just the opposite….she’s very happy to be back to being ridden and moving. The transformation has been amazing.

[endlessclimb]

@Sdel

Daughter was looking forward to cantering our horse.

Am I getting this right that a rider that can’t reliably canter is jumping?

Or am I reading this wrong?

[Jealoushe]

I was going to ask the same question. Is this rider cantering yet? If not, she really shouldn’t be jumping. She should work on her 2 point and gain confidence in that over poles.

[NaturallyHappy]

I’m in this camp, too. And when she is able to canter, perhaps start with gymnastics to create a predictable distance for take-off.

[Sdel]

She is cantering. She just hasn’t cantered our horse yet. She’s only just started riding her in her lessons so they are still figuring each other out. With the sore feet she’s been out of work for a while so the last 6 months I have been the sole rider while she came back into work, gained some fitness, and introduced the cross rails.

[endlessclimb]

Strongly recommend her getting to know the horse, the gaits, the cues… BEFORE jumping.

I know she was excited to go out there and git-r-dun, but maybe it wouldn’t have ended in an accident if she knew her mount better.

Sounds like a one-off event, and a wonderful horse. Enjoy!

[findeight]

Important lesson to be learned here is never ask an obviously fresh horse who has not been worked regularly for a time to do anything the least bit exciting.

Second most important lesson is don’t put an inexperienced rider on said overly fresh horse.

Complicating these two mistakes is the fact all the horses were too fresh, it was cold and windy and, as herd animals, one horse gets silly, they all follow. Less experienced riders get overwhelmed, especially a group of younger ones. Rider nerves ca be as contagious as horse silliness.

This whole scenario could have been avoided and Im sure will be next time you find yourself in similar circumstances. Give the horse a pass on this one. This time.

Several things can be done to settle a too fresh horse after a holiday break such as turnout, lunging, putting a more experienced rider on. Much of what you learn about horses will be via trial and error so don’t feel bad here. We all learned these lessons the same way you did. Its all good.

Besides that, theres a reason many don’t ride much on cold windy days in winter. Same reason the Florida winter circuit is so popular.

[OverandOnward]

So much wisdom from FindEight!

Reading her post brought back a memory. A January indoor show in Texas, far enough south that a lot of grass is green all year, with the warm-up ring just outside the indoor pavilion. It was a rare Texas ‘blue norther’ day, 20F and 20 mph wind. In their whole lives most of the horses had probably barely experienced freezing temps. Same for the junior riders, actually.

I will never forget that the entire icy “warm”-up ring was like a carousel gone insane at high speed with horses storming around and flying through the air! Running, bucking, snorting, over-reacting to the slightest thing. The riders were so cold and stiff they almost could not move. The saddle leather was stiff with cold.

Riders were flying off the horses and landing in almost the same riding position, they were that frozen. Really, they almost didn’t react to colliding with the ground, they were so cold.

A frozen instructor was standing next to the warm-up jumps screaming "What is wrong with all of you, stop falling off and jump this so I can go back inside !!! "

Any jumping was of the yee-haw variety. It was like the horse just launched out of a rodeo chute. There were the riders who just maintained enough balance to survive but really didn’t do anything else, and the riders who kept going to the ground on the landing.

Some people decided to just jog their horses in hand in the barn aisle (inside the pavilion), get on in the tiny waiting-to-go space and move around as best could be, then when it was their go, enter the ring, make the circle and the first jump their “warm-up”. Worked as well as anything else.

Well anyway … glad it wasn’t that lit in OP’s ring that day. I’m sure everything will be back to normal next time!

[findeight]

There nothing wrong with seeing that type chaos, feeding your horse a carrot and going home. Nothing for a novice rider at home to prove. Actually nothing wrong with a not so novice rider declining to get involved either.

Sometimes nothing good will come of getting on in such situations. You always want to set rider and horse up for success so when failure is unavoidable? Why guarantee it will leave a mark and creare a lasting memory. Theres a time to build confidence, this ain’t it.

Took me about 30 years to learn that acquiring marks and memories that really did nothing for my skill or confidence.

[Sdel]

Update: I rode tonight. About the same temps but no wind. Our horse did fine, and really, aside from the buck, she was the calmest horse last night as well. The first jump caught me a bit off guard and bounced me in the tack a bit but we got it sorted out. She has definitely decided this is fun and has graduated from trotting over the cross-rails to jumping the cross-rails. By the end of the lesson I went from nervous to enjoying it. My daughter got on after I was done and cooled her out walking a few laps on the rail. We do definitely need to work on some things but overall the horse is very willing. My horse has gone from not wanting to move to wanting to be a bit of an energizer bunny.

[PNWSunnyDay]

@OverandOnward I appreciate your illustrative writing style. I had a few good chuckles from your story. I have been in similar fashion tying to help out some of those frozen winter riders in their tan breeches (sans base layers) and light-weight show coats with hands frozen in the “ice cream cone” position. If I’m cold in my bogs, wool socks, three layers, winter parka, hat, and hand warmers I can imagine the little girls frozen to the bone. Oh the fun of winter shows.

[OverandOnward]

@PNWSunnyDay

If I’m cold in my bogs, wool socks, three layers, winter parka, hat, and hand warmers I can imagine the little girls frozen to the bone. Oh the fun of winter shows.

Thanks PNWSunnyDay! Normally in this climate, January is the best month of the year. Nice clear sunny 60’s. We normally don’t have much of a winter. People (and horses!) are completely unprepared when a true ‘blue norther’ comes through! (As we saw last winter when the power supply collapsed on what would be just another winter day in most of the country.)

[Jealoushe]

Something that people sometimes don’t realize is that when your horse gets fit and healthy it can go from a from a lazy easy horse to a horse with energy that requires a bit more skill.

Sounds like things are moving forward in a positive way, glad you had good rides!

[Sdel]

@Jealoushe

Something that people sometimes don’t realize is that when your horse gets fit and healthy it can go from a from a lazy easy horse to a horse with energy that requires a bit more skill.

She’s really a great horse. We are coming up on our 3 year anniversary with her this month. She is supposed to be daughters horse, who was riding western at the time. Daughter did the entire trial herself…WTC, after the pro rode her first and showed off some of the buttons and responsiveness. Horse really adjusted and babysat my kid so we bought her. I just love this horse.

Her poor feet. The old farrier did a number on them. When we changed I left the shoes on for 8 weeks and the new farrier still didn’t have a lot of room to take stuff off. You can see how bad they got…

If it will load…this is horse doing a grid with my daughter astride.

IMG_3552