Bucking.

[rainpants]

I just wanted to let everyone know I have read every reply. I didn’t get out for Sunday last week (grandmas birthday) or Wednesday this week (damn work…) but I’ll be out on Sunday, which is opening meet.

Its in Mennonite Country, with terrifying buggies of doom. And cows! Between those, this is one of the more “exciting” fixtures in his mind, so it should be interesting. On the plus side, there should be a good third field and I can play it by ear on putting him where he’s going to be most well behaved.

I’ll update on how that goes.

[Kathy_Nebel]

I haven’t read all the responses, so excuse me if this is a duplicate suggestion…

As the owner of ponies who can, and do, buck, my suggestion is to buy an air vest and wear it! It won’t make your horse stop bucking, but it will give you the confidence to deal with it. I started wearing one a few years ago when starting a pony with a spin and buck that unseated me. I still came off a number of times with my air vest, but it was like landing on a pillow (as long as you don’t hit butt first). The vest gave me confidence to deal with the behavior. Now I wear it every ride on every horse. I am getting too old to hit the ground and out hunting it doesn’t take a misbehaving horse to have an accident. I use the Hit Air brand vest.

Also, I have noted with mine, that horses get more charged up out hunting once they grasp what is happening. They go from good to bad and then, hopefully, back to good.

Have fun and stay safe!

[rainpants]

Rain led the field (not exactly calmly, snorting and blowing, but willing) past the terrifying downed cow (in the yard of a house, getting looked after poor thing), after our field master’s horse threw a conniption fit over it.

No Confidence EQ (or other drugs) and No bucking, but we stuck to third field which had some very timid ladies who didn’t want to canter at all, which meant very little cantering (he’s little and can canter like a Western Pleasure horse, so some of the trots tend to be canters for him).

Second field next week I think… hoping I’ll be comfortable up in first by the end of the Spring Season.

If he’s an ass, one of our hunt’s ballsiest riders is willing to ride him for me and get after him but kick on.

I’m amazed by how in tune to the hounds he is. He’ll start to drift away from the field and I’ll be correcting him and then I notice the hounds have gone that way, and he’s trying to follow them, rather than the field. And hilltopping like we were, if we get a good vantage point he looks so intently at them working!

a pic?

My little ragamuffin. (I swear he was clean, as clean as he gets without a couple baths - its been too cold and he lives outside and is a total pig!)

[SLW]

You know your horses triggers and IMO he is young, new to hunting and has told you what overwhelms him. I would ride him third flight/Hilltoppers for months, if not the entire season. Keep it steady and slow and build the solid foundation he needs.

Its awesome when a horse new to hunting “gets it” and doesn’t spend tons of time learning. Likewise, overlooking a weakness can turn a “could be a good Hunter” into a mess.

Good luck!

[rainpants]

Couple more hunts. Still going better.

We field mastered (for a field of 3…) on Wednesday and he was awesome. But then, his main triggers are the field taking off quickly without warning or people passing us, which definitely does not happen when you are the field master!

It was a slow day in any case, we followed the huntsman pretty closely and mostly walk/trot with only one (short) run and he was quite pleased to be up front. Excited, but his brain was firmly in place.

[vineyridge]

I rode a seventeen yo hunt horse who would just start rooting and bucking on runs and was notorious for this under his previous rider. The bucks were not big, more like crow hops, but they would go on for quite a while. What I found would make him listen to me was pushing him forward with a big kick, which would be the equivalent of using a smack with a whip. It seemed to bring him back to sense.

[CAH]

He’s yellow

I own yellow, they have their own personality.