Discussions about rider falls

[Scribbler]

strong text[quote=“Beam_Me_Up, post:20, topic:794717, full:true”]
I’ve always been encouraged to try to ride forward through bucking. Which is difficult for me, because I too just want to stop, but from a training perspective it helped my horse, who used to be a committed bucker.
[/quote]

Bucking can be caused by a horse caught between the impulse to go forward and and impulse or command to slow or stop. Also a buck can be easier to sit at speed because the horse tosses you forward but is also moving forward. Whereas a buck that is part of a downward transition is more likely to put you off balance over the shoulder. Keeping the head up and riding tall and forward can be the way through if you have the seat and the courage. My mare has bucked me off twice, both tiny bucks at a standstill

I would not however have the courage to put my advice here into action. But I don’t necessarily think a one reined stop would make a significant improvement in either horses at the moment. It could give you a chance to leap off and do ten minutes of free longeing to get the wiggles out!

[pony_grandma]

I had a bucker long ago. But it wasn’t aggression, I found out he needed a release. I stood in the stirrups and rode him aggressively forward so it was run and buck, it flattened him out. It came to be his playtime which he needed. In anticipation of his fun he didn’t plant himself and buck We had our understanding. The run and buck was far better than the shy (to unseat you), then spin, dump game he’d play.

[Edre]

@Rel6

It isn’t the horse’s back that is dislodging her, its him yanking her forward by sticking his head between his knees. She’s sitting the bucks and then getting jerked forward by her connection to the reins.

This is what I am seeing, too. He’s able to yank her forward, down, and out of position at which point, it’s like popping a cork out of a champagne bottle - one more buck and POP you’re completely out of the tack. Armchair quarterbacking this since there’s very little context for how this specific pair rides other than showing the bucking, but I think rider needs to work on the strength and ability to keep the head up. This feels like a more extreme progression of the horse who has figured out how to yank the reins to pull the rider forward to avoid connection and/or work. Pick a horse up after a walk break and they go “hmmm…no.” and shove their head down and out to jerk you out of the tack. With a tactful ride and timing, this really isn’t an insurmountable problem but it’s definitely a skillset that a rider needs to develop to keep in their “toolbox”.

[sherian]

I’m a ride them forward person. I have seen the one rein stop result in horse and rider going down in a heap and I have also seen an little arab merrily bolt down the trail for a few miles with it’s nose at the riders toe so I question it being the fix all technique people claim - it works in some circumstances but teaching people that it’s always the answer and it will always keep them safe is misleading.

[Aussie_2020]

We got a horse in for training that had a ‘duck the head right and bolt’ move. Trainer put a snaffle bit on that had a twisted wire on the left and smooth on the right. She told me to set my left hand coming up to the jump. The horse hit the twist as he swung his head to the right. I was able to stop his bolt within two strides. He tried it a couple of times and then quit. We switched to a regular snaffle for the rest of the ride and the horse never tried it again. I’d never seen a bit like that half and half one, as a training tool it worked really well. It wouldn’t be something to use on a regular basis or in the hands of a rough rider.

[Scribbler]

The one rein or circle stop can also be hard to do a more narrow trails.

[punchy]

Another vote cautioning against a one rein stop, at least at speed (which is presumably when you’d need it). It can make the horse fall, or severely hurt a front leg since it puts a ton of instant twisting pressure on the outside front. And having once had a horse going for a fly accidentally get it’s mouth caught in my stirrup, I’m not in a hurry to pull a gaping mouth around to my stirrup.

Plus, it takes a lot of core and arm strength to do a one-rein-stop with a dead bolting horse with a lil ole snaffle bit at speed or a screwball like the one in the video. Which may be why people don’t teach it to kids. Add the risk of falls, or that the kid tries to utilize it and the horse instead turns blind and runs into a wall—I mean, I’m just not a fan of the one-rein stop.

[OverandOnward]

Lean back. Heels down. That’s the best way to not come off.

THEN start gathering reins, pulling head up, turning in a circle, whatever is needed.

Instinctively our body curls forward, sometimes pulls legs up into the curl, and that’s the worst thing. It puts the rider’s body weight over the horses shoulder, human head increasingly lower, even downward. The bucking motion launches the rider right off.

The rider needs to practice, in a neutral situation, leaning back, push legs and heels down, and gathering reins.

And then getting the horse’s head up. The bucking is greatly mitigated with the horse’s head up.

And be verbally coached/prepared that the first buck may bump the rider forward in the saddle. Even over the pommel, even in front of it. Slide back to the middle of the saddle immediately while sitting up, legs pushing down.

Where I learned to ride, this was part of the lesson program. Two or three times a year we’d take 10 minutes out of a lesson to practice a bit. On a horse not doing much, to a horse trotting, to a horse cantering.

The ‘emergency dismount’ was lesson #2, after the above.

[TwiSedai]

Another vote for a one rein stop being a good tool to have, but also knowing how to use it properly. It saved my butt a million times while I was bringing along my mare when she was a baby. If you are at any sort of speed, obviously you don’t just yank. Works best if you use the same rein as the lead they are on, and lots of give and releases to both give them a chance to stay on their feet as they come down and around, and so it doesn’t become a pulling contest. And there are some situations riding it forward is better, absolutely. But if it’s like, a hardcore broncing because your horse spooked and lost their mind at something terrifying to them, that needs to be brought under control as fast as possible. Riding through that doesn’t work in those situations, in my experience. Also, the horse needs to be taught what it means too, or you CAN get the “bolt with the head twisted around”.

And I disagree on “disengaging the HQ” meaning the horse learns to halt on the forehand. I’m more a dressage rider now, but western horses aren’t taught to halt on the forehand. You can’t do a rollback or cut a cow or any other moves that require a halt then quick change of direction if you are on the forehand. My originally-western mare gets higher scores on her halts in tests than a lot of the fancier horses around us, it was so easy to take her western stop and teach her more of a dressage halt. The one rein stop is a very different kind of halt for her than her normal one.

[Jealoushe]

Can I ask what Insurance Company this is? I’ve never heard of this requirement, just for curiosity sake.

[luvmyhackney]

@OverandOnward

Instinctively our body curls forward , sometimes pulls legs up into the curl, and that’s the worst thing. It puts the rider’s body weight over the horses shoulder, human head increasingly lower, even downward. The bucking motion launches the rider right off.

There was a video on YouTube, I believe by Amelia Newcomb?? , anyway she talks about a confidence button. It was very enlightening and clicked in my head.

[CHT]

Capri Insurance.

Honestly, I think a lot of people don’t read the details in the operational requirements…although it is also possible they dropped this and I didn’t notice…

[Jealoushe]

I work in that industry and have never seen it, but it’s interesting and good they have included that. Thanks for sharing.

[Supakwe]

I was actually thinking about this today. A friend and I were talking about visualization and this one popped up. It’s in my top 5 for sure.