Experiences with horse bucking on top of rider after thr

[Bluey]

@candyappy

I think most of us have been on a horse that reacts very badly when the circumstances are just right. I just try and eliminate that possibility as much as I can and a fresh, green youngster is just waiting for that circumstance.

A friend rancher bought this beautiful, sweet, super gentle four year old from a neighboring cowboy that had a broken arm, courtesy of the horse.
The cowboy said he was super gentle and one day he just bucked so bad, he knew he didn’t want to ride him again.

Friend got along great with horse for two years when, no one knows what happened, friend was found bucked off and with a concussion and broken bones, spent a week in the ICU.
Horse was found after going thru two fences, but not a scratch on him.

Friend healed and said, I know that horse is fine, must have been a freak accident.
Three years later, again friend ended up ten days in ICU, concussion and multiple broken bones, didn’t know what happened, horse found far away, fine.

Friend healed and kept riding horse and two years later, a repeat.
This time friend’s wife gave horse to their young cowboy nephew.

Horse was fine, didn’t have a wreck, but nephew didn’t trust him, ever, horse retired once aged and was then used for lead-in rides for little family kids, he really was super nice and quiet, under just right conditions.

Have known several horses like that, had a few ourselves for a while.
Our old horseshoer was a cowboy when young and had one such super quiet and nice horse that caused the rare and unexpected wreck and his severe injuries, why he now was a farrier.
Any horse can have a silly moment here and there and get in a wreck any time, but most won’t be so very explosive.
If one is, bewaring is a good idea.

[quiacato]

No the horse has more then 60 days on him, he was started before we got him and then we rode him for a bit before he went to our trainers - and then we have been riding him for several months - our trainers 60 days is not like most either- it is actually 60 days of work - training, moving cows, did some roping off of him etc. He is “broke” in the sense he has a very good handle on him, but yes green in the sense of experience. My husband did not jab him with the spur but his entire body crashed into him when he got hung up - I think the horse panicked and probably thought something was attacking him. We are pretty sure too it was a horse fly that started the bucking.

An interesting thing about this horse is he does not really spook - if he is unsure of something he goes tot it, not away from it.

[moonlitoaksranch]

That’s sounds like a terrible wreck. Prayers for a rapid recovery. Maybe not the horse’s fault and maybe there’s nothing wrong with the horse, but that sort of accident can give you a bit of PTSD. There’s no shame in finding this relatively green horse a different home and finding an older been there done that type. No shame at all. If you don’t trust him, it’ll make you tense, and that won’t help a young horse learn his job well. There are many good horses and this guy will probably be one too, some day.

[quiacato]

This horse is big, but very narrow, your leg hangs far away from his side from the knee down. To make any contact with his side requires a lot of effort. Yup kind of like riding a 2 x 4.

[quiacato]

Just to clarify this horse has far more then 60 days under saddle and is 7 years old, he spent 60 days with our trainer to put a good handle on him. He was started before we bought him, we rode him a bit, then he went to trainers and back to us where we have continued to ride him since then. He has been to roping’s and hauled out to different places. My husband did some ground work with him prior to getting on that day and he was licking / chewing and relaxed before my husband mounted. Our horses are also turned out 24/7 so they get lots of movement during the day.

[cilla1]

My steady criollo gelding, the most solid citizen in the world bucked me off when he was 23, I had him since he was 11 and he never ever bucked. I still don’t know what happened, we were cantering along a well known road together with my husband and his haffie mare, Cillo began to buck really bad and after the fourth buck I literally flied away. Luckily I landed well and on the grass but I’m still wondering why he behaved like that

[candyappy]

@quiacato

Just to clarify this horse has far more then 60 days under saddle and is 7 years old, he spent 60 days with our trainer to put a good handle on him. He was started before we bought him, we rode him a bit, then he went to trainers and back to us where we have continued to ride him since then. He has been to roping’s and hauled out to different places. My husband did some ground work with him prior to getting on that day and he was licking / chewing and relaxed before my husband mounted. Our horses are also turned out 24/7 so they get lots of movement during the day.

He may be truly one of those unpredictable ones then. Since he was started later( i am assuming ?) then most, could he have been kind of pushed along in his training thinking that he was more mature minded than a 3 year old would be?

@Bluey My farrier just told me a while back about a young, well bred Quarter horse his daughter had bought and was starting. They were both starting youngsters at the same time. He said she takes her time( tons of experience) and the horse was doing real well and suddenly it just started violently bucking with her.

After a short period of that they sent it to a trainer they knew and he couldn’t get it to stop and advised them to unload it as it just seemed to have a screw loose , kind of like the horse you mentioned above.

Thankfully I haven’t encountered one myself and hope I never do.

[endlessclimb]

Can you strap something to this horse to desensitize him to the effect of something whapping his side dangling from the saddle? If you get that same violent reaction over and over again after a couple weeks of desensitizing every other day, then you know it’s in his head. Otherwise, it just sounds like he got scared and started acting instinctively because in his mind he was out of other coping mechanisms.

[eightpondfarm]

I have a gray arabian mare here that bucked me off when i was test-riding her. She was at a rescue org, and was notoriously shy of people. She rode like a dream, doing everything i asked deftly. At one point i got off and when i went over to a rail to remount and got on, after about one second she bucked hard a few times and i went flying. So, I left her there for 90 days of training after adopting her anyway. With focus on mounting and dismounting on everything imaginable. So…now i have a few thou in training on this mare and i have NEVER ridden her since bringing her home. She is always a challenge to approach, it takes a sloooo, gentle approach to get to her. But always achievable. I just figure…if she doesn’t trust me, i will not trust her.

I have a mule (also adopted)…a gorgeous HUGE dun mule (zebra stripes and eyelash stripes) who has bucked off three professional mule trainers. Who all reported that she did so with malicious intent. Her history is that she was extremely well trained by her breeder up in MT. I have contacted them and they shared a whole bunch of pics of her initial training…elk hunts, cattle round ups, going straight down a steep hill with a big male riding her… all the best starts, and yet, ‘something’ happened somewhere. Now she is my big pet. I don’t ride her, never even given it thought.

There ARE homes out there for non-ridable equines. Not every horse can be (relatively) safe. and NO horse is unequivocally safe.

[quiacato]

That is a good suggestion. This horse is normally very kind…we both think he felt like he was being “attacked” by my husband. He is not a horse to run when frightened.

[candyappy]

@quiacato

That is a good suggestion. This horse is normally very kind…we both think he felt like he was being “attacked” by my husband. He is not a horse to run when frightened.

Any updates on how he is doing now? How is your husband mending??

[quiacato]

Hubby is on the mend but it is a slow process…his rib pain was pretty tolerable after the first couple weeks but he has a lot of pain in his back still, doctor thinks he probably tore the cartilage around his ribs. We hauled the horse up to our trainer ( who is a VERY experienced and good trainer ) this weekend and he worked with him…the incident for sure left an impact on our horse as did six weeks of not being worked. He went straight to bucking in the round pen with the saddle so he laid him down several times before mounting and he had some fight in him. He rode him that evening and for a couple hours the next day and seems to have him smoothed back out. We are starting him on ulcer meds to rule out any pain of that sort - it is unlikely with how well our horses live but you never know. I will get on him tonight so we can keep him going , hubby is still not ready to take any chances with the amount of back pain he still has.

[endlessclimb]

@quiacato

so he laid him down several times before mounting

Woo boy. This is not the kind of trainer I’d want working with my young and scared ones.

This is called flooding, and it absolutely will create the explosive reactiveness in some horses, which was experienced by you and your husband.

Barring you learning an entire new training method, or getting a new trainer, it’s probably best to sell this one on.

[Djones]

A friend went through a lot of cowboy training with her good horses before taking him for vet evaluation and finding crushed vertebral processes in his withers. And yes her horses live outside. He was hurt, not a “bad horse.”

[candyappy]

@quiacato

the incident for sure left an impact on our horse as did six weeks of not being worked. He went straight to bucking in the round pen with the saddle so he laid him down several times before mounting and he had some fight in him. He rode him that evening and for a couple hours the next day and seems to have him smoothed back out. We are starting him on ulcer meds to rule out any pain of that sort - it is unlikely with how well our horses live but you never know. I will get on him tonight so we can keep him going , hubby is still not ready to take any chances with the amount of back pain he still

Not the route I would have taken ( training wise) but if I were you I wouldn’t get on him. You have no idea if his reactions are fear based or loose screw based.

[Angela_Freda]

@quiacato

Hubby is on the mend but it is a slow process…his rib pain was pretty tolerable after the first couple weeks but he has a lot of pain in his back still, doctor thinks he probably tore the cartilage around his ribs. We hauled the horse up to our trainer ( who is a VERY experienced and good trainer ) this weekend and he worked with him…the incident for sure left an impact on our horse as did six weeks of not being worked. He went straight to bucking in the round pen with the saddle so he laid him down several times before mounting and he had some fight in him. He rode him that evening and for a couple hours the next day and seems to have him smoothed back out. We are starting him on ulcer meds to rule out any pain of that sort -

Usually we rule out physical issues BEFORE we manhandle them into submission.

Wait, trainer worked with the horse just these two days:

@quiacato

We hauled the horse up to our trainer ( who is a VERY experienced and good trainer ) this weekend and he worked with him…
He went straight to bucking in the round pen with the saddle so he laid him down several times before mounting and he had some fight in him. He rode him that evening and for a couple hours the next day and seems to have him smoothed back out…
I will get on him tonight so we can keep him going

That’s all you’re having the trainer do?

[Red_Barn]

@endlessclimb

Woo boy. This is not the kind of trainer I’d want working with my young and scared ones.

This is called flooding, and it absolutely will create the explosive reactiveness in some horses, which was experienced by you and your husband.

Barring you learning an entire new training method, or getting a new trainer, it’s probably best to sell this one on.

This really doesn’t sound promising, does it?

[endlessclimb]

What, you want her to have him lay the horse down a few more times??

Screw that. Get that horse outta there.

[Paint_Party]

So wait a second. Let me make sure I got this straight: The horse has been off for 6 weeks after The Incident. It gets hauled to the trainer, saddled up and spun around the round pen, where it bucked. And in response it gets laid down and really taught about… what? Submission to the human? Abject fear?

[moonlitoaksranch]

Real horse training is very boring to watch. It’s quiet and requires a lot of patience and time. There aren’t any cute tricks involved, like laying horses down or chasing them around and making them buck in fear. It’s quiet and boring. Find a boring trainer that teaches your horse to trust so they don’t feel like they have to buck. Don’t overlook women trainers. A tight pair of Wranglers and lots of “yes, ma’ams” does not indicate a decent horse trainer.