Tips on How to Sit Through a Buck?

[Gidget]

Hi folks!

I’ll try to make a long story short:

My mare’s owner moved her to a different facility last month, so I had to find a new dressage trainer. The first person I brought in was a really neat lady, but unfortunately her teaching methods were WAY to intense for my TB.

By our third lesson, the horse decided she’d had enough and pulled the Three B’s: Balked, Bucked & Bolted. Miraculously, I didn’t get hurt beyond a few bruises, and I’m still riding, although I can tell my confidence has really taken a beating.

We’re scheduled to work with a new person this week who specializes in TBs and thinks she can help me get my mojo back, but I know that bucks come part & parcel with being a rider. If it doesn’t happen with this horse again, it’s bound to happen with another.

Question:

Are there any ways to practice or prepare for the buck so you’re less likely to lose your seat? I mean aside from joining the rodeo or riding the mechanical bull down at the local Country & Western bar? :lol:

[GoForAGallop]

Same thing your instructor yelled at you when you were seven and riding naughty ponies.

“SIT UP, SIT UP, SIT UP!”

Followed by:

“GET HIS HEAD UP!” (And this can and SHOULD be done quite firmly, as horse is being an ass.)

And finally:

“CIRCLE!”

If horse is trying to combine some bolting with the bucking. Substitute or add in “FORWARD!”, as well.

[saultgirl]

Sit up, pull his head up, and kick him forward.

[Gidget]

Thanks, Gallop. That sounds like REALLY good advice.

BTW, I wasn’t riding ponies at age seven. I didn’t saddle up for the first time until I was forty-seven! LOL!!!

[Gidget]

Thanks, Saultgirl. Hopefully, I’ll have enough presence of mind next time to do just that.

[Credosporthorses]

I have found over my years of naughty ponies and horses what works best for me is to sit up but do not stiffen. Let your knees and hips work for you absorbing the shock. I also find that staying soft through my body helps me follow the motion of the buck better and I am not fighting myself to stay with the horse, I am able to ride through the buck and and be ready to correct the behavior. Be it pulling the horse around in a circle or just sending them forward.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Take a look at the video that Mike Matson posted today in the Dressage Forum: “From rodeo steed…” and do what that guy’s doing! :-p

Just kidding- he’s a phenomenal rider- but certainly there are some takeaways from looking at his position and how he handles the horse.

[Gidget]

[QUOTE=Credosporthorses;7956646]
I have found over my years of naughty ponies and horses what works best for me is to sit up but do not stiffen. Let your knees and hips work for you absorbing the shock. I also find that staying soft through my body helps me follow the motion of the buck better and I am not fighting myself to stay with the horse, I am able to ride through the buck and and be ready to correct the behavior. Be it pulling the horse around in a circle or just sending them forward.[/QUOTE]

I LOVE IT!!!

[Gidget]

[QUOTE=scruffy the cat;7956657]
Take a look at the video that Mike Matson posted today in the Dressage Forum: “From rodeo steed…” and do what that guy’s doing! :-p

Just kidding- he’s a phenomenal rider- but certainly there are some takeaways from looking at his position and how he handles the horse.[/QUOTE]

OMG, that video was INSANE! LOL!!!

I could see how the rider was pulled up and relaxed at the same time, though. Thanks for the visual, Scruffy.

[SuckerForHorses]

Pray like a Mother Effer and try to get the head back up or circled around :lol:

[beowulf]

ride a pony that doesn’t buck :lol:

for me, i’ve had good luck staying on by sitting deep in the saddle and looking ahead - i’ve had a few TBs who could buck just about anything off and believe me i came off a few times – but sitting up, driving those heels down and picking up the horse’s head helped me keep them from getting away from me.

[Gidget]

[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;7956721]
Pray like a Mother Effer and try to get the head back up or circled around :lol:[/QUOTE]

I remember yelling, “Sh&t, sh&t, sh&t!!!” Does that count?

[cnigh]

Hee hee - I can still hear my coach,

Heals down, head up, shoulders back, if you look at the ground you’ll end up on the ground and my favorite - JUST STAY ON!!

I was 12 and riding an Appaloosa no one else would ride. He was born to buck.

Honestly the only trick to riding a buck is to stay balanced. Easier said than done sometimes.

[cnigh]

I just remembered that Appy is the reason I can’t canter inside an arena. I get wicked vertigo and all panicky. But outside - no walls to hit - I’m totally fine.

[atr]

Sit up, sit back, and yank that head up while you swear colorfully at the miserable beast, then keep on doing whatever it was that you were doing, or a modified form thereof (that’s that hard part…)

[Gidget]

[QUOTE=beowulf;7956722]
ride a pony that doesn’t buck :lol:[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I considered that. Fortunately, this isn’t her usual “M. O.” Plus, she’s SUCH a sweet ride you wouldn’t believe it!

You’re right, though. My first mistake was looking down at the horse. It was just such an unfamiliar feeling my brain couldn’t grasp what was happening at the time.

[Gidget]

Double post.

[Gidget]

Yeah. Cnigh, I have a feeling there’s just no substitute for “doing” in this case. I’m just not eager to do it again! LOL

[aliceo]

my trainer, who can ride out just about anything, said dressage training was the best training for riding out a buck.

also, drop your shoulder blades into your rear pockets, keep your eyes forward, head over your shoulders, drop yourself deep into the saddle, and do a lateral bend on the horse’s neck.

i practice lateral bends from the ground and always in the saddle to make sure i’ve got that tool when i need it. also practice on the ground and in the saddle disengaging the hq, so that when they start to run away with you you can control their feet.

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=Gidget;7956782]
Yeah. Cnigh, I have a feeling there’s just no substitute for “doing” in this case. I’m just not eager to do it again! LOL[/QUOTE]

if you want to practice, i have one you can practice on hehehe