I hesitated to post, and everyone should take this for what it’s worth- my opinion.
The horse seems quite difficult. Often, the difficult horses are the ones with the most talent. They are often deemed unrideable, crazy, etc. until the right rider comes along who finds a way to work with that horse and channel that difficulty into brilliance. I think it must be hard to see a horse with fabulous movement, a great jump, and know, that if you could just harness that mind, you have a real winner in your hands. I know I would probably want to keep trying.
I’ve listened to Buck give a lecture. He’s a great speaker, funny, nice guy, and I think he’s a really great team leader. I would listen to him speak again.
I have also ridden with Buck. I would not ride with him again. The facility that hosted the clinic put in new footing the day before the clinic. It was absolutely awful, much, much, MUCH too deep. People were going to scratch riding because of it. The facility went in that night, pulled off several inches of sand and pushed it all to one end of the ring. 2/3 of the ring was fine, the back 1/3, where they pushed the excess sand, was like riding in quicksand, or a bog, it was awful.
The first day of the clinic we worked mostly in just the front half. Buck set a metal chair close to the rope that separated the auditors. At one point we were to execute as close a turn around the chair as possible (think barrel racer) and push forward out of it. Great flat excercise that set us up for what was to come the next day. However, we were so close to the rope that spectators were being hit with sand, and more than one person knocked the chair down. I want to repeat that the chair was metal. I was not ok with this. I have actually seen a horse deglove a leg getting caught in one. It was a freak accident, the horse was loose in an arena for turnout and the chair was left, probably for a past instructor or spectator. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but having been there and helped while waiting for the vet… Yeah, I’m now wary of metal chairs and horses. I was criticized for not getting as close as possible to the chair. In fact I was told, “did you see X, she knocked it over, that’s how close you should get.” Maybe he was never in pony club.
On the second day Buck set up a full course. He set it so that you had to ride through the really bad, deep, deep footing, push through the corner, come out of it and jump a big, square, max oxer. It’s actually a really good exercise. It’s one I’ve used at home, it’s one my trainer has used. Using the corner to gain balance and impulsion is great. But the footing wasn’t. The horses slowed the minute they hit the deep footing, many broke gait over and over again, many stumbled. I couldn’t do it. I tried, my horse is the most honest creature on the planet. He tried. Buck kept yelling at me to just gallop, leg, go to the whip, leg, gallop. I finally pulled up. I said, “Buck, the footing is just too deep. I’m not ok with it. I’m worried about his legs.” Buck said to me, “Oh? And what if this was a show?! What would you do then?” And I looked at him and said, “I would withdraw. I wouldn’t run my horse in these conditions.” He looked at me and walked away. He really didn’t have much time for me after that. And I can’t blame him. I challenged his authority, I refused to do what he asked. I felt awful. On the other hand, I STILL stand by my decision. The footing was horrible. It was risking injury and it wasn’t fair to my horse. And before anyone thinks I’m bashing, I’m not, if I were to write a clinic report, I’d include this. And I did take some good things away. Buck is big on forward- ride forward to your fences. Forward distance. When in doubt, don’t wait, go forward." That really helped me. I think about that often when I’m riding.
I also rode with Boyd Martin in less than desirable footing. It was hogs fuel on a slick base and horses slipped and one wiped out on a turn. Boyd literally stopped the group and said, “wait. This isn’t safe. I’m going to change the exercise.” He moved the fences, changed the striding. It made for a wider, safer turn and stopped the slippage in the corner. Boyd was willing to change his lesson plan when conditions were not ideal to the exercises he had planned. Buck was not. He was going to teach that lesson, exactly as he had planned, no matter what.
I got off feeling pretty low and already starting to doubt myself. However, multiple auditors stopped me to tell me they thought I made the right decision and they were glad I said something. In a later class another rider spoke up, said the footing was dangerous and she wasn’t willing to risk injury. She thanked him, got off, and called it a day.
If you read all this, you rock. I’m sorry, I tend towards verbose.
We had a similar warm up set up at a recent event. It’s placement sucked and many horses became unglued as horses galloped by. Plus, many were nappy at the box because it meant going away from warmup. However, they were mostly young horses or riders.
Buck’s horse is not green. Neither is Buck. The horse is probably quite capable of being a prick- and yes, I’ve ridden horses who are fully capable of giving the middle finger. This horse seems to either be on or off. After this time in Buck’s program I would think you would either see it working for the horse or not. Buck should, at this point, know this horse’s quirks and how to ride them and get the best out of the animal. After my experience with Buck though, I can’t help but wonder if he has a program, and if that program is rigid, and it is up to the animal to find a way to fit into it, rather than to tailor a program to the individual horse.
Now, ALL this said- this was my ONE experience riding with Buck. So even I take this with a grain of salt. Maybe he is totally different at home!
As far as yellow card? Buck’s a pro, the horse isn’t green, yellow card probably deserved. I would HOPE that a yellow card would NOT be issued to Buck on a young, green horse in the same situation. And btw, I have been on “that horse” in the warmup- I mainly ride/restart ottbs. The first couple shows can be quite the rodeo. So I actually do have sympathy for the situation. It is not fun to ride!
I didn’t come here to trash him or the horse, but despite that I still would argue that perhaps – that is, maybe – a slower move through the levels and a mellower schedule might have helped. But hey, we’ll never know. Maybe the horse will soon stop this behaviour. Stay tuned! My nappy beast started rearing and spinning on the lead rope at an local event last weekend shortly after uloading because, oh my, there were horses trotting and cantering on the other side of the hill behind us. Low key but he didn’t feel that way. I agree – lots of really good horses are difficult to manage, and yeah, that’s why they end up with profs.
