Bucking dressage horse?

Question

Hey there, I asked this last night, but I have a problem, my year old 17.3hh Dutch warmblood gelding is bucking like there's no tomorrow, he did this a few months ago, we had everything checked, we bought him a new saddle, and had the vet come out, he was perfectly sound his back was fine, so we don't know what was causing it, he stopped for a few months and now he's back at it!

It's only when I canter him and ask for him to lengthen or collect his canter, he bucks and bucks. THe vet has come out again, he's fine, the vet also checked his saddle and said it fit fine, his back is fine, the farrier came out and checked his feet, they are fine. I don't know what to do, he does this with my trainer also, and I know he knows how to do it, because he's past training level that I'm schooling at, so any ideas of why he's doing this? Or any advice would be great!

Answer 1

I had the same proplem with my pony. The problem with my pony was the the girth was pinching her. there should be at least 1 hand lenghth from the girth and the elbow. you should also strech your horses legs out before you ride.

Answer 2

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stop-That-Horse-An...

Maybe try one of these?

Or could he just be an exciteable horse? He is still quite young and green so maybe he just wants to be a typical 'boy'!

Good Luck with him!

Answer 3

Get him on a lunge line.  Put him through his paces with the saddle on, see if he is resistant or bucking.  If so, work him through it until he responds to your cues consistently and without resisting.  Get a good rider on his back, and lunge him again.  Tell the rider to get him to either collect or lengthen his canter.  If he bucks, immediately slap him with your whip and get him going as fast as you can for two or three circles (this is why you have to have a really good rider).  Then let him slow down, and try it again.  Repeat until he no longer bucks.  You can do this without a lunge line, and use a crop instead, but it is easier when you have someone on the ground and someone in the saddle to give cues.  Good luck!

Answer 4

I believe that horses either do things for physical reasons, or for mental reasons.  Since you have ruled out the physical reasons, then you are most likely dealing with a mental issue.  He could be trying to tell you that the job is hard and that he would like a change of pace.  Maybe try some trail riding or some work over poles or cross rails to change up the training.  If he still wants to buck, then he is most likely just being a jerk!  I might put an overcheck on him to prevent him from getting his head down to buck.  You could take a piece of baling twine and run it from the bit rings up through the browband loops and back down his neck to tie off to the dee rings on your saddle.  This is a quick cheap way to see if it will stop him.  If it does stop him, I would put him back into dressage training and just push through with the over check, hopefully breaking the habit.  With some luck, he will forget about bucking because it won't work anymore, and you can remove the twine and ride him normally.

Answer 5

Do you ask him for collection early in your riding sessions?  Some horses need more warmup time before they are ready to do the work that collection represents to them.  Without the degree of warmup he may require, he could be experiencing muscle spasms when he begins to collect.  This would not show up on a vet exam since the vet would have to be able to visually observe the spasm (not necessarily possible) when it occurred.

Answer 6

The trot is your new best friend.  Get him into a strong working trot, and ask for plenty of forward reach.  Continue until he is attentive, and then in this same extended trot, work serpentines, then spirals, in and out, as well as he can at a brisk trot.  Then do this again at a medium, collected, very collected and very extended trot.  Continue for several rides or as long as you can.  If you do this long enough, with enough variety in your trot work, and enough work at the trot, he will welcome the canter when you finally ask for it.

Answer 7

My guy does this every time we goout for the first month or so after the winter break.

He is very fresh after a few months off so is very excitable, but he stops after 5 weeks or so, when we're going out every day!

How much work do you do outside of the arena. Maybe take him out for a good ride before you do any schooling, alot of horses find schooling extremely boaring and kind of shut off as they go intoi the schooling arena., Stimulating their mind before or after schooling will make schooling seem less boaring!

Answer 8

It may be a mental thing with him. Maybe he doesn't feel confident in his canter work enough to be asked to extend or collect, so he acts out rather than do what's asked. Do you know how to do spirals?? I would do lots of canter work in spirals without asking for the transitions, lots of calming work on the rail with balance work off the rail. If he bucks, one rein him so he can't get his head down. I had a horse who would buck when asked to canter. I'd really push him hard into a gallop so he found bucking difficult and would gallop him a bit before asking him to come back down to the canter. he didn't like the extra work, the run gave him a place for his frustrations to go and he gave up the bucking. In his case, he didn't feel like cantering, he really didn't feel like galloping which was his reward for bucking, so he decided he could cnter. He was fit for it, it was attitude. Make sure your guy is fit for what you are asking, if not help him with that.

Answer 9

It's not clear the age of your horse but if it's broke to ride then I assume he's 3 or more. The most common reason that a horse bucks is that they are head shy. If your horse is the least bit head shy, fix that first.

  2nd method, after the head sghyness is corrected. Put the horse in a 60 foot round pen and ride him at a walk, trot and then canter. If the head shyness has been fixed I believe you will see a difference, if he is not head shy then it's just a matter of the horse getting the best of you or him having your number. If that's the case you have to cowboy him.

  Tack the horse up, lunge it around the round pen with no lead attached for quite a long time. Reverse it's directions and make it turn often. Do not allow it to go slower than a trot and make it canter as often as you can. The more turns he has to make the faster he'll tire because turning takes a lot more effort than just running. When the horse is good and lathered to the point where it's legs are wobbly and it is contstantly trying to stop, make it go a little longer. When it stumbles the first time you have him right where you want him. Hop on board and canter that horse for another thirty minutes. He won't have the energy to buck and usually they will not want to ever buck again.

  For safety sake, prior to, during and even after round penning you will have to keep an eye out for the indicators the horse is going to buck. A horse has to dip its head to buck, don't let this happen. If you see the ears go back, head go down or feel it collecting underneath or balling up, quickly turn the horse in as tight a circle as you can get him to bend and make him canter in a circle 6 times in each direction. A horse cannot buck when he's turning a tight circle, physically impossible. Once he learns that everytime he thinks about bucking he'll have to turn tight circles he may stop. You can do this anytime he goes to buck but the round pen lesson works the best. Just be prepared to spend about two hours without stopping, well worth the two hours when you look back at it.

  Be careful!!! Roundpenning the horse for long periods in weather that is extremely hot is dangerous. Make sure you cool him off well by walking him, just like a race horse that just finished a race. Don't do it if the horse is not otherwise in good condition.