My horse wont let me ride her, she was spooked by a chair hitting her and now she bucks me off every time.?

Question

My horse is about 9 now, and she was spooked by a chair hitting her when I was trying to get on her, now she wont let anyone ride her. Is this because she is so frightened or is it something else?

Answer 1

have someone help you mount the horse, not only could you have gotten hurt you could have also injured your horse, she will be all right, just have someone hold her and have someone help you mount your horse..all will be o.k.

Answer 2

This will sound supid and way to easy but... try getting on from the other side

Answer 3

It could be both. She could be frightened at the fact that she thinks everytime you get on a chair will fly through the air and hit her or she just worries. I would suggest spending more time bonding in the barn and REWARD her, always keep cookies in your pocket, if she lets you get on give her cookies let her know its ok then if she does her walk work well, give her cookies if she acts up reinforce it if her trot work is good give her cookies and so on however I would work on it slowly. This also might be her just being a "nappy" pony as the british might say. It might be that she knows if she bucks you off or acts frightened then she doesnt get ridden and so this might have become her habit. Mares are tricky though, I know from quite a few years of experience with one of my own. You have to make the work as positive as possible or you just end up with a pissed off horse and an injured sad or pissed off rider.

Answer 4

and I bet she was oving as you were trying to mount, she needs to go back to the basics of mounting, start slow and do not let her action cause a reaction, bet you will ride her soon as this issue is solved

Answer 5

Yes. She now associates that incident with you getting on her, and they say elephants have long memories, but compared to scared horses they're amateurs. You need to find a good trainer that can work with you and your mare together to get her past this fear. This needs to be a trainer who uses patience and NOT someone who'll just bully her and make her worse, and there are a lot of trainers like that out there. Your mare is fairly young with a lot of good years in her - it would be a shame to have to get rid of her for something like this.

You can do it - patience and love are the keys. Good luck!