# Quiet horse bucked me off



## Dew (Jan 15, 2012)

Hi I know this may be a broad question but I rode my horse today whom is very quiet and obedient normally and he bucked me off. I got the feeling that he did it on purpose to get back to his mate in the yard. I am very upset and have taken it quite personally! Does it mean he no longer likes me?? I am a novice rider obviously  my husband took him for a ride straight after with no problems.. Any advice? Thankyou


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Sounds to me like he was testing you and won. I doubt it has anything to do with him "liking" you or not. He was simply trying to have his own way.

What exactly did he do before he bucked you off? Was he acting up at all or did he just randomly buck and you came off? Did you get back on or just hand him off to your husband? 

My 2.5-year-old bucked on me yesterday for the first time...ever. He has NEVER offered to buck, not even when he was being saddled and ridden for the first time. The difference is, I know what triggered the buck (I reined him in as we went down some rocks and it ticked him off because he just wanted to go) and I didn't let him get away with it. If anything, he had to work harder and listen more after he bucked.

My advice would be to get back on and not let him get away with it. Don't take it so personally. He perceived a potential weakness and took full advantage of it. He's a horse. They naturally test leadership.


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## Dew (Jan 15, 2012)

Thankyou you have made me feel better! I couldn't get back on him unfortunately as I was in a lot of pain, landed right on my tail bone. He wanted trot down a slight hill and a was pulling him back a little as I didn't want him to just trot whenever he felt like it! Maybe this is what annoyed him? Will get back on when back has healed and hope he doesn't try it again! Thanks for the reply


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Dew said:


> Thankyou you have made me feel better! I couldn't get back on him unfortunately as I was in a lot of pain, landed right on my tail bone. He wanted trot down a slight hill and a was pulling him back a little as I didn't want him to just trot whenever he felt like it! Maybe this is what annoyed him? Will get back on when back has healed and hope he doesn't try it again! Thanks for the reply


Yup, sounds like he was ticked because he didn't get his way, just like my gelding was yesterday. Luckily, I was already braced for going down the rocks and I ride in an Australian stock saddle, so the poleys kept me in the saddle. Just be glad he didn't jump/buck off a granite boulder like my boy did (only about two feet from the top of the boulder to the trail where we landed, but rocks and trees on either side). 

Hope your back heals quickly so you can get back in the saddle again.

Also, next time he goes to trot when you don't want him to, instead of just reining him back (like it sounds like you did), try one-rein stopping him. Reining him back (especially if you're direct reining) can let him grab the bit and run with it, so he can either take off on you or buck, like he did. If you one-rein stop him, he has no choice but to either go in little circles until he decides to stop or stop from the first like you asked him to. Either way, he can't grab the bit and do what he wants.


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## Luis (Dec 30, 2011)

check his back.. maybe he has some back pain


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## twh (Feb 1, 2010)

Could be a pain issue or it could be that he doesn't respect you.
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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

Dew said:


> Will get back on when back has healed and hope he doesn't try it again!


Instead of hoping, assume he will try again and be ready to school him hard out of it.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Horses are horses. NEVER take what the horse does personally, they think differently than human. :wink: 

I'd first make sure his back doesn't hurt. I remember that one gelding that started bucking the owner off out of blue every time he cued for trot. Ended up that gelding kicked the brick wall hard just day before and his back was in pain. After some time off he returned to his normal nice behavior. 

If pain is out of question then he was testing you. The best way to deal with bucking is to be ready for it.  This means you sit deep and balanced with your heels down. If you feel buck is coming (and it's usually VERY clear as horse rounds the back before going into bucking) you can just turn him into the tight circle, or change the direction. It's hard (if possible at all) to buck when your body is bent. In general it's the best to keep his mind focused on you, not buddies or anything else, during the whole ride. Make the work interesting: do lots of transitions, circles of different diameters, serpentines, and so on.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

If you're in a cold climate, I would think the answer is temperature. Horses tend to get much more opinionated when it's colder. Even the dead quiet ones will test you more than usual.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Could be he was just "feeling his oats" and was having a good time. My gelding occasionally crow-hops when he's feeling good and gets to run. No big deal. It's like he's kicking up his heels and saying "YIPPEE!"


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## kittersrox (Jun 15, 2011)

MyBoyPuck said:


> If you're in a cold climate, I would think the answer is temperature. Horses tend to get much more opinionated when it's colder. Even the dead quiet ones will test you more than usual.


That's really interesting. I wonder if that's why my guy has been more of a stinker lately...


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

kittersrox said:


> That's really interesting. I wonder if that's why my guy has been more of a stinker lately...


There are lots of very sweet horses acting like complete boobs this year. The cold combined with the large temperture swings have all the horses in my area really acting loopy this year. I just sit deep and hang on until spring!


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

is your horse still bucking you off


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## SportHorseHeaven (Jan 11, 2012)

My cob is funny I have had him for over 15yrs and I trained him to ride from being a driving horse....and he gave me the biggest buck the other day, all because I asked him to work a little harder! He wasn't being horrible was just expressing that he didn't want to do it! I didn't tell him off just continued and asked again till he realised he was wasting his time, he settled back into and got on with it.
So don't feel your horse is out to get you, they don't do it to be mean, 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

SportHorseHeaven said:


> M
> So don't feel your horse is out to get you, they don't do it to be mean,


Yep. It's a mistake to attribute human emotions and motivations to a simple minded animal.


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## SportHorseHeaven (Jan 11, 2012)

mildot said:


> Yep. It's a mistake to attribute human emotions and motivations to a simple minded animal.


Indeedy! If you think about it...horses can't speak, the way they act with us is how they act with other horses, we have to learn their language and mimic theirs not try to get them on our level  plus don't think I would want my horse speaking to me....prob tell me about the extra pounds I have put on over christmas hehehe
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