Horse Bucks Unpredictably
Here’s today’s horse training question, which was submitted without a name: I have a 4 1/2 yr old paint that has had 30 days of riding and about a year of ground work. he has been at the trainer for 45 days and did great the first 3 weeks and then every time the trainer would get on he would pin his ears back and buck or try to buck. the trainer would turn him in circles really quick then he would stop, then they get off of him and lunge him for a while then get on him and he would do great. the next day she would do the same thing but he wouldn’t buck. but, the next day he would do the same bucking scenario again and she would do the same lunging thing again. Now after 2 weeks of that routine she works him really good before getting on him and he blows up every time she gets on his back but she straightens him out and he’s good for a while. sometimes they run, gallop down the road and he will just start bucking and she whips him around in a circle and he does good after that. she says he’s trying to get one over on her but that she would not be able to rely on this horse for me if i didn’t want to have to be on guard all the time. what do you think his problem might be?
It’s hard to tell without seeing the horse when the problem is intermittent as you have described. However, here are my thoughts: It’s strange that he was fine for three weeks and then started this behavior. What did the trainer ask him to do that was new right before the behavior started? Was he asked to lope under saddle for the first time? Did she start riding him with spurs? Try to think of anything that might have changed in what she was doing right before the problem started.
The other thing I would look in to is if something is hurting him and causing him to buck. I wonder, since it started after he had been under saddle for a little while, if his back is sore, he’s got a chiropractic issue, or if the saddle is pinching him. Does he buck on the line when she’s longeing him, or just when she gets on his back? If he only bucks when there is weight in the saddle that would make me think it’s pain in his back that is causing the issue.
Watch the trainer work with him and see if you can see anything different she is doing right before he blows up.
I hope these suggestions are helpful, let me know what you find out and from there we can try to do some more troubleshooting!
