Addressing Horse Bucking

Horseback riding, training, and dealing with horses is a dangerous sport. On one hand you have all the tack, such as the saddles, bridles, and other inanimate things that factor into your overall safety. But, there is also the horse. The book I chose to read is How to Think Like a Horse by Cherry Hill, which covers many things in the sport of horseback riding. What makes this sport so dangerous is how unpredictable a horse can be. Unlike skiing, basketball, or biking, and most other sports, horseback riding uses the riders skill as well as the horses. If your horse is misbehaving, that puts you at risk. Relying solely on a 1200 pound animal, that has a flight response when in danger, to keep you safe is not a smart move. One of the many dangerous vices, if not one of the most dangerous to the safety of the rider and the animals with it, is bucking. Bucking is when a horse arches it's back, lowers its head, and kicks out with its hind feet (Cherry 86). This is not only one vice, but it can lead to others such as striking and bolting, both of which are very dangerous to try to address.

For this project, I have decided to use my horse, Galileo, since he has a tendency to buck.

Bucking

To try to help the horse stop bucking, Hill says, “Monitor feed and exercise; use proper progressive training; check tack fit”(Cherry 87). It is possible they ate too much or too little, had bad food, or has colic. Horses that are in colic will probably buck because the tack and exercise is hurting their stomach.  If you can image it would be uncomfortable for you, try setting 150 pounds of gear and a person on your back and run around, it wouldn’t be fun.

Rearing

If their feed is fine and they aren’t in colic, check the tack. The tack generally has problems at the withers, which is the top of their shoulders, or the cinch. If the saddle is too narrow it will put pressure against the horses back and shoulder joints, which is painful and can cause stress on the bones. Hold the horse in place to check the tack before you put it on, because to check the cinch you must make sure that it isn’t too tight. It would be like wrapping a belt around your chest and pulling it too tight and then trying to breathe.

Holding Leo- About to Check Tack Fit

Finally, it is also important to determine whether the bucking is due to a legitimate fear response, or if they are being crazy. “A horse bucks because he is afraid, the tack or rider is uncomfortable, because it feels good, or out of habit”(Hill 111). If a horse is bucking out of fear or pain, you should calmly respond by dismounting them or backing up to make sure you are out of danger (while still holding onto the rope so they don’t run off), then proceed to have them relax by petting them or saying whoa. This will get the horse to know it didn’t do anything wrong by being scared, but it needed to be calmer. And if the horse was in pain, once you remove the cause of the pain, such as the rider or a tight cinch, the horse should be fine. However, if a horse is bucking out of spite, anger, or just to be rude, it needs to be reprimanded. It is important to know the difference between a scared or in pain horse and one that intends to hurt the rider, because your safety is the most important. This is why addressing bucking can be a danger, due to determining the cause, and eliminating the problem.

To deal with my own horses bucking, I determined the cause of it first. I believe it to be an issue with his tack. He has high shoulders and a hollow back, so the saddle is an issue. This summer I plan to get him fitted with a saddle so he won't buck out of pain. If it continues, I will conclude that it is out of his personality. According to Hill, I should put him into progressive training. If the tack doesn't solve my solution, I will ask my trainer to focus more on getting him to stop bucking.

Hill, Cherry. "Bucking." How to Think like a Horse: The Essential Handbook for Understanding                   Why Horses Do What They Do. North Adams, MA: Storey Pub., 2006. 86+. Print.

Would you ride a horse knowing how unpredictable it can be? What do you think would be the main cause of bucking of the three given? Do you know any other reasons a horse would buck?