Behaviour
Help for horses that buck ● Training horses that hate the school
QOur horse always bucks when he goes into canter and occasionally bucks while in canter. We’ve had his teeth and saddle checked and both were fine. Why does he do this and how can it be corrected? Rachel Lawrence, Gloucestershire
AGetting to the root cause of why horses buck when ridden can be tricky. There could be a number of reasons – he may have an undiagnosed physical problem, he might have learned to do this when he was backed, or he could be anticipating pain or discomfort from a previously ill- fifitti ng saddle or unbalanced rider. I’d recommend you stop riding. There’s a risk that this behaviour could escalate and he could become more dangerous. Ask your vet to give him a thorough physical check-up. Explain to the vet exactly what he’s doing, so that they can assess where any potential problem may be. For example, does he buck when you give a specifific leg aid into canter? Or does it happen when the rider’s balance is shifted in the saddle? If the vet gives him the all clear, you’ll need to carefully retrain his canter transition. I’d recommend asking a qualified behaviourist to help you with this as the retraining process needs to be approached sympathetically and systematically. Take it slowly – I’d start by retraining his canter on the lunge and getting good transitions to a voice command before a rider gets back on.