From: Brenda
Dear Jessica, I hope you will find time to answer my letter. I have written twice before but haven’t been selected yet. My horse has become such a concern of mine that I am grappling with the decision of whether to sell him for my own personal safety or keep him because 98% of the time he’s a very sweet people-oriented horse. I read your emails all the time and find your advice very sound and practical. I hope you can help me. If you require a payment before answering, please advise. You are my last hope.
My horse Tristan is a 9 year old Trakehner cross TB, 16.3h with a large build. He was sold to me a year and a half ago as a green 8 year old who had been turned out for the most part of his life. Right there alarms should have gone off in my head, but I didn’t pay much heed because I loved so many other things about him. Anyway, he was just learning to jump low rails and didn’t have much flatwork knowledge either. Beginning only a few weeks after I purchased him, he has had one lameness issue after another all of which I have systematically cared for with the help of my farrier, veterinarian/acupuncturist/ chiropractor, trainers, and a lot of patience. My horse is very heavy in the front end and abdomen, with a longish back. His hindquarters are a normal size. I’m told that with his conformation working against him, I have to get his hindquarters and back into shape very carefully so that he doesn’t eagerly do more than he is physically fit to do and hurt himself in the process.
Tristan is on a diet of ¼ scoop of feed, which is a mixture of pellets and sweet feed, twice a day, and 5 flakes of hay per day. This diet has helped him trim down some and I believe he is in good flesh. I consider myself to be an advanced intermediate rider, stand only 5’3”, and have been riding hunt seat on and off for about 30 years. In the year and a half that I’ve owned Tristan, he has bucked me off 3 times, in the ring and out on the trail, at the trot and at the canter. Mostly after spooking and bolting, but once while following another horse through tall grass at a canter on the trail. I’ve attributed the behavior as having physical roots because after each incident he developed some kind of soreness or lameness somewhere…back, hip, foot. Now I believe that he is physically sound, more physically fit than he has probably ever been in his life, and on a regular exercise routine of riding out on hills and trails 4 times a week and doing ring work once a week. He has learned a lot of flatwork, engages behind, is learning to balance better and is responsive and obedient. He has come along way but is not an Olympic contender, and I don’t need him to be. He is intended to be a pleasure horse to ride out, jump 2-3 foot fences once in a while and possibly do some local showing.
As I was saying, 98% of the time, Tristan is docile, very willing and eager to please, and not prone to flakiness. In fact, he often has to lead others on the trail because of his good temperament. My problem is that recently, he spooked in a field where we were working on hills. We were cantering balanced and relaxed. He accidentally brushed against some branches (which normally doesn’t bother him at a walk), bolted, and as I attempted to regain control before we reached the woods, he fought me by shaking his head and bucking. He has a buck like a rodeo bronc. Arched back, quite powerful and no nonsense. This time I managed to stay on, pulled him up and gave him a light whack with the crop since he’s very afraid of it. I think now that I probably shouldn’t have done that, but have gotten differing opinions about what would have been an appropriate action.
Jessica, I’ve read all your archives on buckers, and I’ve solicited advice from others on whether buckers can be retrained or whether they will always carry that in their bag of tricks when the going gets “anxious”. I’m afraid Tristan has learned that in dire situations, it is a viable alternative. The last time Tristan bucked me off I landed in the ER with a concussion. I don’t want to repeat that experience but I’ve been through so much with this horse, and I love him, that I want to give him the opportunity to be good. If I can stay on, what should I do to correct or calm him? Or do you think that, as some of my friends do, I should sell him (he’s very high maintenance to boot)? Since the behavior is so intermittent, once every 2 or 3 months, it’s tough to send him somewhere to be retrained. What would you do in my situation?
Sincerely, Brenda
Third time lucky, as they say - and no, of course it's not a matter of paying or not paying, it's simply that during any given week, there are at least one hundred and usually two hundred letters to HORSE-SENSE, so the odds of a particular one being answered are - I suppose - 100 or 200 to one!
Your letter is very interesting - you've had a lot of riding experience, your horse sounds very sweet, and it seems that you've enlisted the help of just about every professional and therapist who could be of help. It's quite possible that the most I'll be able to do for you is give you my thoughts and perhaps help you clarify your own thinking.
Let's begin by taking an objective look at the horse and the situation. Pretend that you're reading about someone else's problem.
This horse has had soundness issues since his owner purchased him (and quite likely since long before she purchased him). She purchased him as a green 8-year-old who had spent most of his life turned out. His size and conformation alone would make it difficult to get and keep him truly sound and fit. It's entirely possible that he may have been started young - and then turned out and left out because of some injury that might just be coming back to haunt him now. It's very likely that some physical problems are causing him pain, and they are doubtless exacerbated by his size and build.
On the plus side, the horse is sweet and people-oriented, and an enjoyable ride 98% of the time. And he's clearly honest - it's significant that after each bucking episode, it has beeen clear that there WAS a physical problem involved. That makes it highly likely that the lameness was already coming on before the bucking episode, and when it got to the painful stage, the horse wasn't able to tolerate (a) the pain, and/or (b) a rider (any rider!), and bucked. If this horse had been bucking with its rider on a daily or even weekly basis, that would be something I would classify as a chronic physical problem OR a behaviour problem. Three times in eighteen months, though, doesn't seem like a lot.
How often DOES the horse buck? The rider has come off him only three times in eighteen months, but is that because he has bucked only on those three occasions, or because those happened to be the only three occasions on which the rider has come off as a result of his bucking?
What should the rider do? You're right to think that hitting him after pulling him up was the wrong thing to do. A quick loud smack with a whip can be a useful teaching tool, but ONLY if the timing of the smack is such that the horse associates the smack with the behaviour you want to eliminate. Simply put, this means that the smack has to happen WHILST the behaviour is in progress - otherwise, there will be no useful association created in the horse's mind. A loud yell DURING the behaviour is of far more use than a smack AFTER the behaviour. The problem, you see, is that he will associate praise or punishment with whatever he is doing at the moment the praise or punishment is offered. That's why patting a horse after he's completed his jumping round (for example) doesn't convey "Well jumped," it conveys "What a good boy you are for trotting" (or walking, or standing still, or whatever the horse is doing whilst it's being patted). When a horse bucks or rears or bites, and is punished WHILST the buck or rear or bite is in progress, it will associate the punishment with bucking or rearing or biting; when a horse bucks or rears or bites and is punished AFTER the behaviour, the punishment conveys "NO, you should NOT stand still" (or put all four feet on the ground, or close your mouth). It's all a matter of timing, and in this case, your timing didn't say "Bucking is bad and I don't want you to do it," it said "Bucking is fine, but do NOT come back to hand and pull up."
This is why punishment too late is worse than no punishment at all. And since it can be difficult to coordinate a whip-smack when you're riding a horse that is actually bucking at the time, try yelling instead. Horses are very sensitive to loud noises, and your horse (being mostly Thoroughbred and Arabian, is likely to be more sensitive than most. Especially for a sensitive, people-oriented horse that likes to please, a really loudly-yelled "NO!" or "STOP!" or my favourite game-show "wrong answer" loud buzzing sound can be a punishment in itself. It certainly leaves no doubt in the horse's mind - whatever it is doing when it hears that noise something it should cease doing immediately.
If you can smack the horse during the objectionable behaviour, you can often eliminate that behaviour from its repertoire. If you can't smack the horse and stay in the saddle, don't bother smacking, just YELL. And as soon as the bucking stops, pat, praise, and reward. The horse will not think it's being rewarded for bucking; it will correctly understand that you really like NOT-bucking. ;-)
This is a difficult lesson to learn - not for the horse, but for the rider. Sitting on a horse that bucks or rears is frightening, fright creates an adrenaline surge in the rider, and when the horse's feet touch down again, the rider's impulse is not to praise the horse, but to hit it - and this is something that the rider simply must not do.
Scenario: Horse bucks because something is beginning to hurt, and he or his rider makes a move that suddenly makes him hurt quite a lot. Typically, it would be toward the end of a ride, when the horse is becoming tired or sore, something startles him or his rider, he (or his rider) makes a quick movement that causes him pain - and the horse bucks. As the horse begins to buck, the rider grabs the reins and thinks "OH NO HERE WE GO AGAIN!" The horse feels the grab and its rider's tension, and thinks "OH NO HERE WE GO AGAIN!".
Ending #1: Horse bucks, rider stays on, horse stops bucking, rider hits horse. Horse concludes "Bucking hurts but it's clearly what the rider wants, as I get punished for stopping."
Ending #2: Horse bucks, rider falls off (to the horse, a fall-off is just a sudden dismount). The horse, now comfortable, stops bucking, thinks "AHA, I did what was wanted." Some horses learn to buck for the same reason that other horses learn to walk to the center of the ring - or the gate - and stop. They associate the action with "end of lesson - rider dismounts - I'm comfortable and relaxed now."
As for learning to buck as a way to avoid work, it's possible, but in this case it's highly unlikely, or your horse would be doing it all the time, not 2% of the time. Horses will do what works and what they're in the habit of doing. Behaviours are either profitable or they aren't. Behaviours that result in great discomfort or great profit are memorable. The horse that touches a "live" electric fence with its nose ONCE is unlikely to do it again, and may be highly suspicious of strands of wire everywhere, even if there is no electricity involved. The horse that finds the feed bin open ONCE will probably spend the rest of its life eyeing (and, when possible, trying) the lid of the feed bin, just in case. ;-)
Bucking usually indicates pain, but there are other causes. Happy exuberance on a chilly morning is one; too much hard feed is another. Loss of balance is a common cause - the horse that is asked to trot or canter down a hill (or trot up a hill) and loses its balance slightly will typically re-establish its balance through a buck or two. Some horses simply enjoy bucking - and there's a place for them in rodeo. But very, VERY seldom is bucking due to sheer bloody-mindedness.
I would look to the usual three causes - pain, fear, and confusion. First and foremost, consider PAIN as the most likely cause of bucking. There are any number of possibilities here - I'll just offer a few for your consideration.
Soreness in the back is very likely - and given this horse's conformation, I'd always suspect a sore back when any such problem appears. There can be many immediate causes of soreness.
Tack fit is always high on the list of "usual suspects" - a saddle that fit well last week or last month may not fit well today. Check it for fit - and check it for position. Many saddles begin in perfect position, well behind the withers, with the girth well behind the horse's elbows, and work their way forward during the course of the ride. Once they are forward and out of position, they can rub against the horse's withers, put painful pressure on his shoulders, pinch the skin behind the elbows, and - last but certainly not least - cause the rider's weight to press hard on the area of the horse's back just under the cantle. Some "behaviour" problems disappear overnight when riders learn to monitor their saddle position and readjust it as necessary (which may mean every 20 minutes!).
Check the saddle pad, as well. A pad that isn't pulled well up into the saddle gullet, or that works its way down during the course of a ride, can put painful pressure on the horse's withers.
Consider what the horse is being asked to do, and when, and how much of it, and when. Hill-work can exacerbate discomfort, whether it comes from saddle fit (or an underlying back problem) or from doing something physically demanding (e.g., trotting up a hill). The same work repeated every second or third day can build up the horse's body, whereas the same work repeated daily can tear it down.
Remember that bucking is one of the few ways a horse can express "Ouch, I hurt and I'm unhappy" - and that although saddle and back problems are "usual suspects", so are teeth and hoof problems! Pain in the mouth can cause stiffness in the neck, soreness in the back, and soreness in the hind legs; badly-trimmed feet (typically with too-long toes and too-short heels) can cause soreness all the way up the legs and into the back, hindquarters, etc. You have to take a very holistic attitude toward every aspect of horse management and riding - nothing takes place in isolation.
One of my mottoes is "It's always the rider." This doesn't mean that you are causing all of his problems, but it means that as his CURRENT rider, you are responsible for him, and part of your responsibility may involve dealing with damage caused by a previous rider. Not only was this horse turned out for a very long time, but he may have been put into too much work too quickly, just before you purchased him. The fact that he was being started over jumps should have been a major warning sign. If any horse - but particularly a fully-developed, physically mature, tall and heavy horse with conformation that screams "I'm not meant to be a jumper!" - is put into jumping training before being taught his flatwork and helped to develop the physique that would enable him to jump without physical harm to himself, problems are bound to develop. Sometimes time, patience, and good sensible flatwork (i.e. basic dressage training) can help such a horse go on to enjoy a long, happy existence as a riding horse. Sometimes they can't - but if you like the horse, it's certainly worth a try. If you can find a good classical trainer who will help you re-sculpt your horse's muscles, have a go.
The conformation you've described is often associated with strongly-developed muscling on the underside of the neck, with weak belly muscles, and with hock problems. Horses with this conformation are often high-headed, and if they are worked in draw-reins to bring the head down (not that you would do such a thing, but it might have happened before you acquired the horse), the result is invariably first a sore neck, then a sore back, and finally sore hocks. It's desperately important for such horses to learn to use their hindquarters and belly muscles, to stretch and relax their backs, and to lift their necks from the base (rather than just propping them on those incorrectly over-developed muscles).
I do understand your dilemma; I'm in a bit of one myself. I don't want to advise you to keep a horse that has already put you into hospital; on the other hand, it's difficult to condemn a horse that goes sweetly 98% of the time and has always proved to be in pain whenever there's been a bucking episode! A horse is a horse - that is, a live, reactive animal. You may want to keep a very detailed journal describing all your rides - and everything else in your horse's life - so that you can start to figure out whether there is a specific factor (or several specific factors) present before each episode of bucking. Sometimes a journal is all you need - if you're lucky, you'll find that each episode follows a day in the stall because the fields were too wet to allow turnout, or that each episode involves the saddle sliding forward, or that each episode involves the horse shaking its head or plunging downward with its head and neck first (indicating a cramp in the neck and/or a loss of balance).
A similar problem with another horse, years ago, was equally mysterious, and the mystery was "solved" when the horse's owner discovered that there WAS a common factor each time: in this case, the horse bucked only on certain days, ALL of which just happened to be the same days that the person who cleaned the stalls was away and been replaced (just for the day) by another person. The regular stall-cleaner left the horses loose in their stalls whilst he cleaned them; his replacement, who took a longer time to clean each stall, tied each horse's head high, with a short rope, whilst he did the cleaning! In this horse's case, the resulting neck strain invariably showed up under saddle in the form of several bucks.
Still, putting aside all matters of horse-training and riding, the "bottom line" is this: Your personal safety is what matters most, and you will have to determine how much risk you are willing to take. You can't enjoy any horse if you are in hospital or at home suffering from a concussion - or from the accumlated brain damage that multiple concussions will bring. It's a fact that riding IS a high-risk sport, and most injuries ARE to the head and extremities.
Riders can diminish the risk by becoming better riders, by improving their fitness and skill levels, by learning to "read" their horses and understand when their horses are likely to become painful or frightened or confused, and what their horses' reactions are likely to be. A relaxed, comfortable horse is unlikely to buck; a tense, uncomfortable horse is far more likely to buck. It's very much to the rider's advantage if she can familiarize herself with the signs (or feel) of a horse becoming tense and uncomfortable, and then take steps to make the hosre more relaxed and comfortable - in other words, to increase her ability to AVOID the bucking in the first place. Of course, riders should always wear equestrian helmets that meet or exceed the current ASTM/SEI safety standards, and replace the helmet after a fall (and every five years even if they have not had a fall). But the risks are real, and are always there, and the only way to avoid them entirely is to stay off horses. It's a sad fact that the effect of repeated falls on the rider's skull will NOT be affected at all by the validity (or not) of the horse's motive for bucking. For many riders, there comes a time when a doctor says "No more riding - you simply can't afford any more concussions."
Having said that, though, the other side of the story is that three falls in a year and a half are not very many, when you consider that this was basically the breaking-in and early training period for a horse that is 9 years old chronologically, but much younger in terms of training and fitness. And one more thing for you to consider is that it's a mistake to think of a Trakhener or TK cross as "typical Warmblood or half-Warmblood" - what you have is a horse that is MOSTLY Thoroughbred, with some Arabian added, and regardless of the horse's height and bulk, you can expect that it will have all the sensitivity of the TB and Arabian.
If you do decide to keep your horse, spend a year or a year and a half doing flatwork to help him develop his coordination, balance, and musculature, so that he can become comfortable under his rider at walk, trot, canter, and - later - over low jumps. Remember that this horse needs to acquire more than just experience on the trail and familiarity with the saddle and rider! His size and conformation are working against him, and it will take a great deal of time and patient effort to bring him to the same level of development that a younger horse of 15.1, with more balanced conformation, might achieve in half a year's time. I'm sure that you're familiar with the saying "comparisons are odious" - keep this in mind at all times, and compare your horse ONLY with your horse as he was a week or a month or a year ago, NOT with the other horses who may be younger and fitter and more at ease after a full day on the trails.
Keep in mind, also, that although this horse is young and green in a training sense, his body is that of a mature horse, and he doesn't need the same amount of feed that he would if he were actually three or four years old and still growing. It's possible that he may be getting too much high-energy feed. A horse in very light work is unlikely to require ANY concentrates; he should do well if he has as much time in a field as possible, every day, and is fed hay to make up for any deficiencies in the grazing.
As for what you can do to help calm him under saddle, good management (lots of field-time and forage, no confinement, very limited concentrates) will help; proper tack-fitting and adjustment will help; keeping the horse's teeth and feet in good shape will help. And when you are actually RIDING him, you may want to use a signal for "relax and calm down, all is well". The signal can be anything - try a long slow stroke down the neck, a series of taps or rubs on the side of the neck or the withers - but if you teach him, on the ground, that this signal means "peace, quiet, a lovely scratch and possibly a treat", you can continue the same training when you're in the saddle, and the signal will let you induce "relaxation on demand". It's not necessarily going to have the desired effect mid-buck - but if you combine a known signal for "relax, all is well" with the enhanced attention that allows you to notice when your horse BEGINS to stiffen and become anxious, you will be able to use the signal just before the buck begins - and head it off.
I suppose what it comes down to is this: Do you want to keep him and work with him, or will you feel an overwhelming sense of relief if you let him go? We are supposed to be doing this for fun, remember - horse ownership and riding should be a pleasure, and if they aren't, then something is wrong.
Whether you keep him or sell him is up to you. Keeping him isn't a moral imperative; selling him isn't a moral failing. If you do sell him, be sure that you let the buyer know about his history. Even though, as I said, this does not sound like a chronic problem, you'll still be in a much better position - ethically AND legally - if you say "I've come off him three times in the last year and a half, and the last time, I was in hospital with a concussion."
You might think that this information would deter possible purchasers, but usually it does not deter them even the slightest bit, because all of them are convinced that the problem is rider-induced and that they, in their infinitely greater wisdom, will be able to avoid or fix it!
Either way, the best of luck, and do let me know what you decide.
Jessica
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