Advice needed please H&H peeps.

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Stormhillpilgrim

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I have had my horse for 18 months now and I have been thrown about 6 times.

Because of this it has really knocked my confidence and I will only walk and trot him now as he has always thrown me into canter.

I have had every check possible done, spent a fortune on vets, physio, saddles, teeth etc and can't find anything wrong with him.

He is the soppiest animal ever and will work fantastically for me in walk and trot but I am scared to canter. He screw bucks and they are HUGE! Despite all this I do adore him and him me!

My mum says I should sell him and friends have recommended that I send him to a problem horse trainer.

What would you do? :-(

Thanks for listening/reading.
 
I think that lessons with a good, understanding instructor would be really benificial to help you get your confidence back :D Hope that it goes well soon because you obviosly think the world of him :D:D
 
Are you having lessons? If not then I would get yourself some help with a good Instructor who can help you through this. Maybe go back to the beginning a bit with ground work, lunge work etc, doing this with an Instructor by your side will give you confidence and guidance instead of putting yourself under pressure. If your worried about canter dont do it for now. Your horse will sense your anxiety and it wont make things easier for you. Good luck..
 
Sorry to hear you are having problems. I remember a pony nicknamed 'Billy the Buck' as he would dump me every time I rode him. I did get help from a good friend who taught at Pony Club, we worked hard on him and got him sorted.

First lunge him for at least 30 mins each day, build up the time though so as not to make him sore. Include canter work in the lunging sessions so that when you ride him he has got all his exhuberent kinks ironed out.

In the meantime it would probebly help if you went and had some lessons at a good riding school to get your canter confidence back.

Then when you feel ready to canter on him again have a lesson on him and preferably have the instructor canter him first.

What are you feeding him at the moment. I would suggest just grass and hay would be ideal until you get him sorted, by cutting out all the hard feed you may find he will settle down. If you can get a magnesium salt block then leave that in his field so he can help himself. Magnesium along with calcium help to keep the horse calmer.
 
Will he canter on the lunge? If you are sure that there is no problem with teeth/back/saddle etc maybe it's balance. (If he canters on the lunge ok, are you using the saddle or a roller?).

Does he do the same with someone else? Have you tried a lesson or two with an instructor to see if they can pick something up?

If ultimately it's in his head and you can't sort him out, if you are happy just to walk and trot then you can keep him like that, you don't need anyone's permission. However if he was mine, I'd be inclined to get someone else to try and solve the problem - the trainer option. Also if he's bucking to avoid the work, if you let him win that one he may decide there are other things he prefers not to do and try to send you into orbit then as well.
 
Find a good instructor/ rider that can work him and hopefully ride through his canter transitions, while also teaching you. The problem with sending away is that you will need continuity and when he comes home if he does not have the same type of work he could revert to his former behaviour.
 
Thanks all.

I have been having lessons with a fantastic instructor and she is helping me loads. She is keeping away from canter with me at the moment.
Unfortunately she won't ride him herself as she trains dressage horses and teaches so can't afford to get hurt which I totally understand.

I lunge him regularly with tack and side reins and 9 times out of 10 he is an angel. Does buck occasionally.

Pretty sure he doesn't have balance issues as he is 10 and trained to advanced medium dressage.

Magnetic sparrow - think your last option is the most likely. He is naturally quite lazy and I'm pretty sure the bucks he does on the lunge is him having an arse as its normally only when I've had to chase him up.

I'm not a novice rider as have ridden all my life (not giving away my age lol it's long enough) and have ridden plenty of other problem horses but not a bucker!
 
As long as there is no physical reason for the horse bucking in canter, I would have a professional in, and have them ride/school the horse once a week. Then after a while you could alternate weeks, they ride one week, and you have a lesson with them the next.

It sounds as though you may have a smart pony, who has found your weakness, and a few sessions with someone else riding who isn't going to be dislodged and will send him forward and make him get on with working properly will do him good, and it will also boost your confidence. I do this if I have a problem I can't sort out swiftly myself.
 
As he is obviously beyond the novicey taking the mick level , maybe a couple of weeks in a yard that deals with difficult horses could be all that is required to get him going again. We have someone nearby that regularly has horses from local dressage yards for some reschooling, he canters them round on the stubble and gets them thinking forward, it seems to work well.
 
Sorry, I replied before seeing your last reply. Where abouts are you based? People on here may be able to recommend some local trainers near to you who are willing to ride clients horses.

I always get help in, if I need it, and I'm not inexperienced either.
 
Thanks be positive.

I do know a lady with no nerves lol that would probably get on him and ride the wave as it were. Did have a guy ride him a while ago and he didn't buck at all but, to be fair this guy had his head up so high and tight he couldn't of anyway and I don't want to ride him like that all the time.

Think I'll give this lady a go and see what happens, keep having my lessons and look into sending him to someone for boot camp.

You never know you will hopefully see me out competing him one day as that was and still is the plan. :-)
 
Hi misinterpreted,

I am in East Sussex. Currently having lessons with Gaynor Bauer, she is brilliant and so so nice. She teaches the classic dressage style of riding which has been working brilliantly for us, just not in canter yet lol.
 
We went through this with our little cob mare 10 years ago.

We bought her from a riding school where I think she had been born, as a 10 year old. She had been in the school and then passed around a few of their liveries. I thought she was the perfect hack for my daughter. I couldn't have been more wrong. For nearly about 18 months she was the pony from hell. She would just set her neck and go wherever she wanted at the speed she felt like going. If pushed in the school she would buck, huge vertical things with a twist. No-one could sit them. We had a few instructors and the only one who got on, and she was a good rider, ended up on the floor quicker than my daughter.

I was desperate as my daughter wouldn't part with her, she could be good some of the time. She had everything checked, saddle, physio, vet etc. I was actually disappointed when the physio said "I dont often give a horse 10 out of 10 but I cant find anything wrong with this one"

During one of the good times I booked them into pony club camp. The week before camp she started playing up again. I rang the pony club to cancel and they advised me to send them anyway. They said "we'll sort it".

I have to say I didn't believe it, was worried sick, but let them go anyway.

Now whether it was the fantastic pony club instructors, the 4 hours a day of work, or the fact that my daughter actually sat one of the bucks I dont know, but the pony hasn't done it since. They even played Polo!!! They seemed to bond at camp and came back as a partnership.

We have since taken her showing all over the country and she is the sweetest little girl in the world.
 
rockysmum said:
I know its such a shame, why cant we have an adult version. I'm not sure that sleeping in stables at the local racecourse would do my old bones any good though.
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A lot of riding clubs and some competition centres (Stockland Lovell is the first one to come to mind) run adult pony club camps, one of my (very) novice friends used to go each year and loved it! :D
 
Definitely need to find someone who will ride your horse so that they can understand what goes on when he canters. I would want to find out if he does it with another person on board (not commenting on your capability here BTW)
 
Hi Herts05,

No offence taken I know that he knows he's got me worried so am going to chuck an event rider on him and see what happens.
Bet he'll be an angel lol!
If that's the case I'm going in for hypnotherapy to stop my nerves!!!!
 
My mum says I should sell him and friends have recommended that I send him to a problem horse trainer.
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It very much depends on the reasons why you are comming off.

If it's lack of skill on your part - then a good instructor is the way to go.
 
rockysmum said:
I know its such a shame, why cant we have an adult version. I'm not sure that sleeping in stables at the local racecourse would do my old bones any good though.
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Wasn't it fun though - going home horrid little brats because we were so tired from talking most of the nights, filthy dirty but really happy because we had lived with our ponies for a week.
 
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