Anyone tried buckstop?

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AnnaandStella

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My mare who's a 10yr old Westfalian schoolmistress is lovely most of the time but has an underlying sharpness & a tendancy to buck.

(She's not got back/teeth problems and just had an Ideal fitted to her with a sheepskin half-pad a few weeks ago which has basically eliminated the little bucks she used to pop in out of playfulness/cold-backedness)

She gets really excited outside and bucked me off last saturday so my dad bought this -
http://www.stopthathorse.com/buckstop/buckstop.htm

I'm worried it might make her divert her surplus energy into other things + ultimately make it worse, but is it worth a shot?
 
have used the monty roberts version of it (home made with string) on horse i was sent with a bucking problem, used for couple of weeks to break the habit, seemed to help
 
Would be interested to know how you get on with it, as my husbands horse has started bucking out of excitement ( everything else has been checked! ) and my husband is a very novice rider and has enough to cope with, without being bucked off as well!
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someone gave me the link to that site and im undecided as to whether to try anything from it so it'l be interesting to see how you get on, i would try it just to see how things go, like marieE says it could work just to break the habit!
 
Daisy has a really annoying habit of bucking when we go into gallop, not the best timing, I'd be worried about strapping her head in at that speed though. Has anyone else tried it for galloping?
 
That looks like a professional version of a homemade gadget I had for my old little PC pony, who was a real bucker. It came in useful at camp, but he still managed fly bucks, although not the proper broncing fits he used to have with his head right between his knees. Worth a try! I never jumped in mine, probably got galloped off with though
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You can't wear it for jumping or stretching excercises but it literally takes seconds to take off because it's got velcro and clips. Seeing its action today, i think it could be severe if you used it with a strong bit, but she's in a rubber loosering snaffle so it's not a problem.

Doesn't stop her from bucking with her head up, obviously, but i think it does work!
 
Personally, I think they're an abomination and likely to cause more problems than they solve. A horse bucks for a reason!! If you just make it hard/unpleasant for him to buck without addressing the cause, chances are he'll find another way to tell you and it might be worse.

I had two buckers in for corrective schooling last month. One had previously suffered severe back problems when in a trekking centre. Although his back was now fine, he bucked with a novice rider because of remembered pain - the slightest shift of the rider's balance triggered it. Putting him in a Suber Pad cushioned him from too much 'feel' of the rider's seat/weight and a bit of schooling to improve his confidence and there was no more bucking - and he's been home for 3 weeks and hasn't bucked once.

The other was stiff and green and in a rigid tree saddle that didn't fit him very well!! Sorting THAT was almost all that was needed to stop the bucking!

There are VERY few 'gadgets' that are necessary or useful if you look for the cause of the problem!
 
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Personally, I think they're an abomination and likely to cause more problems than they solve. A horse bucks for a reason!! If you just make it hard/unpleasant for him to buck without addressing the cause, chances are he'll find another way to tell you and it might be worse.

I had two buckers in for corrective schooling last month. One had previously suffered severe back problems when in a trekking centre. Although his back was now fine, he bucked with a novice rider because of remembered pain - the slightest shift of the rider's balance triggered it. Putting him in a Suber Pad cushioned him from too much 'feel' of the rider's seat/weight and a bit of schooling to improve his confidence and there was no more bucking - and he's been home for 3 weeks and hasn't bucked once.

The other was stiff and green and in a rigid tree saddle that didn't fit him very well!! Sorting THAT was almost all that was needed to stop the bucking!

There are VERY few 'gadgets' that are necessary or useful if you look for the cause of the problem!

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That's why i started this thread as i'm really against gadgetry but there are no health issues and she has a lovely Ideal saddle with a Bartl sheepskin half-pad and a numnah and her bucks are, quite frankly, taking this pi55.

She only does it on her stronger canter rein and when we get to a particular part of the school if she's excited OR if she gets a fright so it's understandable but you can't train her out of her temperament. She bucks with her head up because she's nimble and very well balanced.

It's just a precautionary measure set as loose as it can be so that it hopefully discourages the seriously dangerous head-between-the-knees bucks until she settles into her surroundings more.
 
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She only does it on her stronger canter rein and when we get to a particular part of the school if she's excited OR if she gets a fright so it's understandable but you can't train her out of her temperament. She bucks with her head up because she's nimble and very well balanced.


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If she bucks with her head up, then this gadget probably won't help as it's designed to work on a horse who gets its head down to buck. But in those circumstances it might be worth a try. However, I think I'd be looking to reduce her concentrates, up her work - and perhaps lunge her for 10 minutes before riding. I'd also be looking to the 'stronger canter rein' issue (is it an issue - I'm not sure whether you mean she's more forward on that rein, pulls harder on that rein, or ....
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She has one short feed per day which is lo-cal, slow release.
She is on hay as haylage makes her fizzy.
She's ridden 5 times a week with daily turnout or loose schooling on days i don't ride/sometimes before riding.

I can cope with the head-up bucking, but she had me off 2 weeks ago when i asked her to come back to walk from a trot and she stuck her head between her knees and put in two absolutely massive ones...

She's very very fit and won't even break a sweat after an hour's hard schooling so lungeing her beforehand just makes her eager & she can really get so fast when she's excited so it's not very fun.

Stronger canter rein = she is more balanced/finds it easier so you don't have to push her to keep going like you do on the other rein

I just feel that when she puts her back into it, she's so powerful that it's really dangerous. I can work on the small, head-up ones but it's twice she's had me off with head down bucks in 2 months so i need to break the habit...
 
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