Broncing after jumps (V.Long - sorry!)

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libby3011

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Apologies for this being a bit long-winded but I just want to give a bit of background in the hope that someone may be able to offer some advice or suggestions?

I have had my TB mare for about 3 months now. She was my first horse and tbh rather more horse than I perhaps should have gone for.

The previous owners were very conservative with the truth about her suitability for me, so since bringing her to the yard where I keep her, I've put in massive amounts of work with dozens of lessons to the point where my riding has improved hugely.(I'd been having twice weekly lessons prior to this, after coming back to riding, post children, 18 months ago)

Now whilst I have no ambitions to set the world on fire I do want to be able to do the odd little show and maybe a bit of x country etc. The problem is she has a habit of broncing after going over a jump. She's done it 3 - 4 times in the school but so far I've stayed on even though it's massively unseating. Today we took her to practice XC - where she was quite strong anyway and after a few little jumps she put in a huge bronc which saw me hit the deck!! My yard owner who is also a trainer got on her and said she would not like to do XC with her as she's just plain naughty and strong.

I know one suggestion would be to have everything checked - well after the first time she did this I had her back checked and since having her I've had her saddle fitted and checked at 6 wks plus the dentist out to her. The saddle-fitter knew the horse from the previous owner and said she was known as a bit of a nutter and they sent her away to be schooled as the daughter was too frightened to compete her.

Sorry I'm rambling now! I'm just a bit heartbroken at the moment as prior to this horse I had one from a dealer that went back after two weeks because she turned out to be lunatic. I feel if I can't do what I want with the horse there's not much point carrying on and I should sell her on, but if I do I'll probably lose money as YO doesn't think she's worth what I paid for her. She's actually very sweet on the ground and quite good to hack out (although a bit narky if in company & behind).


I suppose the question is has anyone else had a horse that's done this - how did you deal with it? Did it improve? Did you try a different bit? Can problems like this be resolved?


Any replies will be gratefully received by this very sad horsey owner
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I feel for you I really do. My first youngster was a TBx brought over newly backed from Ireland. He did exactly the same thing. Same as you we had everything checked and double checked and all it was was just him enjoying himself. It was like he got so excited going over jumps that he couldn't contain it. I think my record was falling off 8 times within an hour and a half on a pony club rally.

I have to say that in the short term what I did was literally canter for 30 minutes before we did anything. That way he didn't have the energy to do it and would actually get down to business and concentrate. Lessons were very interesting as while everybody else was doing the flat work I was cantering round and round the school. I also changed riding instructors to one who gave me a lot more confidence. She was fantastic and could just see things from the ground that other people couldn't. We also made sure he had no heating food whatsoever and was out in the field as much as possible. During the winter there was no turn out when I first had him and that definitely made him a lot worse. Finally, really make sure you ride her forwards after a fence, they have to slow down/stop in order to bronc so if you can keep her going forwards it should help. I got into a really bad habit of jumping with my hands braced against his withers as a self defence mechanism so lessons to prevent this kind of thing happening.

He is now 16 and my sister still has him. He will put in the occasional buck but it was only really that first year where there was the bucking after fences. One thing that we did find was amazing was actually riding him in a hackamore. It kept his head off the ground so if he did buck there was much more in front of you.

Sorry if none of this is helpful, I truly know how you feel as I can remember sitting sobbing (after the 8 falls) and just never wanting to get back on. But we persevered (sp?) through it and he was amazingly talented and a fantastic ride so it was all worthwhile. He will be staying with the family till the day he dies.

I really wish you good luck... be brave and stick with it, these quirky horses are usually worth it.

K xx

(PS: for what its worth, there is hardly a bucker I can't sit now though.... gives you a seriously sticky bum)
 
I really feel for you, its so devestating when a new horse isnt working out, particularly as you had the other horror before. A couple of questions - what happened when your YO got on? Did she jump the horse? Does it only happen jumping? Is he OK cantering?

My experience of this is quite recent, I bought a youngster and the owners sold me a saddle to go with her. Turned out not to be the horses saddle but one they wanted to get rid of. Her bucking very largely ceased very quickly when I got a correctly fitting saddle. However, she did continue to put in the odd bronc session either when asked to canter or when jumping. This really puzzled me as it seemed out of character with my laid back little mare. I got a chiropractic out to look at her. The Chiropracter found she had badly locked muscles on the nearside shoulder and off side bum area. After 2 sessions my horse has NEVER bucked again (that was the beginning of November so not that recent!). I think you should get someone similar to look at your horse before making any major decisions. You have clearly come a long way with your horse and it would be a great shame not to see if this could be the reason.

Good luck!
 
How old is she? I've had 1 or 2 youngsters doing this because they got over-excited jumping. They did eventually grow out of it.
 
My previous horse would buck after jumps, mainly ditches (!). After checking everything, we put it down to him enjoying himself - he was a bit of a bucker on other occasions too - especially cantering in open spaces.
He did improve with lots of schooling - boring figures of eight with a fence in the middle seemed to work as he had to think about which way he was going instead of bucking!
I said he improved but was never cured! I learnt to live with it and I kept him til the day he died. And as Kate said - it does help to give you a sticky bum!
 
you really need to find out whether she's doing it for fun, or with ears back and resentfully, as a symptom of pain, from saddle or whatever. obviously the treatment for either is very different... perhaps videoing her jumping might help. can you loose jump her? see what she does then?
i've had horses who did it, who i have cured (by keeping their head up) but you need to keep your shoulders back and up in midair without hanging on to the horse's mouth, and be ready to react the moment they think the bad, down-with-the-head-ready-to-bronc thought. not always easy...!
hope you manage to get it sorted, if she's a sweetie in every other way, it may well be exuberance, which can be trained out of them...!
i would always get another opinion on back and saddle, and also teeth (v. important)... i know it's costly, but it's worth it. you need to find people whose opinions you can really trust, as unfortunately there are a lot of charlatans out there.
there is a new thing on the market called buck-stop, i haven't tried it but it might be worth a go? a small gadget that fits on the bridle and stops them getting their head down to buck, i guess...?
best of luck!
 
Hello

When I got my new horse in June he suddenly started random broncing - the first time I was just tightening his girth and boom I was on the floor - all a bit of a shock!
Had everything checked and put it down to excitement and exuberance, what I found helped the most was:

firstly being ready for it - the first few times it was a shock but once I knew to be ready at all times it got easier to stay on, that and always sitting up.

secondly, I keep his mind occupied at all time, the minute he's in the school he starts working, circles, transitions just always something to think about.

Thirdly I use my voice, the minute I feel it starting I growl and say "get on" - feels a little stupid but its enough to distract him - especially as I am a quiet person so its a bit of a shock for him.

Doing the above 3 things he very quickly stopped it for about 8 months but its just started again - after jumps - we have been x country training 3 times, he was angelic the first 2 and at the 3rd he thought he knew what its all about! That said after he did it he did start to behave again.

So - I would recommend sticking with it and definatly using your voice - its not something that comes naturally to me but I really think it helps!

Oh yes - do you wear a back protector - if not go and buy a comfy one - I wore it for a good month after he stopped Broncing on the flat, just incase and always wear it jumping, even indoor jumping lessons.

It sounds like your doing well staying on and she just caught you by suprise at the X country.

Good Luck, I hope it works out!
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Thankyou for the sympathy. (One of the reasons I love coming on here - a problem shared really is a problem halved or quartered and so on
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To answer a couple of the questions raised: I did have the saddle newly fitted when I bought the horse so I don't think that will be the problem. (If anything she should have improved in this area as she was sharing a saddle with a horse who was far bigger than her before)

The lady I had out to her was a physio - would a chiropractor work differently? She said she found a very slight tightness in her back but otherwise found her to be sound. She did do some manipulation to the back so if there was an issue it would seem the treatment didn't work.

She is 10 so not an over exhuberant youngster.

When the YO got on the horse she did take her over some jumps and the horse did play up after some, which she said took all her strength to keep a hold of her (she's obviously a much more experienced rider than me)

The other thing I think may not have helped is that in addition to the fact that it's probably been a while since she did anything like this, it was blowing a gale but then I'm not sure if I think wind affects horses more than it does? Also it wouldn't explain having done this in the school on a non-windy day.

I did wonder if it was because I was socking her in the teeth a bit due to tenseness but again the YO certainly didn't do this and she wasn't much better for her.

Maybe I'm over-anaysing the whole thing but I'm already quite attached and as Oldmare said I felt like I'd come so far.
 
My old horse used to give an almighty buck when he was jumping. He wouldn't do it over cross poles but the moment he used his back over something larger. He would then explode into about 5 huge bucks and then relax. After having everything checked I decided he was naughty but he loved jumping and very talented! I learnt how to sit a buck and keep him moving forward and after the first couple of jumps we would settle. She sounds a good bold girl and there are lots of not so good ones out there - so I would persevere (sp) Good Luck
 
I have a fairly exuberant TB, who also has a tendency to buck after jumping - and if we go xc or on a sponsored ride will put in a huge series of them! The only way to stop her, is to keep her in enough work that she's getting enough of a chance to blow off some steam in a positive way.

I have found that jumping every other day helps her get rid of the urge to jump around (as in buck/leap/whatever!), in a good way. If she's had time off, the first session or two she'll buck quite a bit, but I push her on and we get through it.

Cross country she's always a bit scary unless I stick a stronger bit in like a Pelham. She gets seriously over-excited about the whole thing!

She's a real sweetie though, and even if she is a bit excitable sometimes, I wouldn't part with her for the world!
 
Might be a daft suggestion but on the other hand maybe worth considering too...

A friend has been on hols for a couple of weeks, came back at weekend and did a jumping clinic last night. Had changed numnah since last she jumped and had been fine on the flat but as soon as she started jumping last night, horse began broncing. She changed the numnah (which she said she knew was slightly on the small side) for a saddle cloth and bucking ceased.

Quite how the numnah was ok on the flat and not for jumping I know not but certainly Oscar was trying to get a message across!

Good luck with her, hope you find the solution soon.
 
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