Bucking into canter

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Irish-Girl

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Hi, sorry I know this type of question has been done to death, however I'd like to explain as the mare in question has got me so confused.
So before I explain
Teeth, back , saddle All checked and physio too.
So I'm guessing it's behavioural and she may have learnt that it gets her out of work. I've not had her long, shes 15 years old but very sweet and amazing in traffic. Will be responsive when asking for trot. However cantering is a complete different situation. I have tried in the field, out hacking, closed spaces and open spaces which don't make a difference.
I could be asking for canter or it could be that she will go into canter naturally but then She puts in some bucks. The first I can sit to but if you push her on with your seat and legs this sends her Into Bronc's.
I have spoken to a person that had owned her in the past and they said they had the same problem and took all their confidence. I feel this may happen to me.
Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.
 
I would get a 2nd opinion on the saddle fit and if that genuinely is ok, I would ask a vet to check her back. It sounds more like a pain reaction than behaviour to me, most horses enjoy cantering out hacking and don't want to 'get out' of it.

What happens if you ask her to canter on the lunge without a saddle?
 
I had a horse who didn't want to canter and used to buck when asked to canter. He had a sacroiliac injury. That's my only experience of it. You have said that yours has been checked out by a vet so I suppose my experience mightn't be of any help.
 
What back check has been done? I'd say from what you describe it's most likely hocks, PSD, SI or kissing spines, not in any particular order. I would definitely want back x rays of they've not been done.
 
A vet 'checking a back' is not the same as going into the Vet Hospital for a full workup. They can only do one leg at a time, so it *could* be a 4 day visit.

Even if this is not fruitful, it does not mean that the horse is not in pain. Ulcers are also a prime suspect, but they often occur because of some other underlying pain. A kissing spine back is, IMO, often as a result as something else interfering in the way that the horse goes.


Horses need to be comfortable, my current horse is fussy as to what sort of girth she has because of her conformation. A great saddler did not spot the problem, but I knew there was an issue, happily before it ever got to bucking, but this is because I 'believed' her when she said that something was not as comfortable as she would like, so she did not have to revert to 'bad' behaviour.

I would go back to the drawing board and have a full workup, try lungeing at canter, try a treeless saddle as an experiment, try a bute trial, try a professional rider as sometimes horses do buck in high spirits. I would also look at ovaries as I had a nightmare mare who eventually proved to have a cancer on the ovary.
 
My horse would buck going into canter. Would happily walk and trot but got to be every time she was asked to canter she would buck- she was diagnosed with ulcers and later psd. Had op in December, now back in full work. She is like a different horse- vet says she would have been in tremendous pain and said other horses would have been turning themselves inside out.
Mine didn’t look lame, had all regular checks and nothing major noted. Went for poor performance work up and that’s when problem was diagnosed.
 
Thank you all so much for your opinions. I'm yet to lunge her without tack which I'm def gonna do over the weekend as that would be Interesting to see her response.
I also did think that ulcers may be the cause too. I'll get a vet out to further investigate
 
Irish-Girl said:
Thank you all so much for your opinions. I'm yet to lunge her without tack which I'm def gonna do over the weekend as that would be Interesting to see her response.
I also did think that ulcers may be the cause too. I'll get a vet out to further investigate
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Just bear it in mind that many horses with ulcers have them because they have chronic pain somewhere else. If you find them it may not be the full picture.
 
If (a big if) all pain has been truly ruled out, even at such an age it could be possible that the horse is too unbalanced to canter depart with a rider, particularly if a happy hacker with no real schooling. Particular breeds are much more prone to it. For example some young green Friesian’s will pop a buck into canter depart until they gain the balance.

The broncs sounds like a different thing, which is why everyone is quite rightly suggesting pain.
 
Mine bucked going into canter. It was the first sign that she had ulcers which were caused by a problem in both stifles. “Losing canter” is often a symptom of stifle issues to throw that one in there
 
If it's just one buck on strike off and isn't pain related then it's usually due to being unbalanced, I find a good test for this and indeed good training is not to ask for canter at all but run a horse faster and faster until it falls into canter, if it can do this without bucking then it may well be a balance thing, if gpthis is the case, I tend to pretend the horse is a baby again and run it into canter for a few goes and every time it canters tell the horse it's ace with your voice, and verbalise canter when it strikes off, then you can shorten the transitions after a few days/weeks depending on the horse by using the verbal command when you ask for faster, and eventually add the physical aids to canter once the horse can do a transition without bucking .
 
An old loan horse of mine did this, turned out after getting a proper physio ( not a "massage therapist") out that he had an old pelvic injury where something had torn, and then not healed properly, so he ended up with one leg longer than the other, which made him tense and buck in canter, just in order to sort out his legs. The physio then took away the tension, and gave us some stretches and such to do so that he stayed pain free. But that he was likely to need 6 monthly visits to check.
 
Hmm, I’d probably see if it’s the same with another rider but from what you’ve said I’d be getting equine vet to do a proper work up and check.
 
ycbm said:
What back check has been done? I'd say from what you describe it's most likely hocks, PSD, SI or kissing spines, not in any particular order. I would definitely want back x rays of they've not been done.
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This.

One of mine started doing it and it was PSD. We did initially investigate and find hock arthritis, but after rehab I wasn’t convinced that was causing the canter issues after all. I pushed for a hind leg scan and bingo.
 
Irish-Girl said:
Hi, sorry I know this type of question has been done to death, however I'd like to explain as the mare in question has got me so confused.
So before I explain
Teeth, back , saddle All checked and physio too.
So I'm guessing it's behavioural and she may have learnt that it gets her out of work. I've not had her long, shes 15 years old but very sweet and amazing in traffic. Will be responsive when asking for trot. However cantering is a complete different situation. I have tried in the field, out hacking, closed spaces and open spaces which don't make a difference.
I could be asking for canter or it could be that she will go into canter naturally but then She puts in some bucks. The first I can sit to but if you push her on with your seat and legs this sends her Into Bronc's.
I have spoken to a person that had owned her in the past and they said they had the same problem and took all their confidence. I feel this may happen to me.
Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I will only comment on my late mare who started to buck at walk then eventually at canter. Blood test showed Myopathy and muscles leaking creatinaze and cramping and she needed 3 months off.

That said- I would get a blood test done then speak to vet about chiro etc. What diet is she one now as maybe that should change if you have checked bridle - saddle - teeth etc - back.
 
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