Bucking on transition to canter

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starryg1rl

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Hello,
I am hoping someone can give me some advice about my new pony.
I have had him a few weeks now and he has started bucking on the transition to canter. I tried lungeing him and he still bucked when I asked for canter, and he looked really spooked. He had a vet check before we bought him and there was nothing on his file. He is 17 and is otherwise well behaved and I think we are bonding nicely. My riding instructor didnt think the saddle fitted very well at the withers so we put a high withered foam saddle pad underneath. We have a vet and saddle fitter coming to check him out, but could this be behavioural?
 
starryg1rl said:
Hello,
I am hoping someone can give me some advice about my new pony.
I have had him a few weeks now and he has started bucking on the transition to canter. I tried lungeing him and he still bucked when I asked for canter, and he looked really spooked. He had a vet check before we bought him and there was nothing on his file. He is 17 and is otherwise well behaved and I think we are bonding nicely. My riding instructor didnt think the saddle fitted very well at the withers so we put a high withered foam saddle pad underneath. We have a vet and saddle fitter coming to check him out, but could this be behavioural?
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It could be but it's likely to be pain related.
 
I had a similar problem with my mare. I had her teeth, back and saddle checked and all was fine. Ours was quite a new partnership as well and I felt she was just trying it on. The problem I had was that I didn't expect/anticipate it and ended up sat around her ears somewhere. I asked a good friend of mine with more experience to ride her a couple of times to see if she did it for him. Surprise surprise she tried once and because he was expecting it he managed to kick her through it. She didn't try again and touch wood has been fine with me too. He rode her for about 3 times and did loads of trot canter transitions and it seemed to do the trick. Good luck I know how frustrating it can be. x
 
Often down to pain, particularly ill fitting saddles. If all turns out fine try asking for canter with slightly less support from your hand and see if it still happens. Sometimes if a horse runs into canter they are reschooled with plenty of support to help the transition while they learn. If this level of support is maintained when they no longer need it they can either use it as an excuse to "play" or it can build tension and the buck release becomes a habit.
 
Tammytoo said:
If he is doing it on the lunge I would say it is pain related. Best to get him checked out by vet and physio before trying to ride him through it.
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I agree, mine did the same and turned out to be stiffness in the lumber area, the chiro sorted her out perfectly! Very happy mare now! :)
 
Ive rode 2 or 3 horses through this.

Yes can be pain, but more often than not its either a wobble from the rider, which confuses the horse which is then learnt, or them just being a little exuberant or unbalanced through the transition.

Decent trot (get it really bouncing underneath you) sit up and tell it to canter.
Dont ask.
Dont give them any hint of I'm not sure I want to ask you to canter.
Just put your legs on firm, keep a contact, but allow them to go forward and go with it. First time you will get bucks- canter out of them- head up, legs on and keep going.
Praise when they settle, then go back to trot. I prefer to do this in a field, just so you have space. Right now the canter lead doesnt matter.

Second time, again dont hesitate, set them up nicely for the canter and tell them again.
You might get slight resistance (or the same as the first time!) but keep travelling forwards, sit up and ride strongly through it. A growled dont you bloody dare backed up with a sharp kick or slap with the whip is all it takes for them to know you mean businness, it doesnt matter what it looks like, they just need to go into canter. Praise when they settle again.

When that stops being an issue its just repetition- I love canter transitions on a circle, just a couple of strides back to trot, couple of strides into canter. You almost want the anticipation, because forward thinking horses are much nicer to ride :)
 
Thank you for the advice the vet, farrier and saddle fitter are coming this week to check him out. Fingers crossed we can get him through this
 
Does he do it on the lunge without a saddle or rider?


Sounds like you're doing everything right :) It could just be he is unbalanced and bucking to right himself, and will stop as his muscle and balance builds up!
 
My mare did this constantly when I first got her, it was because she was unbalanced and also not very strong in her back. If the saddle isn't 100% then that could also be a reason why it's happening, as even if it's not on his back when you lunge him and he's bucking, he could still be expecting the pinch to come. I'd definitely check out everything that could be causing pain before going down the behavioural route. You sound like you're getting all the right things done, hopefully it will solve the problem - let us know how you get on x
 
please have her checked out, that's how my mare started to tell me she hurt, if I'd of listened to her we might be through it now and my ankle wouldn't be permanently damaged
 
My personal experience of this (but much younger, greener horse) was that some of it was due to the saddle. He had big shoulders and the wintec we had borrowed till he got his own saddle was just that bit too forward cut and was interfering with his shoulders in canter. Resolved with a working hunter cut saddle. The other thing was he had had a field injury and was a bit weak in his back. It took a few physio sessions until the "right " muscles had built up sufficiently. Silly so and so would twang himself when he bucked and then couldnt' canter until he'd had more physio.

Where your one is older, there are more things that could be causing this, but hopefully it can be easily resolved.
 
Sacroiliac joint pain? vet will look for signs. Had exact problem with a horse and its symptoms pointed out this. Let us Know what the outcome is.
 
Mine did this a lot when I first got him, bucked when jumping as well. his feet were a total mess and we think he had been shod by a chimpanzee! The terrible hind feet were causing problems further up his legs - possibly stifles - as he has an unusual action anyway... Once his feet had been sorted by my farrier and he had chance to build up the correct muscles and regain his balance he stopped doing it. Took 6-8 months and corrective shoeing for the farrier to get him right again.
 
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