Help! At the end of my tether - Bucking Pony!

V

VicC

Member
Joined
13 August 2011
Messages
18
Location
Herefordshire
Visit site
Any suggestions greatfully received, please! I don't know what else to do and am fed up.

I have owned my 14 yrs, 14.1hh, Newforest / Tb / Welsh x gelding for 2.5 years now. I've struggled for most of this time with him bucking after jumping and in transitions into canter.

He was a star for the first 3 months of owning him no signs of bucking we did everything he was so much fun, then he bucked me off on landing from a jump. From then on, its been on and off with the bucking. He has been turned away several times for a couple of months and come back ok, but within a couple of months he is bucking again on canter transitions and after jumps (not all). I can now sit the bucks! I had a break for an operation (1 month) and started riding him again in January this year, he was ok for a week and then started bucking again in canter transitions, both in the school and out hacking.

Had saddle made to measure
Had the dentist out - no problems
Had a physio out - she said he was very stiff and recommended i contact the vet.
Local vet out - took bloods, first time he had a high cpk value. So i spent a month working him in hand as vet thought it maybe "tying up". Second set of bloods were all fine.
Then he when lame in off hind and was dragging his toe, vet referred me.
He spent 2 weeks at the vets, full lameness assessment, bone scan, xrays - the only things they found were that he had bilateral front limb lameness due to thin soles, he now has heart bar shoes with frog supports on the fronts. He also has osteoarthritis in his off hind, but not causing any trouble at the moment.
Had him back about 6 weeks now and he is even worse - not better, had one ride on him where he felt like the pony i remember buying, not one buck and eager to gallop, but that's the only one. He has now not just taken to bucking on canter transitions but broncing during canter too. I can still sit them all but it isn't fun now. Each time he bucks i have to stop as i get unseated and then i put him back into canter, sometimes he does it again, sometimes he doesn't, but he is then hard to get going forward.

All i have left i can do is a bute trial or to admit it is bad behaviour. Give up? I just want to enjoy a nice ride on a nice pony!
 
Have you had the saddler back to check the saddle fit? How long ago was it made and did your saddler say it will need checking after about six weeks? What sort of filling is in the saddle, if it is flocking, it can settle and pad down and may need more filling.
Did you buy the saddle with him or did you get it newly made for him?
As you might gather, it sounds like a saddle fit to me. I know you have had him checked out but I have known physios and vet miss things sometimes, they're only human.
I would get the saddler out next, don't write your pony off yet, lots more options to try;)
 
It sounds like a problem relating to saddle fit.Did your vet or physio check the saddle? he will have been compensating for the problems in the feet and hind leg so I would get physio back.
Have you been told to do any lungeing or long reining with him ,this could help him build up the muscles correctly.
Find a good instructor/rider to come and help.
Dont give up yet.
 
Thanks for the reposnses so far........

Saddle - yes he is quite sensitive about this. I had a professional saddler out 3 weeks ago to check the one i had, she didn't like it at all, so i had another one fitted!! And have been riding the past couple of weeks with a nice new saddle. (it is a modern synthetic thorogood - can't remeber which type)

I will however get my instructor out and call the physio again, as she was the first one who took me seriously!

I had been lunging and long reining when i wasn't riding him, but could def do more.

He is a fab pony and i'll do anything to make it work..

thx
 
I would get a few saddles to trial sometimes what might be a "wrong fit" is actually a"right fit" in the horses opinion and vice versa.

My girl won't let treed saddles near her - I think it's to do with her skin probalems - yet she has a treeless and happy as pie in it.

Also learnt the hard way, sometimes professionals just don't get it right - and it's always worth getting someone else to look at things ESP saddle fitting.

Does he do this on the lunge, free schooling or bareback?
 
A good physio is priceless imo as they will often stand back and look at the whole picture.
As above sometimes a saddle that fits is still not "right" for the horse,in your situation I would think it is associating saddle with pain .
Good luck.
 
Before my pony was diagnosed with bone spavins he used to buck alot. Would struggle to get his bum underneath him so would buck to switch his back legs
 
If he has been bucking for a while due to pain then it could now be an engrained habit. If all recent checks come back clear I would get tough with him and make it clear that enough is enough. Obviously get all checks done first as there have been problems in the past.
Also how is his schooling? If he is still green then bucking (esp. in canter) can be a sign of being unbalanced.
 
I found out from my chiro she came and said he was slightly lame (I mean it was like 1/10th when first started so very hard to see or even feel) and was sore in an area which generally means soreness in the hocks. Vet came and did flexion tests and then came and did xrays. Was only very mild changes in his hocks but enough to cause pain. He's now had every treatment under the sun and is just coming back into work and is feeling fantastic!!
 
Thanks for all ur prompt replies.

Got my instructor coming out tomorrow to work with him. His flat work is ok quite bidable in walk and trot but becomes very hollow in canter. On the lunge, he does buck occasionally but not like he does under saddle. Never free schooled him or ridden him bareback.

Anyone any ideas as to how i could get a couple of saddles to trial? i did wonder about treeless, i don't know there as so many varied opinions. I've got an open mind and will try anything that works but can't aford to keep buying saddles (i guess there is ebay, lol), all sorts of things can suit different horses. He even bucked in trot when i was trying out new saddles - he is super sensitive.

I did wonder about anti buck devices, if it was just naughty behaviour. I've watched the Monty Roberts video of the buck stopper. Are the effects lasting? I'd obviously like to rule out any further medical / saddle related items first. If this is the case i do just need to get on with it.

Re diet - i did wonder about how he got thin soles in the first place, the vets found him quite foot sore, hence the new shoes. He gets hay, and is turned out 24-7, he was being fed top spec - for good doers, but i've stopped that as a trial run too.
 
MiCsarah said:
I found out from my chiro she came and said he was slightly lame (I mean it was like 1/10th when first started so very hard to see or even feel) and was sore in an area which generally means soreness in the hocks. Vet came and did flexion tests and then came and did xrays. Was only very mild changes in his hocks but enough to cause pain. He's now had every treatment under the sun and is just coming back into work and is feeling fantastic!!
Click to expand...

Hey that's fab, good to hear he is back in work. I wonder? I was recommended to get injections into the joint if he showed any signs of problems... have you had similar done? (well, as well as the many other things too). Bruce (ponies name) never showed any signs of lameness, and trotted away from flexion tests fine, only nerve blocks showed lameness in the front - maybe it was covering anything in the back legs??
 
I just re read your post 2 weeks at the vets!!!:eek:
How do they know the hind leg OA is not causing a problem?
I think you are going the right way re help ,you could go to your local tack shop,if they do second hand saddles,they should let you take some to try.
Look on some of the barefoot threads for ways to change diet for improved foot condition.
 
I just go to the local tack shop and borrow a pile of saddles to trial :)

Something like a libra treeless you can pick up on eBay for 50 or so. Just a basic starter saddle. Or maybe look for a bareback pad?
 
thanks all - so much to look at and so many questions from me still!

hmmmmmm - i could be brave enough to ride bareback..... do you think a bareback pad would be ok or should i just go for it? I guess riding bareback would let me know if it is the saddle or not. Then maybe i could look at a treeless saddle if that was the case? All new to me, only ever ridden in traditional tack. So i don't doubt there will be more questions as to what to look for!!

I don't know if the OA is affecting is the short answer. He isn't visibly lame and when he had his lameness work up the thin soles / sore front feet showed up the most. Maybe it is worth a second look now.

I am of course worried that this could now be habitual.

lol yes 2 weeks in the vet!! Lovely holiday for him and thankfully for me the insurance have paid for all of it, though i have many exclusions on my policy now!! He actually seemed to quite enjoy it. He certainly gave the students a shock, they were used to handling big horses and not naughty ponies. The vet explained he was quite a drama queen and she could imagine his extreme reactions if something wasn't right for him.
 
Does he have any skin problems? I know that sounds bizarre... Just reminds me so much of my little girl.

As for bareback pad it might make you feel more secure but you still can't use stirrups :)
 
I break my boys in bareback, I use a roller and a hessian sack or a non slip pad to sit on, but if I was trying out cantering, I would have a neckstrap, no reason why you can't have one, or a martingale. Have you asked anyone else to ride him, he may be taking the P***, though I don't think he is tbh.
I assume you are not overfeeding him?
Does he have an unusual spine conformation?
You might have to consider semi-retirement, just keeping him as a hack, or maybe try agility or something where he does not have to canter or school in an outline. does he get any supplement for his joints?
AS he is a native pony, I feel he should be fine barefoot, and carefully managed, I consider the fact that he is fine after two months in the field is highly significant, but as my own quack told me the other day . "you are getting older". personally I don't believe him, but there we are, I am a sceptic.
 
Last edited:
Does he buck in canter when lungeing with/without saddle? Have you tried free schooling/jumping him to see if he still bucks after fences then? Agree with wat everyone has said as well.
 
Well what a morning! Instructor came out, did my pony put a foot wrong?? No of course he didn't!!!! Arrggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We only have a little 20x20 square to work in and he was cantering round there just fine...... He was a bit of a stubborn grump to get going but my instructor stood in the middle just holding the lunge whip and that made him think twice. He's quite responsive to that.

I don't know now if he does have a habit now and because i am relaxed as i want my instructor to see him buck he never does??
Just need some consistency now, ie many rides with no bucking.

Answers to some questions:

1. Yes the chiro said he had very thin skin and was quite sensitive.
2. Sometimes he bucks on the lunge but not the same as riding, we did try the saddle without a numnah once on the lunge and he did a display like i have never seen, i'd have got mega £££ for him as a rodeo pony.
3. Not jumped him for over a year now, he's usually ok for a couple of months and just when i start to trust him he then bucks me off when landing and it all starts again. Loose jumping sounds like a great idea....... not sure how to go about it - but i'm sure we'll have fun trying!!
4. Had his old owner out to ride him last weekend, she did BS on him very successfully. He bucked with her too.
5. May ring vet again who he was referred to, see if she can come up with anything else. Will ask about OA and possible effects as it is her research area. Though her next suggestion was riding him on bute to rule out pain v's naughtiness.
6. Yup - it could be walk trot dressage for me from now on!!! We got a 4 last time for bucking in a prelim.....
7. I'll tell him he is a bit too old now and see what he has to say to me about that!
 
Im not sure how much the bute test will hold - certainly doesn't mask everything... as I found out :giggle:

Does he still bronc if you lunge him first?

I hope you can come to some solutions...
 
If you're sure the saddle is right for him and his back's fine etc etc etc, persistance usually does it. I know you've put up with a lot already, but if he doesn't get bored with it, then you know it's probably something you may not have thought of or the vets/specialists haven't thought of or noticed. Hope you have some luck with it x
 
It really does sound pain related. You say when you first jump after a break he doesn't do it but gets worse the more you jump. Has he been seen by both a Chiro and a Physio? Our pony was like this and we had to give up on the jumpimng and dressage work. She had a slightly lop sided pelvis so the knock-on effect thrroughout her body caused by her compensating for the discomfort meant that jumping, collection and bending were painful and she reacted by saying NO i.e. bucking. Although we could have kept her going by having chiro treatment every month we decided to retire her as a happy hack and she loved it. She has the odd buck into canter when in company at the start of the ride, but we feel that is excitement and being unbalanced.

I certainly wouldn't use the Buckstop unless you're 100% certain there is no pain issue.
 
I too wouldn't use the buckstop...

And no bute won't mask everything. When my ponies skin is sore, she behaves like she is on fire - slightest touch and she explodes - she gets the same with having tack on - and no amount of bute improves it.

You also have to work out how much painkiller is necessary - for example you couldn't expect a person with chronic pain to survive on a bit of paracetemol - its the same with horses. It may highlight a pain issue - but equally it may not.
 
Have you thought about having a thermographic scan done?? They show up so much, my horse was referred to Avon vale in Banbury due to being so tight all over! She is now under going osteo treatment with good results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top