Horse bucking in groups

[Clare Tempest]

Hi, I'm asking for some advice. I have a 5 year old who can be pretty lazy but very well behaved normally. Hacks out alone and pretty brave. Laid back and lazy in the arena, but once you get him out on a group ride and others are about to canter or jump he starts bucking. Never does it hacking locally or in the arena, but always on fun rides.

Do you think it's just excitement and how do I stop it? He is getting worse the more group rides I do. I really enjoy the rides and he's a lot of fun, but the bucking it's starting to get annoying.
Yesterday I sat back and really kicked him forwards and he had a tantrum and kicked higher and then set off.

Just want to know some advice on the matter

 

[IrishMilo]

If I’m on something that I know bucks moving up I’ll get it flexing right to left and move it off my legs both ways. I have at times had to be very strong in the contact. To be blunt you have to make them work hard enough that they’re thinking about what you’re doing and not that they have liberty to do what they want.

You can also try trotting for a stretch and then moving up. Going from walk to canter always makes them more prone to throwing shapes IMO.

 

[LEC]

I suspect it’s from being jolly and out with others.

Horses can’t buck if you have their head bent round towards your toe as they need to be straighter through their frame. Though I appreciate putting this into action isn’t that easy.
Getting their head up is sometimes easier. I will rattle the bit in their mouth to try and do this.
The brave option is to go faster. Give them a kick and send them onwards. But then make sure they will come back to you.

 

[Skib]

I suspect it’s from being jolly and out with others.

That is true of my share mare. I was warned she bucks in a group but I have also heard her young riders rejoice at her bucking and uncontrollable excitement. They love it. So she gives it.

With me she is ultra safe. I benefit on one level from riding a horse that will offer me (and give me) canter whenever I want but will accept that I dont want canter if I reject an offer and just tell her, "Trit, trot"

Getting their head up is sometimes easier. I will rattle the bit in their mouth to try and do this.

Thank you. Useful to know. When she ran away with me last winter, one of the staff told me it was a good idea to raise the head and my hands to slow a horse.

 

[SEL]

My cob is a devil for it and he tucks his head right into his chest as well.

If possible I'll put him at the front so 1) I can kick on and 2) he needs to look where he's going so tends to be better. Slow canters behind other horses just lead to the bucks getting bigger. I also have a neck strap and group rides are done with the NS elevator bit which does help.

The more he does the better he is but if I haven't been out in a group for a while I'm prepared for the nonsense.

 

[Skib]

But my favourite ride ever, my dear Connie cantered fast and low with her head right down. I could never stop her. Unless there was a nearby hill.

 

[coblets]

Getting their head up is sometimes easier. I will rattle the bit in their mouth to try and do this.

What's rattling the bit?

 

[IrishMilo]

What's rattling the bit?

Just get the bit moving in their mouth.

 

[Goldenstar]

Get the horses head up by any means possible and ride it forwards is usually the best way to deal with this .
Fun rides or not so fun rides as we call them can be really wind up some horses some of them you just have to live with it .

 

[Red-1]

I think horses need teaching to go well in groups. I start with just one other and an open field, so you can school round each other, then next to each other, then be in front or behind. Then leave one and canter off, or canter off and leave the other. It soon becomes work, like an expanded arena, until they can be out of sight.

Then I'd have a group in the open area and work it up until cantering in a group is just work, where you can do circles etc, either beside each other or overtaking.

Only once the horse is OK in an open area where I can circle and instil a work ethic will I more to straight lines and tracks in a group.

 

[Hallo2012]

theres nothing fun about fun rides!

they wind up most horses so its either deal with the bucking or dont go IME

 

[Bobthecob15]

theres nothing fun about fun rides!

they wind up most horses so its either deal with the bucking or dont go IME

Absolutely it’s not something I have much desire to do

 

[Clare Tempest]

Thank you. When I first started going on fun rides he was very laid back, but now he's a bit older and def fitter, then he's bucking. He knows that the horses in front of him are going to set up and I'm guessing he doesn't want to be left behind. He's even starting to do with when I go on farm rides with others if they are jumping. I can't put him in front, as he kicked a horse the other week.

I can go do pole clinics and canter him around the arena and others can canter around him too and he couldn't care less. He will be 6 in May and I think he's starting to find his feet and feel good. This morning he came out of his stable trying to pull me along to the field trotting and normally I'm on the one pulling him.

Have others found that their laid back youngsters get to rising 6 and they start being cheeky?

 

[SEL]

Thank you. When I first started going on fun rides he was very laid back, but now he's a bit older and def fitter, then he's bucking. He knows that the horses in front of him are going to set up and I'm guessing he doesn't want to be left behind. He's even starting to do with when I go on farm rides with others if they are jumping. I can't put him in front, as he kicked a horse the other week.

I can go do pole clinics and canter him around the arena and others can canter around him too and he couldn't care less. He will be 6 in May and I think he's starting to find his feet and feel good. This morning he came out of his stable trying to pull me along to the field trotting and normally I'm on the one pulling him.

Have others found that their laid back youngsters get to rising 6 and they start being cheeky?

Yes!! Mine will be 7 this year but last year he was a horror. One of the instructors who had seen him as a 4yo was judging at dressage and after a rather dramatic explosion entering at A, a rodeo at E and what felt like a lifetime to get a square halt wound down her car window and said i see you brought Kevin The Teenager today

I stopped group rides for a bit after spending 90 minutes at Cholsey sitting bucks, mini rears and non stop jogging. I took him out with just one other person to make sure it was a group issue and nothing else. He has not been allowed time off over winter and does seem to be getting better. Still jogs incessantly and my neckstrap is critical but i think he's realising its all part of the job.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Is it a cob @Clare Tempest? Without fail with almost all cobs I have ever owned from youngsters between 6 - 7.5 they are most definitely Kevins! More like the terrible twos with children! Good luck with him, he will come right I would put money on it.

 

[mariew]

Make sure he hasn't stored up energy from not being ridden for a few days too. Mine idx needed a gallop once a week at that age to take the tickle out of her toes. She was not naughty in company though.

Just a note on teaching horses to wait whilst another goes off. This needs to be done right, in my youth we did this once and the lady who held back ended up with a (true) bolting horse that panicked ending upside down in a ditch and the rider with a broken ankle after having to bail out.

 

[Clare Tempest]

Yes!! Mine will be 7 this year but last year he was a horror. One of the instructors who had seen him as a 4yo was judging at dressage and after a rather dramatic explosion entering at A, a rodeo at E and what felt like a lifetime to get a square halt wound down her car window and said i see you brought Kevin The Teenager today

I stopped group rides for a bit after spending 90 minutes at Cholsey sitting bucks, mini rears and non stop jogging. I took him out with just one other person to make sure it was a group issue and nothing else. He has not been allowed time off over winter and does seem to be getting better. Still jogs incessantly and my neckstrap is critical but i think he's realising its all part of the job.

I wouldn't mind, but he's an angel the rest of the time. I do have a very good neck strap with a handle, so I grab hold of it and just close my eyes and hope for the best . I'm going out this weekend with 4 other horses and I hope he behaves. I was complaining he was dull and lazy and now I'm complaining that hes forward and fizzy (plus bucking!! ) He's still very laid back in lessons and nothing bothers him, but in groups he's a monster.

 

[Clare Tempest]

Make sure he hasn't stored up energy from not being ridden for a few days too. Mine idx needed a gallop once a week at that age to take the tickle out of her toes. She was not naughty in company though.

Just a note on teaching horses to wait whilst another goes off. This needs to be done right, in my youth we did this once and the lady who held back ended up with a (true) bolting horse that panicked ending upside down in a ditch and the rider with a broken ankle after having to bail out.

I only hold him back for a couple of seconds if they are jumping, as he will set off bucking right on their butt and if they stop we would all be off. If we are cantering in groups, then I try and push him out to the side and keep him away from others in case he starts bucking, as he can sometimes buck out at others if he gets very giddy.

I'm just not sure if I should stop the group rides or keep on taking him and pulling up on one rein and kicking him on to teach him that it isn't on and he shouldn't do it. I've never had a young horse before and people are telling me all different things.

 

[Clare Tempest]

Is it a cob @Clare Tempest? Without fail with almost all cobs I have ever owned from youngsters between 6 - 7.5 they are most definitely Kevins! More like the terrible twos with children! Good luck with him, he will come right I would put money on it.

He's a connie. Backed at 4 and not put a foot wrong. Taken him out everywhere and he's been to a couple of camps too and I do weekly clinics, as we don't have an arena at home. Absolute angel and then at the end of last year he started bucking if others were jumping (I won't jump anything over 50cm) and then it's got worse from there. The last group ride he was a monster and I had to keep him well away from the others, as he was having a fit and trying to buck and squeal. He settled down, but still bucked in canter and if others were jumping ahead of him. He only does this on group rides. Never in flat lessons or clinics. He's lazy and backwards. I can also hack him alone and he's perfect.

 

[ester]

I think most won’t be surprised a 6yo Connie is having a bit of a Kevin time sorry . It’s tricky because keeping him away from his friends prob feels to him he’s more likely to get left behind.

My share is a bit prone to airs above the ground in winter, mostly only when hacking, he’s the other end of the age spectrum and it’s just a case of managing it as best you can as he’s not generally unseating.

If I want to go for a good canter at this time of year I go on my own!

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Fun rides can make even the most level headed lose the plot.

Skylla was (and still is mostly) an angel, we did a few fun rides with mum on Topaz (who is not fun and is now banned from fun rides). Skylla never took Topaz on, was very polite about everything, until we did a fun ride with a group of cobs when Skylla was around 6, the first field they all took off like loonies, Skylla had a trot and wee canter to catch up and was most perplexed by their behaviour. However, by the end of that fun ride she most definitely had learnt some poor behaviour choices and how much 'fun' a fun ride can be ...

However, despite the 'kevins' between 5-6, she came out of it and is back to being the best hacking horse you could want, stick with it but maybe be mindful of who you go with on a fun ride! With my newest baby horse, we went first thing to avoid the worst of the chaos!

 

[SEL]

Is it a cob @Clare Tempest? Without fail with almost all cobs I have ever owned from youngsters between 6 - 7.5 they are most definitely Kevins! More like the terrible twos with children! Good luck with him, he will come right I would put money on it.

Oh dear the hooligan is 7 in May so I won't ditch the neckstrap yet! He's currently doing laps of the field while the mares ignore him.

OP magnesium is worth a shot too. Decent scoop night before and morning of a ride.

 

[Skib]

If I want to go for a good canter at this time of year I go on my own!

Lovely to read that. I ride mostly alone and canter alone. I have done for years on both my shares. I really dont like cantering second. Yet people on the yard exclaim that at my age I set out alone and canter alone as well. I do keep my leg on in canter though. Mare needs a reminder that she has a rider in charge.

The this time of year is a bit notional with me. My diary shows I have ridden very little in winter since pre Covid.

 

[Fourtoomany]

I have a very large ISH who does the most exuberant moves before going into canter on hacks. And it’s always a very nice controlled canter but the “transition” really puts the willies up me every time! I’ve had him a year now and we’ve really not had the easiest of starts together for various unfortunate reasons and with the weather, hacking has not been possible.