Horse Bucking on lunge when bringing her back into work

J

JessM23

Member
Joined
19 March 2013
Messages
11
Visit site
I bought a mare who turned out to be in foal. The foal was born last year and has since gone to a new home. I am now trying to bring my mare back into work as I really want to start riding her again. She is usually a very placid horse (I am not an advanced rider and she matched my skill-level perfectly when I got her), however she has bad mud fever and is now being kept in.
I am trying to lunge her every other day to keep her energy levels down (she's been in for around 5 weeks now), however she has started bucking when on the lunge and catering off very quickly without any cue. She is not showing any aggression to me, however I just don't know what I should be doing to try and stop this behaviour.
I know she's probably just excited to be out of her box, but I worry she could hurt herself or me when she starts doing this. I was hoping to back her for the first time this weekend, however I'm worried that the timing may be bad due to her being kept in and the last thing I want to do is lose more of my confidence with her. She's never showed this type of behaviour before and I am starting to dread lunging her. I have started pulling her into a shorter circle when she tanks off, or working her twice as hard if she does, but she is still doing this; I've also tried talking to her constantly to keep her attention focused at me - this sometimes works but sometimes doesn't. That said, there are days where she's on the go-slow or behaves perfectly too! I wondered if anyone had any advice about stopping this behaviour and how I could best go about backing her? It's likely to be a good few weeks before she can go out again. I'm also worried her temperament may have changed following the birth of her foal, however my initial reaction would be that she would be more placid now than she was. Any advice would be appreciated!
 
This is one of those times when really we need to see what she is doing, what you are doing and how the two of you are interacting. Is your body language telling her to go faster while the rest of you is telling her to slow down for example? Or is she too stiff having been on box rest to be able to do what you are asking of her?
For now I would be just asking for walk, with a few walk/halt/walk transitions to keep her interest. If she chooses to trot, let her and just be as passive as you can until she runs out of steam. Very very few horses waste huge amounts of energy for no good reason - even if they have a surplus.
Would be worth looking carefully at what you are feeding her too - for a mare in that situation I would just be supplying good quality fodder, with only a tiny bit of Speedybeet if she has to have a carrier for supplements.
 
Lots of horses who are perfectly well-behaved under saddle will buck on the lunge, especially if they've been indoors. I wouldn't worry too much at this point. If safe to let her I'd give her a LARGER circle to canter on, but it would depend on the ground conditions.
 
My boy does the same!

I have had him for 6 weeks now and he hadnt done anything for 9 months when i got him and used to go bananas on the lunge.. from a walk to gallop in the blink of an eye but i have to say with regular lunging and now ridden work too, he still has the odd buck on the lunge but doesnt go mad and is a star under saddle.
I think its just his way of letting off steam ( and prob a bit of resistance too ;-) )

I worried to start what people would think but i got past caring and its paid off!!

hope it works out for you x
 
A lot of horses buck and fool around on the lunge that would never dream of doing anything naughty under saddle, it's one of the advantages of lunging; they can safely let off steam and "express" themselves before settling down to the serious business of carrying a rider. Sounds like a "less food, more work" scenario to me. Is she only out of her stable every other day? Needs to be every day, and more work.
 
Thank you for all of your comments and apologies for the delay - I've been away. I've had several lunge lessons over the past few days and she seems to have really calmed down. I think she was just trying it on as I was being too soft. I've also changed her food and started exercising her daily. All of your comments have really helped and all have been taken on board and seem to have worked! I've just started getting back on her and she was totally fine when she had a saddle on! :-) Let's hope things keep getting better!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top