Ideas - horse bucking in canter only and starting to nap.

Meowy Catkin

Meowy Catkin

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Not my horse but anyone had this problem?

Horse was barefoot until recently (on second set of shoes now IIRC) but was always footy on smooth tarmac unshod.

Is cold backed.

Walks super fast with shoes, tentative without.

Bucks repeatedly in canter everytime, no bucking in walk or trot.

Saddle checked and fits (although has only had this saddle recently, checked again this week).

Back lady booked.

Starting to be nappy which is out of character.

Has moved yards twice recently.

Owner is leaning towards naughtiness, I think pain.

I wondered if anyone had any experience with a similar symptoms?
 
I have had this problem recently too, except my horse was bucking at walk. I have found the following:

-Back lady found my horses back was out a little.
-Back lady has advised me that his saddle isnt fitting as well as it did!

combined with a little bit of naughtiness!
 
Alot of youngsters buck going into canter due to being unbalanced, is the horse green? X
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Adult horse and the behaviour is out of character. You go in to canter and instead of canter you get BUCK BUCK BUCK etc...

Back lady found my horses back was out a little.
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I hope that the back lady finds something that is easily fixable. He's a sweet horse and I do wonder if the cold back was indicating a low level of back pain anyway, but something has worsened it or a secondary problem has occurred.
 
If it makes u feel any better, i was getting really worried about my horse as he's really quiet! I have researched the net and convinced myself he had all sorts.

The reality was his neck, lower back and pelvis were out a tad. Literally needed one session and £45 later he's happy as larry, totally back to normal.:)
 
ailbheg said:
What does the horse do when lunged? What about in the field?

Bucks on the lunge (canter only), when ridden in the school and when cantered uphill in a field.

Does he buck on both reins?

I believe that he does but I didn't specifically check, so don't know for certain.
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If he's bucking any time he goes into canter in those situations, I'd definitely be trying to rule out back pain before putting it down to naughtiness.
 
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Thanks - it's nice to hear that I'm not a soft fluffy twonk. I will try to encourage her to explore pain as a possible cause if the back lady finds nothing.
 
I remember something else and I will let the owner know...

... we rode out together and when the horse was going downhill, he was almost legyeilding down rather then walking straight. I did think that it was odd at the time, but this was a few days before the bucking and napping started and I didn't connect the two. I think that he was actually struggling to walk down the slopes.
 
Issues going uphill and bucking in canter shouts back pain caused by issues in the hocks or in the sacroiliac area. Locate the sore areas in the back which will probably be in the lumber region and waste no time in getting the hocks x-rayed, vets may span it out to cash in but you'll save a lot of time and money just getting the X-rays done, don't be fooled by flexion tests, handy but by no means a way of confirming anything definite, lastly....use a dam good vet and don't mention insurance!
Been there bought the t shirt!
 
bucking in canter was one of the few symptoms my TB had before his ulcers were diagnosed. Fine in walk and trot, but bucking in canter and also napping and being spooky when out and about. Once the stomach ulcers were sorted things improved hugely, and then once I wised up to hind gut ulcers and started feeding and supplementing to deal with those the bucking, napping and spooking magically stopped.

Might not be it, but worth considering given horse has had a couple of moves so could be stressed
 
ghostie said:
bucking in canter was one of the few symptoms my TB had before his ulcers were diagnosed. Fine in walk and trot, but bucking in canter and also napping and being spooky when out and about. Once the stomach ulcers were sorted things improved hugely, and then once I wised up to hind gut ulcers and started feeding and supplementing to deal with those the bucking, napping and spooking magically stopped.

Might not be it, but worth considering given horse has had a couple of moves so could be stressed
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Yes, his routine/how he's kept is very different now and the second move happened very quickly after the first.
 
Does the horse react to any pressure just before the rump area (over sacroillic area on either side of it, of the top of my head i think it's theT18 but dont quote me on it) hard to explain with pointing to the area but the horse will dip and you'll see a slight quiver that stems from that area, although it could be something or nothing, I'm only going on the tell tales signs I've experienced, couls be something minor that both a vet and physio/chiropractor can bottom out.
 
hmmm, maybe she could do an aloe vera trial and see if that helps? Cheap and saves the stress and expense of scoping if she's cynical as to whether it's pain related.

It's what the racehorse rehoming places do for ulcers rather than using gastroguard etc. I posted details of what they do on this thread (third from bottom):

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk.edgesuite-staging.net/forums/showthread.php?t=549642

Although aloe vera won't help hind gut ulcers so much - yeasacc is excellent for that and relatively inexpensive.
 
Two back ladies said my horse's back was 'very good'. He had kissing spine in ten places. Horses are always cold backed for a reason.
 
I've just been looking through the Solution saddles website. Theres a whole section on behavioural issues caused largely by badly fitting saddles. Several case histories by Sue Dyson. It made very interesting reading.
 
Hi, I'm very interested where this goes. Our Connie is being investigated for almost the same. Bucking, can't go forward in canter on the lunge, (not when ridden), showjumping gone to pot. Vet is convinced it's not back, saddle and teeth o.k, has done nerve blocks and diagnosed pain in near fore. Vet coming back Monday, any ideas what I should be asking/insisting on gratefully received.
 
The most common problems are front feet and hocks, but hocks are a bit of a funny one - an easy thing for vets to pin problems on if you like.

Generally speaking, if one thing's wrong, a few things are probably wrong and what is the root of it all is anyone's guess. My guess is usually the front feet.
 
I have just got in a cob who was described as seriously nappy and he is and bucks and suddenly aggressive, he is also very obese.

He has bone spavins and is suffering from very ill fitting tack, his attitude was vile when he first came it is surprising to some how pain can make horses so uppity, it is very similar to my dad who is just about to go in for back surgery he is in severe pain and is almost impossible to be around and is bad tempered and vile horses are often the same.
I have had horses who buck if naughty or feeling fresh but I think you can tell the difference and horses in pain do have that miserable demeanour, I think rider owner can probably tell the difference between excited fresh bucking and something else and would be right to investigate.
 
I spoke to the owner today and she confirmed that this behaviour is very out of character. I have said that my feeling is that the change in behaviour is due to pain and not naughtiness. She has taken this on board and I'm believe that if the back lady finds nothing, that she will talk to her Vet and investigate this further.
 
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