Is it acceptable for horses to buck and rear?

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Myhorseeatsmoney

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I know of many many owners who are used to their horses throwing the odd big buck and rear when being asked to do somehting they don't want to do. Usually the owners just accept it as a normal experience when owninga horse.

Other friends who appear to have very well behaved horses normally say that either bucking, rearing, napping or bolting is not acceptable behaviour at all.

Who is right?
 
Not acceptable but it does happen. If the horse bucks or rears when being asked to do something it doesn't want to do I would certainly look to how the rider is training the horse. Nappy behaviour is not something to be accepted. The odd buck out of excitement wouln't bother me.

True bolting is a big no-no in my book.
 
Don't mind a small buck or two if I've provoked it and it's followed by the response I want, for example: "canter please" "no" "yes" *bucks as transitions to canter* was a frequent conversation I had with ex-share horse :rolleyes:

If there's any bronc-ing or a buck big enough to unseat me then I am :mad:
Don't tolerate rearing at all, no matter how small.
 
eggs said:
If the horse bucks or rears when being asked to do something it doesn't want to do I would certainly look to how the rider is training the horse.
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Oops! That'd be me. In my defence, the horse was bucking in anticipation and excitement for the canter. Not because I'm a terrible rider (I hope) :cool:
 
If a horse made a habit of rearing on the ground or reared even once when I was on-board I'd be getting professional help. Extremely dangerous. My horse reared on the ground several times when I got her and I've ridden her in a martingale ever since, daft? Maybe. But she's never tried to rear with me on-board. It may be nothing to do with the martingale, it may just be the placebo affect. But its made my confidence stronger and in turn makes her more confident.

Bucking with excitement I'm fine with.
Bucking because they're bucking, I'd be worried it was pain related. I'd get professional help again.

Dangerous behaviour is always unacceptable IMO.
 
Bucking into canter etc I don't mind, but a proper get off buck I won't touch with a bargepole. Cannot stand it.

Rearing on the ground doesn't phase me as it is something I don't accept but doesn't worry me. For the first time last weekend grump tried rearing with me (was notorious for it years ago from previous handler and then left feral but never done with me). I stood there while she had a paddy and moved on repeated a few times and she cottoned on that it was far too much effort with not result of being turned straight back out.

Under saddle I will ride a rear and not be fussed but not be thinking it was acceptable behaviour. There is a difference to me on lifting themselves up (which grump did while led) and throwing themselves up (which littlun has done). Throwing up I detest as no control over themselves and littlun was unbalanced doing so.

I don't like any but would happily take on a rearer (if behavioural) whereas nothing would get me to take on a bucker.
 
Ooh winkles. Not thought of broncing. Share mare used to have her moments of this and it's a trait which has never ever bothered me. Just arse end though and I hate it.
 
Not acceptible. My boy occasionally throws in a tiny (too much effort for the cobby boy to get his feet off the ground really ;)) buck from excitement but he still gets a wee smack on the bum and told "No!". He went through a short phase of throwing in the odd buck because he didn't want to do something like for example when he was feeling fresh and I was wanting to do walk/halt transitions and he just wanted to GO :rolleyes: or when transitioning up to canter on a 20m circle because he wanted to nap back to the rest of the ride.
Strangely I'm more comfortable sitting rears than bucks as I used to ride a serial rearer but had never come across a bucker till I was about 26! :eek: So I've subsequently been bucked off once and very nearly bucked off (scary, I actually saw my foot above my face at one point!) another time.
However rears and bolting are also - as someone else said - big no no's! I used to ride for someone on their second horse as she needed a hacking partner and was taken off with through some trees with low hanging branches, luckily I remembered to flatten myself down with my head below level of her withers or I'd have been swept off backwards as I had no idea what to do in those circumstances at the time :cool:
I also wouldn't put up with napping as I feel that it can lead to being carted off by your horse if it suddenly takes into it's head to not go that way but instead go THIS way... at speed :cool:
 
Thanks for your replies but to be honest you have put me in even more of a quandry. My usually placid and sensible 4 year old has become a bit "lively" as my very nice but master of an understatement YO put it yesterday. He got the wind up his tail yesterday and became a bucking bronco in the field and I thought at the time that there was no way I would be able to stay on one of those handstand type bucks.

Today he actually did his first ridden one when being warmed up in the school and although I did not come off it was very very close. At the time i felt my confidence slip slightly but thinking about it he only did the one and seemed just as surprised as I was.

I have already cut back on his food because I think that has caused part of the problem but can anyone advise me on what I should do if he does it again apart from riding him forward as I really am quite concerned about him doing it again.
 
My pony bucks out of excitement when he wants to canter. He has also on occasions bucked when he has been confused. I rather suspect that the bucking will improve as his back is worked on and when he has his new saddle. He does a very small 'protest' buck if asked to do something scary (like the first time I asked him to cross a narrow, wooden bridge). Only once has he truly rodeoed with me and that was when I first tried to school him in the paddock. As I stayed on he hasn't bothered since.

He sometimes gets two feet off the ground, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a 'rear'.

He often tries to bolt but is easily blocked (if he can't spin he won't bolt). He does manage a bolt on occasion but never goes far. Never out of malice, only ever fear.

Personally, I feel I understand him enough to realise he's communicating with me. He's not nasty or evasive, he's just trying his damnedest to tell me something. What I would actually hate is to have a horse that did everything without question or comment... how would I know if I was doing it wrong? I like a horse that gives feedback.

That said I don't enjoy bucking, bolting or rearing (or spinning or running backwards for that matter) and had I known he had such a wide repertoire I might not have bought him, but as it is I'm very fond of him and I wouldn't pass him on to become a 'problem' horse to someone who didn't get his nature.
 
If my mare gets the wrong type/too much food she is practically unmanageable, as plenty of horses can be. On the right diet for workload she's fine. I'd start by addressing feed and workload and as you say ride him forwards and keep his brain busy.
 
Myhorseeatsmoney said:
Thanks for your replies but to be honest you have put me in even more of a quandry. My usually placid and sensible 4 year old has become a bit "lively" as my very nice but master of an understatement YO put it yesterday. He got the wind up his tail yesterday and became a bucking bronco in the field and I thought at the time that there was no way I would be able to stay on one of those handstand type bucks.

Today he actually did his first ridden one when being warmed up in the school and although I did not come off it was very very close. At the time i felt my confidence slip slightly but thinking about it he only did the one and seemed just as surprised as I was.

I have already cut back on his food because I think that has caused part of the problem but can anyone advise me on what I should do if he does it again apart from riding him forward as I really am quite concerned about him doing it again.
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I think we ask a lot when we expect a horse to accept us onto its back as if it were completely natural. Obviously your boy has coped well until now, but it looks like he's now asking the question, 'do I have to?'

Easier said than done but ride forward, think positive, adopt the lower leg safety position, do everything in your power to stay on and I'm sure you'll answer his question that 'yes, you do have to!!' And once you've sent him forward make him work, ride a lap in a good working canter, as if you back off then he has won a rest break.

Children ask the same question after all.
 
If you feel really uncomfortable riding the massive bucks ask someone who is a good and confident rider (like your instructor) to ride him through - if it's a phase.
It sounds like he's just being young and going through a tantrum phase but if you are worried get the proffesionals to check him out - the usual feet, teeth and back :)
 
I would say from his age OP he is just testing the water - 4/5 year olds are the horse equivalent of human teenagers!
Get his back/ saddle given the once over to be on the safe side as he is probably growing and changing shape frequently.
Other than that just ride him through it (easier said than done I know!), keep him occupied whilst riding, be alert at all times, and hope that it's just a phase :)

In answer to your original question, I would say all 3 are nonos. I have been victim to all, had a horse rear, fall over backwards and land on me. Been bucked off more times than I could ever count, but have to say the scariest was being bolted with. I threw myself off in the end as horse was not stopping for anybody!
 
My horse may have the odd bronc when he gets excited which I don't mind, it's never gotten me off yet and I see it as relatively harmless. After all there is no malice behind it, he is just very excited and doesn't know how to contain himself. :D

As for bucking and rearing, it really does depend whether it's done our of malice, protest or excitement (well not really rearing!) which determines how unacceptable it is, also the size and power of the movement needs to be taken into consideration.
 
Done from high spirits in the odd moment of over excitement bucking or broncing doesn't bother me. And even going straight up vertical & straight back down, so they aren't at any risk of going over, doesn't bother me if its sheer over excitement in an uneducated horse. Bucking with the intention of getting you off, or rearing as defiance or to the point falling is likely isn't acceptable, & neither is napping, but there's usually a reason for that type of reaction. And bolting never acceptable.
In your case op I really wouldn't give it another thought, its youngster high spirits. And don't worry about what he does in the field & whether you'd sit it, its unrelated.
 
Myhorseeatsmoney said:
Other friends who appear to have very well behaved horses normally say that either bucking, rearing, napping or bolting is not acceptable behaviour at all.
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And that is why their horses are well-behaved - they don't get away with bad manners.
If your 4 yr old has started bucking, I'd get the saddle checked immediately, he has probbly changed shape, so that the saddle is pinching.
 
It's up to you to decide what behaviour you find acceptable from your horse.

For myself, bucking and rearing is definitely not acceptable when I'm on top, or handling them.

What they do in their own time and space is up to them and it is fun watching them perform low level aerobatics in the paddock 'cos they feel like it. :)
 
Exactly as jennyNz says.
Totally unacceptable whilst being ridden or handled.
Their own time turned out at leisure, fine, it's their time to do as they please.
 
I don't think it's acceptable behaviour but at the end of the day it's a horse not a machine! I often think people who sell a horse and say they have never bolted/bucked/reared/ spooked etc. are utter liars I've never met a horse that doesn't do SOMETHING naughty. I think they will fight and/ or flight when under pressure my horse bucks its what he does... not all the time but sometimes they are innocent, sometimes he'll keep going until you're off ( rare) its his "naughtiness" and I'd rather that than proper bolting- at the end of the day none are perfect its a horse!


Do you lunge? I honestly think they NEED to get a good buck out of their systems sometimes so I'd lunge before riding for a bit. I'd also not let the horse get its head away from u and between its knees id push on and keep that head up!!!

Any tips other than that to stop bucking I'd be glad to hear :D
 
Conniemara- its easy, teach it to buck on command. When she was only young, mine got a nasty cut that required staying in to keep clean (gateway was a bog at that time of year). Being young, & fully stabled, instead of the very occasional high jinks buck, she did spectacular rodeo displays. On someone else's advice I taught her to do it on command so I could at least choose the time & place. She's been saintly for years now, but we still have the command for 'do what you like'. For years I only ever used it in circumstances where I hadn't given her any chance to express normal behavior freely, but since she got to 20 or so I do issue it more regularly for our mutual amusement. And that of my daughter, who thinks seeing mummys sweet well behaved horse being silly is the height of entertainment.
 
It depends why they're doing it tbh. My mare has reared twice - once out of temper (and she had a jolly good telling off for it ;) ) and once because a hen ran out from a hedge under her, she jumped forward and zapped herself on some electric fencing. The second time I just calmed her down and we continued. Bucking from temper and because I want her to work is not acceptable - the odd buck because she's happy and excited might not be appreciated but as it's not nasty I just accept it :)
 
I'll accept the odd buck in excitement. I.e. When I started a new job, I took my horse with me and he wasn't turned out for a month despite me specifically asking if they got daily turnout (I left shortly after) and I took him on the canter track and he did 3 enormous bucks. I didn't tell him off as he was just thrilled to be going for a gallop. Besides that, he's bucked maybe two or three times, all out of excitement, in 2 years. For me it's not worth telliing him off as he isn't being evasive and its so rare.

Unfortunately I also have a rearer. She is a million times better than she was, but still occasionally rears in a stressful situation. I ride her with a whip whop rope instead of a whip and She always gets it on her bum to send her forwards right away, because rearing is NOT acceptable.

So basically I don't mind the odd excited buck, would be different if it's a GET OFF me buck but i do not tolerate any type of rear.
 
I must say i dont allow any of it my rule want to do those antics thats what a field for in my time they must behave. I only ask for hour a day its not to much to ask. plus i broke my back and it cant cope with bucking or rearing
 
As has been said it is the reason that matters, rather than the behaviour. And the reasons vary from 'too much sugar in the feed' to 'fear' to 'high spirits' to 'lack of understanding/confusion' to ' tack problems' to 'rider problems'!!! And I am sure I have forgotten some! So every case is different!! I must say rearing is most often a rider problem as the horse is being asked to go forward and being stopped at the same time...there is nowhere for him to go than up....and canter trans are similar...'go but don't go' from the rider!! So I think it is too easy to say we won't accept some behaviour, as that behaviour may well be caused by something in our management or riding....allbeit unintentionally!!
 
B1 bunny hop rears in excitement before a gallop and b2 humps his back when excited. Neither full on rears and b2 very rarely actually bucks these days but neither bothers me on the scale I get it.
 
I think it depends on the rider & on why the horse pony is bucking / rearing. My 10yo doesn't find bucking or rearing acceptable under any circumstances as it scares her. Her pony (a NF) will occasionally buck when excited & gets growled at / sent forwards if she does. Her older sister's pony is fizzy / a bit of a worrier and will piaffe or buck / half rear repeatedly when anxious or excited. Daughter (who has ridden her since she was 6) isn't at all bothered by this behaviour & is happy to just sit quietly and let her work through it. My mare bucks when happy / excited or (on occasion) when she is cross (in which case it is more of an 'oh ALRIGHT then' than an attempt to unseat). I don't worry as it is just her expressing her personality.
 
Having had a horse go over backwards on the road with me I don't do rearers! Happened in my younger days at a training yard.

Bunny hops- fun. Bucking, hmmm, but I don't bounce like I used to.
 
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